Ten years ago, I visited a college campus in Denver, stood in a high traffic area, and held up a sign saying, DO YOU DESERVE A JOB AFTER YOU GRADUATE? WHAT SALARY ARE YOU ENTITLED TO? At that time, employee entitlement was the biggest challenge among the business owners, leaders, and managers with…
Ask most people under 40 to define the America Dream and you’ll likely hear them mention owning their own business and/or being their own boss. If you dig deeper and ask why so many young people want to pursue entrepreneurship, surprisingly, the first response won’t always be about making more money; in fact, it seldom…
Attention parents! If your kid is still parked on the basement couch this late in the summer playing Fortnite and driving you crazy by whining they can’t find a job, it’s time to change the password on the Wi-Fi and kick ‘em to the curb with a tough-love boot. As the U.S. economy continues its remarkable rebound from the…
Brooky, my 13-year-old granddaughter, is smack dab in the middle of middle school. Even if there were no such thing as the Coronavirus, my heart would bleed for her. That’s because I remember my 8th grade year as being the very worst of my life. Too old to be a kid. Too young to do…
Hank McGuinty is the owner of an HVAC service and installation business in Beeville, Texas (pop. 13,500). His uncanny ability to attract and hire technicians is the envy of all the other owners in this large national chain, and it’s helping him crush his competition. With the ever-diminishing number of skilled workers in every trade – especially in smaller rural communities…
I’ve been writing and speaking about millennials since they first made their way into the workplace as teenagers in 1998. Since then, I’ve interacted with thousands of mature business owners and leaders who’ve confessed their struggles and frustrations in managing this enigmatic generation. Today, more than half of all millennials (born 1980-2000) are 25 and older, and the part-time teen workers of 1998 are…
Recently my wife commented on how much time I was spending watching the NFL Draft coverage on ESPN. “You’re a Bronco fan. They don’t pick again for an hour, at least. Are you really that fascinated by who Buffalo selects in the 5th round?” she asked. But there I sat along with 45.7 million other…
The unemployment/underemployment problem facing millennials predates the great recession. It goes back to the early programming they received from their parents when the economy was booming in the early 2000’s. And parents haven’t let up. “Follow your dreams.” “Find your passion.” “You’ve got to love what you do.” Dreams? Passion? Love? Sounds more like the…
My last day of teaching high school and coaching football was June 3, 1986. Due to declining enrollment of the school district where I was employed, my position was being eliminated. I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back, I think I escaped just before the Apocalypse. Back then, I never feared parental…
If you woke up today and discovered that you had won millions in last evening’s lottery drawing, would you still work? Always a great conversation starter, the number of Americans responding ‘yes’ has declined from over 80% in 1955 to 66% in recent years according to Psychology Today. So what happens when there are people…