Got this note from a PR guy named Eric. In general, I’ve stopped picking on PR professionals. However, this one needs some work. Dear Laurie, Today I have some news for you that is incredibly inspiring and empowering and worth sharing with your reader audience. Lean Cuisine just launched an initiative to challenge women to…
I’ve been doing some video chats for CareerBuilder, and they’re pretty fun. We use a combination of Google Hangouts and Twitter, and what you end up with is a crazy and interesting mix of video and interactive tweets. We discussed talent management strategies and techniques in the last episode. Tim Sackett makes an offhanded comment…
I let my SHRM membership lapse in 2015 because my employer will no longer pay for it. My employer is me, and honestly, she wants me to spend $190 on spa treatments in Turks & Caicos because she believes in employee engagement. So I won’t be going to the 2015 SHRM Conference & Exhibition in…
You guys know that I’m just back from a trip to Spain. I had so much fun. (Side note: I am horrible with directions, and I burned a chunk of data using my iPhone to navigate the streets of Barcelona. Apple Maps should be free on all carriers/all countries, and subsidized by the legacy of…
Here are some questions that have come to me from events and via email. If a company has grown organically, how do you start to grow through acquisitions? I worked on the HR/M&A side of the house at a company called Kemper Insurance. I was the only HR kid who understood the internet, so that…
Ever since I entered the workforce as a kid, owners have been trying to find a way to pay people less. I don’t mean cutting salaries. Paying people less looks like this: Paying less than minimum wage. I had this happen to me at an ice cream store. I was fourteen and wanted a job.…
I spent some time with entrepreneurs and CEOs, last week, at a collaborative forum where executives can learn from one another in a tweet-free, blog-free zone. It was super fun and interesting. I can’t give you a ton of details from the off-the-record sessions, but I can tell you about my sessions that I chaired.…
I hate it when business travelers are all like, “The road sucks, man. You go to boring meetings in cities that have no soul. You never get to see anything, and if you’re lucky, you get a bite to eat before boarding a flight home. Business travel used to be exclusive and now it’s for…
Whenever people in human resources feel alone or stressed, they will say something like, “People in my town just don’t get it.” Let me give you some examples. “I live in Sacramento, and these HR people just don’t get it. It’s still all about compliance.” “Cleveland is a wonky town. They just don’t get social…
Lots of talk on Huffington Post and Medium—and in the HR blogosphere—about happiness at work and in life. “Just do seventeen things and you will be rich, content and happy. You might do better at work, get a raise, be more attractive and have more sex.” I think some of that’s okay, but it seems…