It's intriguing to read articles that focus on the current challenges of retail businesses and the “imminent death” of the industry. The same is true of articles that focus on the challenges around developing talent pipelines and finding the retail talent of the future. It's particularly interesting to read articles with lengthy citations from senior…
Frederick Lamster
Over the past two years, we've focused our writing on the myriad of challenges and evolving realities facing the “modern workplace” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's clear that no one anticipated not only the duration of the pandemic, but also the effects it would have on both the physical workplace environment itself, as well…
Over the last two years, our articles have primarily addressed the challenges that face the current and future workplace. That being said, it's the pandemic that has most challenged our views and “rules” on the set-up of the workplace and established routines. While things were changing prior to the pandemic, the pace of change is…
We begin 2021 somewhat in the same manner we ended 2020, but with a hopefully considerable, and probably cautious, level of hope that somehow the business environment will begin to phase back to an understandable new normal in the months to come. Our recent past articles have been mostly discussions on the challenges the pandemic…
Back in March of this year, most of us anticipated that by fall we would have weathered the Coronavirus storm and life would return to what it was like before. Oh how naïve we were and how little we imagined what the power of the pandemic would be and the long-term challenges that would be…
It always seems to be a cliché, but is always true when someone talks about how quickly the world changes. This is especially true during the current coronavirus crisis. We thought we knew (but couldn’t really be sure) how much our personal and business lives would be affected by the current pandemic. And even though…
In previous articles we've discussed topics as diverse (but related) as the prevailing desire to stay relevant, working way beyond what traditionally was considered “retirement age,” and managing in a diverse and multigenerational workforce. While baby boomers seem to have the most trouble (or opportunities) adapting, there's another trend that must be reviewed in order…
How many times have we been advised to find the “right cultural fit” when involved in a hiring process, regardless of industry? Historically this is usually the place a hiring manager begins when embarking upon a hiring process. Often organizations default to evaluating talent in terms of similarities in background, experience, interests, etc. However, research…
We noticed in the January/February 2019 Harvard Business Review there was a short article about “the limits of empathy.” Since we've been writing extensively over the last year about the importance of self-awareness and empathy, this caught our attention. The gist of the “argument” is that the idea of taking someone else’s perspective doesn’t necessarily…
We've written in the past about relationships between baby boomers and millennials and how they can productively co-exist or, better yet, jointly thrive in the workplace. Building on this premise, in this article we offer some thoughts about how and why baby boomers increasingly reinvent themselves later in life, as well as the challenges that…
We offer less data and more (hopefully) practical common sense and experiential arguments as to what constitutes effective leadership.
When we asked friends and colleagues what's the most important skill for consistent and continued success in business, they gave a multiplicity of answers including leadership and management skills, brains, and creativity. However the leading response from this group was curiosity. Many defined curiosity as the impulse to seek new information and experiences, the desire…
Effective leaders articulate a vision, create an environment in which people can succeed, hire the best talent for the tasks at hand, give them support and tools, instill their importance as part of the organization, and simply GET OUT OF THE WAY.
Many of the organizational research reports argue that the best managers/leaders empower their people and focus more on giving them the tools to do their jobs rather than telling them exactly how to manage the tasks at hand. This is common sense but not quite as easy to implement as it is to proclaim. We've…
Luck does not just happen but taking advantage of situations with a new or challenging perspective can lead to luck. Parents of the Baby Boomer generation came out of a major Depression and World War II. Those were difficult times yet people, particularly in the Western world, emerged from the 1940’s with incredible optimism and “hope” for a better life.
