How one individual’s experience changed the nation. In the late 1970s, Goodyear hired Lilly Ledbetter to work as a supervisor at its tire factory in Alabama. Ledbetter was the only female supervisor at the plant, and remained so for the nineteen years she worked there. She received a Top Performance Award for her work in…
Gender should be the least remarkable thing about someone, but transgender people are still too often misunderstood. To help those who are scared to ask questions or nervous about saying the wrong thing, Jackson Bird shares a few ways to think about trans issues. And in this funny, frank talk, he clears up a few…
The Privacy Shield Frameworks are a mechanism for legally transferring personal data from the European Union (EU) and Switzerland to the United States. They are based on agreements first entered into between the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission in 2016, replacing the earlier Safe Harbor program. The Privacy Shield promotes greater transparency…
Mean what you say, and say what you mean. In the 1990s, it was fashionable for businesses to develop mission statements. They hired consultants and public relations experts to put together statements that would catch customers’ eyes. As with many fashions, though, the result was often inauthentic. Organizations that only want to appear to be…
What you don’t know (or try to find out) can hurt you. A friend of mine was audited by the IRS. He found it to be a surprisingly constructive experience. His auditor gave him guidance on how to save money on his future returns, and was helpful in remedying the problems that were found in…
The business risks for sustainable energy initiatives can be surprisingly consistent with those for traditional energy projects. Renewable energy is one of the most dynamic business sectors—combining excellent profitability prospects, wide economic benefits, and mitigation of climate change and energy insecurity. A number of factors are boosting renewables growth, such as an expected rise in global electricity…
How to build and sustain an organization whose employees are happy, motivated, and ethical remains one of the most complex, elusive questions confronting business leaders. Organizational culture is determined by the interaction of systems, norms, and values, all of which influence behavior. Much discussion of organizational culture still focuses on structural changes to corporate governance…
Don’t underestimate this group’s power as a vocal force for transparency and change. Over the past few years, household-name companies have experienced employee petitions, strikes, and walkouts over a range of issues, including strategic investments and partnerships, sexual harassment, immigration, and pay and benefits for contract workers. For companies accustomed to thinking about stakeholder engagement as an external-facing exercise, the…
Stakeholders are critical to your organization…but who are they? We often hear about stakeholders, but there is some confusion about who, exactly, these people are. Stakeholders are those individuals and organizations that your company impacts. Stakeholders can be divided up into internal stakeholders and external stakeholders. Internal stakeholders Internal stakeholders are easier to identify than…
Many businesses have no formal ethics or compliance program. These organizations may see such a program as unnecessary or high-cost. But ethics and compliance yields many benefits to businesses. They improve company reputations. Studies show that organizations with programs are more successful. And an effective program attracts the kind of employees you want — and…
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