My very first article was published in a professional magazine (HRMagazine) almost exactly thirty years ago and it was titled: The Case For Valuing Diversity. At the time I was a young, idealistic first woman executive in a male-dominated utility and someone committed to helping this organization  go beyond compliance to actually embracing the idea […]

I am sitting at my desk in my home office looking out over a foggy Puget Sound. A cold pack is wrapped around my foot, a hot pack strapped to my shoulder, my face mask is hanging on it’s hook ready to cover my nose and mouth if I have to venture out from the safety […]

Last week two dozen of my HR leaders met to engage in a discussion potentially fraught with emotion and strong opinions.  The topic was: Sexual Harassment: What’s Next? Interestingly, only one guy showed up – was that a coincidence! Maybe, maybe not! It was interesting to hear at the outset how much fear and anxiety […]

Today my group of HR executives revisited “wellness” in a fascinating discussion which started out by declaring “wellness” a tired and antiquated concept. Somebody said “it feels like a checkbox.” In keeping with our commitment to challenge conventional thinking and ride the crest of the wave of what is new and exciting in our meetings, […]

Last week a small group of HR executives  (about a dozen HR Executive Forum members) braved the snowy road conditions in Seattle and spent a chilly morning discussing teams. Our discussion catalysts (Sandra Gilliland, Google, and Ben Bratt, Team Effectiveness Project) shared some interesting stats to get the dialogue going such as: • 97% of teams […]

Disruption was the topic for discussion at my most recent peer executive coaching group. Michael Erisman, CHRO with DocuSign and a long term member, was a cohort in designing this session and we were both juiced up about the subject, which we approached both on a personal and organizational level with participants. We all agreed […]

Purpose of the performance review: to improve employee performance. In recent years, there’s been a continual and growing number of executives calling for death to the performance review.  In January the Human Resources Executive Form (HREF), a peer learning group facilitated by Suzanne Elshult, owner of HRNow, met to share experiences with transforming the performance review […]

In our recent HR Executive Forum, a peer coaching community built by Suzanne Elshult of HRNow, some 20 or so of my peers and I explored “OD.” Two driving questions guided our discussions:     What are the prevailing schools of thought around OD. Why should business leaders care about it? I learned a lot […]

Can crying at meetings be a measure of high engagement? I guess it depends. At my recent Hr Executive peer coaching group session on the topic of engagement one client organization shared that you will not infrequently find someone crying at one of their meetings. BUT, it is not crying out of sadness, but crying […]

“Burned into my memory are the images of him, on that slick rock, grasping for something, anything, to hold on to, as he slid slowly but inevitably toward the edge. Worst of all is the memory of him looking back at me, desperate and helpless,  as he soundlessly disappeared. That moment is forever etched into my […]