Thanksgiving is a time for appreciation of one’s blessings and for reflection. As I reflect back on 2017, I am incredibly thankful for my faith, my family, and my friends in this challenging year. I am also thankful for my work and for my career at an organization where I will celebrate 18 years of…

Welcome to Fall and the Season of Strategic Planning! If your organization is like ours, you may be in the midst of meetings to reflect upon the past year and evaluate organizational performance, as well as planning sessions for a successful 2018. Strategic planning, while vital, can sometimes be a…

As I write this blog (from the local Starbucks), many parts of APQC’s hometown of Houston are still working to recover from Hurricane Harvey, an incredibly destructive Category 4 storm that hit Texas and Louisiana in late August 2017. This storm was considered a flood disaster, dumping a total of…

Due to their sheer volume in the workplace, we are constantly bombarded with information and analysis about what the Millennial generation (born in the early 1980’s to the late 1990’s) desires in terms of workplace expectations, office environment, norms, and culture. However, there are at least…

Like other “Thronies,” I have been eagerly awaiting the premier of Season 7 of Game of Thrones (GOT) which occurred this past Sunday, July 16. But, perhaps unlike other Thronies, I didn’t actually start watching GOT at all until several months ago, necessitating cramming in content from the first…

We were recently treated to a departmental meeting featuring a guest speaker, our own boy genius Ralph Marlbrough, APQC SEO and social media manager, talking to us (by request) about how to write a good blog. As I was avidly listening to him and taking notes, I thought to myself, “Self, this…

Earlier this month I spent a week at the Gulf Coast Symposium on HR Issues, held May 10-12, 2017 at NRG Center in my home town of Houston, Texas. The session bills itself as “the largest regional conference for HR Professionals on the Gulf Coast, with more than 2,100 practitioners, presenters and…

Do you have a child or grandchild who plays competitive sports? If so, then you may be familiar with my weekend world of tournament baseball. For those of you not familiar, tournament baseball is for boys aged 8+. It is the more rabid and expensive alternative to Little League. People pay lots of…

Are you a dog lover like I am? I was very intrigued to read a recent article in SHRM’s HR Magazine about the benefits of bringing dogs to the office, something that I certainly am in favor of but our HR director, not so much. According to the recent article from SHRM, a policy of allowing employees…

My son is in the 7th grade at Houston’s First Baptist Academy, home of the Warriors, and one of the school’s marketing posters that I used to love walking by in the school hallway was a sign with smartly dressed, fresh-faced FBA students and the caption “Begin Well.” I love this slogan – in only…