Last week while on holidays I saw a post on a LinkedIn group that caught my eye.  It was about women, family and  career success. What prompted my colleague Lisa Ryan to start the discussion was a comment made by former GM CEO Jack Welch in his keynote address at the annual SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) [...]

In 1984, just as our modern day human rights framework was emerging in Canada, a case called Caldwell vs. St. Thomas Aquinas high school was heard at the Supreme Court of Canada. The case involved the firing of a teacher as a result of her marrying a divorced man in a civil ceremony. The Court [...]

I spend a lot of my time talking and writing about the relationship between power and respect at work. Disrespectful behaviors like harassment and bullying are power based behaviors. The choice to engage in these behaviors and how we respond to them is very much connected to power – how much we have and how [...]

I had a great example recently of how one word, a unconscious slip of the tongue, the use of a habitual phrase can unintentionally offend. I was traveling for work. I got off the plane and went to the rental car kiosk. The customer service agent got high marks for his pleasant, welcoming and efficient [...]

One of the things I discuss in my book Road to Respect is how bad behavior is often tolerated within workplaces. Excuses are made. “Oh that is just (whomever). That is just how she/he is”. When nothing is done to deal with workplace disrespect, everyone soon accepts it as “just the way it is around [...]

I was a panelist asked to choose the worst bosses from a list complied by eBossWatch. This site (www.ebosswatch.com) was launched by Asher Adelman in 2007 to help people avoid toxic workplaces. eBossWatch enables people to anonymously rate their current or former bosses using a respectable and focused evaluation form so that job-seekers can better [...]

Yesterday, Dec 6 2009, marked the 20th anniversary of the shooting rampage of Marc Lepine at Universite de Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, when Lepine killed 14 female students and injured 13 others before turning the gun on himself. The reason for his rampage? Anger; at the fact that women were interested in working in “non-traditional” workplaces, [...]

On Thursday, August 6, Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the 111th Justice of the US Supreme Court. As an individual passionate about promoting respectful workplaces, and by extension, respectful societies,  I cannot help but celebrate this historic occasion, and applaud President Obama’s choice in nominating Ms. Sotomayor. She is the first Hispanic justice and the [...]

As a Canadian I have the luxury of watching what takes place in the lower 48 with an air of detachment.  However, after learning that broadcaster Glenn Beck called Obama a racist that air of detachment quickly evaporated.  The danger of this comment has implications far beyond the borders of the US.   Why are Beck [...]

In April I blogged about the court case filed by female ski jumpers who claimed the IOC’s decision to keep them out of the 2010 games was discriminatory. Well, it appears that they were right. On July 10, 2009 Justice Laurie Ann Fenlon of the BC Supreme Court confirmed that the women have been discriminated [...]