Pre-employment credit checks continue to be a murky and controversial topic as opponents seek to ban the practice and advocates argue for its necessity. California Governor Jerry Brown sought to restrict credit checks during the pre-employment process by signing

I’m an Apple guy, always have been; and not just one of these trendy new comers.  My love for Apple goes back to my days as an IT support technician in the early 90’s.  The reason is very simple…Apple products are better.  Simply put, their stuff just works.

Given my love of Apple products I still found it strange, that with the passing of Steve Jobs, I felt as though I’d

Dr. No is legendary in the physician community surrounding General Specialty Hospital.  Solid diagnoses and referrals come to him only to be unraveled by obscure tests and unusual treatment methods.  Dr. No doesn’t necessarily hold a grudge against his medical colleagues, but he always seems to think there is more to every case.  He likes to delve deeply into each case to find out what was missed and how he can save the day.  Scorn and ridicule from his colleagues is private, but

Physicians are neither trained, nor chosen, for their leadership skills.  Certainly, there are strong physician leaders, but finding them is more often the result of happenstance, than of careful selection and development.  (See the thoughts of James K. Stoller, M.D. of the Cleveland Clinic).

Rather than assessing and developing physician leadership skills, hospitals often get enamored with

Hooray!  The NFL isn’t going to deprive us of a year of America’s new favorite pastime.  As I find myself shifting away from the excitement, I have to ask myself what the rookie class is going to look like this year.  Normally NFL teams have months to mold these talented collegiate athletes into professionally-ready football players, but not this year.

Without these additional months of preparation, it will provide us a very

Martin Vantacki, executive vice president of international operations, is personable and loyal to a fault.  He’s a guy that will defend you and stick by you through thick and thin.  Martin’s friends speak highly of him and can easily cite times when he has counseled them and helped them through some of life’s most difficult challenges.  Yet, at the same time, many other people will say that he is vindictive and out to silence anyone who opposes him.  This group of people can quote instances when Martin has seemingly

Peter contributes to your business and makes you and the organization successful.  He has led the team in sales, new ideas, cost-savings, and new project developments.  He is ripe for the next step.  Peter has done everything you can think of in his role to make you ready to advance him.  And he’s up for promotion. These are the performance reviews that dreams are made of… no shortcomings, hitting on all cylinders, let’s talk about everything you do right and then discuss the next step up for you.  This is your call and you are ready to move Peter into leadership.

Over coffee, you share the slam dunk you are about to make.  Your colleague looks puzzled and says,

A little over a week ago in the 6^th game of the NBA championship, the Dallas Mavericks defeated a younger and arguably more talented Miami Heat team to win their first NBA championsip.  How did this happen?  The Heat arguably had more talent; they were a perennial playoff team; yet they didn’t win.  Why?

Rick Carlisle, coach of the Mavs, was this year’s difference-maker.  He possessed 3 of the most crucial key traits a coach (or any leader for that matter), should have to help their teams achieve greatness.

Factor 1: Ability to Inspire

We’ve all heard of “coachable moments” – those day-to-day opportunities in between the annual reviews and big promotional decisions where you have the chance to mentor an individual contributor or other leader in the organization on how they can help the team.  In sports, you see it all the time, a coach grabs a player by the jersey, gets in the player’s face and very directly (and often colorfully) communicates how to improve.  So what do you do with the team member who doesn’t respond to these moments?