I had been with the same organization since I was 19 years old and was at a spot where I earned four weeks paid time off each year when I received the demotion promotion in late July of 2014. And if I’d max out at five weeks in March 2016 when I hit the 20 year mark, the most a salaried employee was...
Years ago, I heard a story of a traveler stopping at a farmhouse along a country road to ask for directors. As the traveler spoke with the old man sitting on the front porch, he noticed that the dog laying beside him was constantly moaning, albeit quietly. The traveler asked the old man if there was...
In late July 2014, I received the best performance review in my career. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I deserved it. I had hired nearly 200 external candidates and filled at least a third as many internal positions, secured over $150 thousand dollars in grants to offset some of the training cost...
Regardless of the challenge or adversity, the one seed I’ve nurtured consistently since my early teens has been a strong work ethic. That, coupled with so many other leadership attributes I’ve slowly in the years since, helped me navigate the near-foreclosure experience, the crazy lowball offer that...
My direct responsibility with anything truly related to human resources came slowly, very slowly. Since the behavior-based safety role I had held for so long was being filled internally, the process took a few months. Most of my time during that ordeal was dedicated to keeping those plates spinning ...
As I’ve wrapped up each step in this process of Making the Best of YOUR Bad Situations, I’ve closed with five questions geared at challenging you to mine your similar experiences for the seeds of equal or greater benefit - and I’m about to do that here as well. Before that, though, I’ll detail one o...
Had the Best Value Inn I was camping out in been in town even half the size of Harrisonburg, the casual observer could have easily justified sending me for a reasonable suspicion drug screen. Since Cozad, NE may have had a population of around 2,000 people at the time, I was thrilled that I didn’t h...
Leading up to this point, I’ve referenced how consistency in the things we can directly influence through our daily actions can build self-control, courage, and definiteness of decision. Even the minor adversities I was faced with through my late teens and early twenties served as a foundation for t...
Less than two months after the let down of not being offered the behavior-based safety facilitator position, I noticed a new opportunity posted on the internal job board. This was for a “5S Trainer” position, one of four throughout the facility, that would have responsibility for implementing a foun...
Still far from being the most talented in the workforce, or even in my home department for that matter, I built some solid career momentum through 1998 and into 1999. My role as bouncer for my former coworker’s sister had turned into far more than that initial evening of her driving and me being a h...
Working from 3:30p to 1:40a, at least Monday through Thursday with frequent Fridays and Saturdays scheduled for mandatory overtime, for most of my first two years in manufacturing was clearly part of God’s plan; I certainly wasn’t doing much planning of my own and that point. Any planning I had a ha...
Knowing that I had so much untapped potential academically stung a bit, even if that was only subconsciously at the time. If I was doing anything back then to intentionally grow just the slightest seed, it was through my role in the workforce. I produced solid results and had some great opportunitie...
