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 [...]

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 [...]

Last month I featured online shoe retailer Zappos‘ unique corporate culture in my monthly blog post for RespectfulWorkplace.com as well as in Reflections on Respect, my monthly e-newsletter. I wrote about Zappos because it is a company that illustrates one of the key lessons in my book, Road to Respect: Path to Profit: that creating [...]

One of Bill Maher’s guests on Real Time this week was Elizabeth Warren, Harvard University Professor and recently appointed Chair of the TARP(Troubled Asset Relief Program) congressional oversight panel. The topic of usury arose in the context of discussing credit card companies, whose business model Ms. Warren described as “trick and trap”. Both Ms. Warren [...]

Want your team to perform better? Want to encourage more discussion and better decisions? Follow the old adage and encourage diversity within your employee group. Brigham Young University assistant business professor Katie Liljenquist co-authored a study which focused on the influence of new employees on a team. The study concluded that new workers with diverse [...]

One of the best things about having the HBO Canada channel is the ability to tune in to Bill Maher. I love both Bill Maher’s humour and the interesting and informative conversations that occur with his guests each week. It provides a great perspective on things going on in the “lower 48” for me as [...]

On Friday March 13 I attended the 22nd Annual Equality Breakfast in celebration of International Women’s Day 2009. The breakfast is hosted by West Coast LEAF –Legal Education and Action Fund. This organization was founded in 1985, when Canada adopted section 15, the Equality section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The mandate [...]