Office Space- Does Design Really Matter?

In the second paragraph of Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmul, Ed describes the offices of Pixar like this:  It has well thought-out patterns of entry and egress that encourage people to mingle, meet, and communicate.  Outside, there is a soccer field, a volleyball court, a swimming pool, and a six-hundred seat amphitheater. Sometimes visitors misunderstand the place, thinking it’s fancy for fancy’s sake. What they miss is that the unifying idea for this building isn’t luxury but community. Steve (Jobs) wanted the building to support our work by enhancing our ability to collaborate. In a whole book dedicated to explaining

Grown men in tank tops usually aren’t my jam, but… can they teach us something about leading?

Grown men in tank tops usually aren’t my jam. So when Pat McAfee made his appearance on Gameday this year to replace a former Georgia football player that looked really good in a suit (more my jam), I was like what the heck?  I watched him for a minute, determined he was there to sensationalize, pull in a different type of audience, and create some new dynamic I wasn’t into. I thought I’d lost a little bit of respect for the Saturday morning football institution, even if Corso is still there picking his favorite team, glorified mascot head and all. 

How to Get Millions Back in the Workforce

a kid with multicolored hand paint

During the pandemic, it was estimated that between two and three million women left the workforce. While there are signs that women are returning towards pre-pandemic levels, there are still a variety of sectors, especially care workers, that have not recovered and signs don’t point to an optimistic outcome.  Why?  Women are largely those that leave the workforce to provide care for children and or the elderly. Providing care makes it difficult for women to work, especially in more traditional sectors where workers must be present and work hours that don’t align with school and care options. This is especially

The Evaporation of Male Labor Force Participation

Here at The Point Blog, we have been writing a series. Last month, I gave an overview of What’s Affecting the Labor Force Participation Rate? Lorrie followed that up with When Working Costs too Much concerning the benefits cliff and Taylor took a closer look at Baby Boomers Retiring-How do we fill their shoes? This week, I am going to take a deeper dive into some of the reasons that males (age 25-54) are evaporating from Labor Force Participation and some possible solutions for our future workforce. The Labor Force Participation Rate is defined as those who are actively looking

Baby Boomers are Retiring – How do we fill their shoes?

This month, we’ve been talking about What’s Impacting the Labor Force Participation Rate.  Last week, Lorrie shared how the Benefits Cliff impacted the participation in When Working Costs Too Much. Another significant factor in this equation is Baby Boomers exiting the workforce. Let’s dive a little deeper. Baby Boomers account for 1 in 4 American workers. As they are exiting in droves, their absence will lead to an even wider workforce gap as companies will need to fill positions made available after the Boomers retire. Check out this article from The Washington Post to learn more: The boomers are retiring. See