In 1500 words or less, each post will give you something you can use TODAY to build yourself, your people and your organization whether your organization is a "for-profit" or a "not-for-profit."
Rigidity doesn’t usually announce itself.
It shows up as discipline. As process. As “the way we’ve always done it.”
But underneath, it’s often something else entirely: fear disguised as control.
And the longer we hold onto it, the more it quietly limits what we, and the organizations we are part of, are capable of becoming.
This is a longer read than usual, but it’s written that way intentionally.
Because the way we think about accommodations, fairness, and performance in the workplace is often oversimplified, and those oversimplifications shape how people are supported, evaluated, and sometimes misunderstood.
If you’ve ever questioned whether “treating everyone the same” is actually fair in practice, this is worth your time.
Most people think hiring decisions are about choosing the best candidate.
They’re not.
Hiring is about removing enough doubt to say yes.
And once you understand that interviews start to make a lot more sense.
Most hiring mistakes happen before the interview begins.
Resumes can be polished, charm can be rehearsed, and yet the person you hire may not be the one your organization truly needs. A simple pre-interview questionnaire reveals how candidates think, respond under pressure, and treat people they believe won’t influence their outcome.
Hiring isn’t about perfection—it’s about understanding real thinking before it costs you.
Most managers hate admitting when a hire isn’t working out.
So they delay the conversation.
They hope the problem fixes itself.
Or they quietly tolerate issues that affect the whole team.
But ignoring a bad fit rarely solves anything. Sooner or later every leader faces the same reality: not every hire works out.
In the latest article in my Inside the Interview series, I talk about what good managers actually do when hiring goes wrong, and how to handle the situation professionally, fairly, and responsibly.
Most job seekers think interviews are about giving the “right” answers.
After conducting hundreds of interviews, I’ve learned something different.
Employers are not just listening to your answers, they are deciding whether you can solve their problem.
Strong candidates understand this and approach every question differently.
Here are some of the most common interview questions and what employers are really trying to learn.
Every summer, organizations hire students to fill short-term roles. Few stop to consider that they are shaping long-term futures.
For many students, a summer job is their first real encounter with responsibility, accountability, and workplace culture. It is where reputations begin. It is where habits are formed. It is where confidence is either strengthened or quietly eroded.
For employers, hiring students is not simply a staffing decision. It is a leadership decision. It is a choice about whether to treat young people as temporary labour, or as emerging professionals.
When approached intentionally, summer employment becomes more than seasonal work. It becomes mentorship, community investment, and the foundation of someone’s career.
We move through and interact with dozens of organizations and people every day, healthcare, government, work, housing, commerce, and community spaces. Most interactions are brief, yet over time they quietly shape our sense of dignity, trust, and belonging.
This post explores a simple idea: a reasonable expectation of humanity in those interactions. Not perfection or special treatment, but clarity, respect for time, basic human regard, competence with humility, fairness, and accountability when things go wrong.
As you read, notice where these standards are present in your own interactions, and where they quietly fall away. And if you work inside an organization that holds power over others, consider how humanity is supported by design, not just individual effort.
As with most of my posts, this is a little longer than most, thank you for taking the time to read.
More than a hundred years ago a book was written that continues to reverberate with many people, myself included even today. In a world full of negative commentary and conflict, it serves as a source of positive influence and hope.
Take a few minutes … its lessons might change your life.
Learning to fail seems counterintuitive to everything our success culture seems to value. I believe people who say they never fail likely aren’t trying enough new ideas or ways of doing things. Failure isn’t the end, I believe it is simply an additional step on becoming successful. What is important, is learning how to fail so that failure doesn’t discourage you and lead to giving up.