You're Actually in the Business of Growing Tomatoes   No matter what your business is, I have to tell you – you’re really growing tomatoes.   Let me explain. I was recently in Vermont for the weekend; Columbus Day weekend to be exact. If you’re not into gardening in New England, you may not know, but mid-way through October is pretty late for tomatoes. In fact, if you actually have any plants left that haven’t been hit by a frost, you’re still out of luck, because those that have made it that long aren’t really in great shape.   So, imagine my surprise when we stopped...

If you consider what are called the virtues in mankind, you will find their growth is assisted by education and cultivation.   Xenophon (434 BC - 355 BC)     Business Gardening   As I write this, it’s late September and my vegetable garden is almost done. I must admit I am grateful that my cherry tomatoes are on their last legs. I plant them for my wife, but enough is enough. Other than salads, what can you do with them?   On the other hand, my green beans are still doing well and they will taste extra sweet this January when I take a bag of frozen summer out...

Work gives you meaning and purpose, and life is empty without it. (Stephen Hawking)   The Case for Hiring Workers (by Josh Bersin and Thomas Chamorro Premuzic, Harvard Business Review)   There’s a lot of talk about gender bias, racial bias, and culture bias at work, and each are important for many reasons. But perhaps one of the biggest and most problematic types of bias we face is the bias of age: we often evaluate people based on their age, and this is now becoming a major challenge in the workplace.   Several years ago, through our research for Deloitte, we asked around 10,000 companies, “Is age a competitive advantage or competitive disadvantage in your organization?”...

Does RI Have a Workers Comp Problem? (An Interview with Stephen Hickey, owner of Hickey Insurance)   Workers’ comp for RI state employees soars 54%, alarming officials - Target 12 Headline from Sept. 16   A recent headline story by one of Rhode Island's local news outlets has created quite a buzz in some circles. For perspective, I turned to Stephen Hickey, a Rhode Island Insurance agency who has been involved in the issue for over 35 years. His knowledge and experience is useful to understand the history of Workers Comp in Rhode Island, where we started and where we are now, and whether or not...

A Ruff Day At The Office? (from Business2community.com)   According to USA Today, a growing number of companies are allowing employees to bring their pets, typically dogs, into the workplace. And its not just companies related to the pet industry that are doing this (e.g., Purina, IAMS, Friskies).   Pets at Work, otherwise known as PAWs (get it?), may just be a way to differentiate employee culture, or to try to further blur the modern day distinctions between where you work and where you live. But some studies offer persuasive evidence that the presence of pets not only reduces workplace stress levels for the pet...