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

The Mental Health “Connection”

Recently, I traveled to North Carolina for our annual family vacation. On Sunday, we attended First Baptist Church of Bryson City. The guest Pastor brought the house down on that rainy day with a message on love and acceptance. He described the ways in which we used to value connection with one another through meal time and went on to emphasize how important social connection is for our mental health. If you feel connected and cared for, he argued, then love has the ability to heal.  That’s wonderful to hear about in Church, but how does that translate to the

4 Workplace Innovations on Repeat

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to serve on a panel discussing workforce and skills challenges created by the automotive industry’s shift to electric vehicles (EVs).   I’m no expert on EVs.  I’m no expert on cars.  But I drive one. And it broke down at the end of last week.  I got off the interstate from a work trip, headed into my hometown on a highway connecting the interstate to my neighborhood.  When I went to accelerate on the highway, the RPMs jumped way up, and it did not want to shift gears for me to accelerate effectively. Luckily,

The Crossover of Adaptive Leadership and Storytelling

I recently read an article by the Huntsville Business Journal about adaptive leadership, and I immediately sent it to everyone on the HPC team. I thought, “This is what we’re always talking about!! The HBJ gets it!!” We truly believe that leadership behaviors rooted in CODE have significantly higher impact, and we’re seeing this play out in a big way with one of our clients.  Four years ago, a client asked us to explore gender equality in their organization. This included analysis of leadership demographics, a comprehensive survey to all employees, and focus group discussions. During the study, some challenges

2 Key Places Where You Need a Rule Breaker

I was a hardcore rule follower as a child. I didn’t question rules in any form or the adults or organizational or societal factors that put them in place. I was on time, didn’t question when or how things were done in school, on the sports field, in my home, and in my community.  I did all the things I was “supposed” to do.  In fact, I don’t think I thought much about the why and reason behind much of anything, I just did as I was told.  For example, if a school supply list told me I needed 48