Blazing Paddles - A Pickleball Podcast

This special episode was put together at the 11th hour when the OSHA announcement was delivered. Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his intent to utilize OSHA to inspect and enforce a vaccine mandate to all employers over 100 employees. The other option is a weekly negative COVID test. We're discussing the mechanics and feasibility of such an enormous endeavor and do our best to separa...

How's that for a headline grabber? Strong to quite strong , I'd say. But crazily enough, it's not an overstep to characterize the events leading up to the 1894 legislation making Labor Day a federal holiday as, well, an absolute bloody mess. History is great that way, really. As we currently trudge through what many characterize as the worst time period in the annals of the United S...

Everybody loves a good story, right? We especially love stories that come from a place of authenticity and sincerity. Jerome Duroy ( connect with Jerome! ) knows all about this - his company, Narativ , helps companies realize the power of storytelling. While it seems a natural fit for sales and marketing externally, storytelling is equally important (and effective) when used in-house.  Recruiting,...

So how's your network doing these days? Feeling connected with colleagues, peers, friends, strangers and other interesting people? News alert - we're all amateurs. In Episode 14 I'm talking with my friend Steve Browne, Chief People Officer at LaRosa's Pizzeria based in Cincinnati, OH. But with Steve, it's not a matter of "where" he is or for whom he works, becaus...

Larry "LK" Kihlstadius is a Naval Academy grad, a former Marine (I know, there are no "former" Marines), entrepreneur, coach to CEO's and soon-to-be reality TV star. The program, "4 Days To Save The World" is an amazing concept that shows the power of teams that possess focus, vision, deadlines, defined roles, and a lack of egos. We discuss that experience and ho...

Andre Young is a leadership and work/life harmony consultant, three time author , motivational "teacher" ( not speaker), trainer and founder of You Evolving Now, LLC. After almost 20 years as a mental health professional, Andre has learned a thing or two about how people work and interact to create a culture. He seeks to improve the interactions between leaders and employees to allow for...

Hello Hardballers, If you harken back to 2020, you can listen to my first interview with David Creelman, where we discuss the perils of corporate "wokeness." This time around David flexes his brain and we get a first-ever look at his new book " Management For Scientists and Engineers. " Don't worry, it covers a far larger audience than those two specific vocations, but it...

Hello Hardballers, we're back after a 2-month hiatus, so why not come back with a bang. Today's guest, Jessica Miller-Merrell , is a Human Resources influencer of the highest order. Her blog, Workology.com , started in 2005 and was the catalyst for a sequence of events that bring her to the present day HR monolith of services for the HR community, all under the XCeptional HR Consulting u...

You've said it before - heck, we've all said it before; "I just hate the politics we have to play at this company." You may have even said these very words as you left your employer, ready to start anew with a new company where your success will rise and fall with your performance, never mind all that trivial political nonsense. And then you realize after Day 1 you didn't...

Three old salts in HR get together to discuss unimaginable hardship dealing with the canceling of a flavored water machine, Sacketts obsession with mental health, black market vaccines, Caveman Lawyers, zombie movies and Alabama wifi - all of the factors that must be considered when debating the return-to-the-office topic. Put your ears on and listen to this one pard, and watch that volume knob if...

Hello HR, How long have we heard about an increased minimum wage? Long enough for the increase to be meaningless, that's for sure. Would it even help? Could it actually  hurt?   Well hell yes it could hurt - for every person lifted from poverty, another 1 ½ jobs would be lost. That's a short u-turn right back into poverty.  Join me for a quick 15-minute rant, let me know what you think....

It's a rote response we've almost become programmed to utter. A general greeting &/or welfare check like "How's it going?" is met with the standard " Busy as always! " or some similar descriptor to let you know that you are in no way guilty of having a moment to relax. Meet Garland Vance , a guy who has his own story about the dangers of being "busy.&quo...

The pandemic has taxed our resilience reservoirs. Forced to respond to new work conditions, new social limitations and uncertain implications on our personal wellbeing - it's been quite a psychological spartan race. I present to you AJ Adams , a pioneer in the study of positive psychology and building resilience. We have an innate ability to bounce back when faced with stress - but can we exe...

There are a few things in life we take for granted despite how critical it might be to our very existence. Breathing, for one, is something we do 20,000 times per day without even giving it a thought. Despite it being a subconscious function, it turns out we're almost all doing it wrong . But what about sleeping? Another aspect of our life that encompasses roughly 33% of our time on this mort...

Who interviews their wife as a podcast guest? Apparently I do, and the experience was even better than I had hoped. Has it been a crazy year? Yeah, it has, but that statement has become cliché. For many people it was a life-changing year, and that includes my enigmatic wife of 20 years, Karen (being named "Karen" in 2020 was life-changing in itself.) Job changes, lifestyle changes, frien...

Like a Happy Days episode from days gone by, I teased this topic into a "To Be Continued" two-parter.  In this episode David gives some in-the-workplace application to encourage robust, difficult, and necessary conversations as a company. We discuss bias vs. barriers, inclusion vs. philanthropy, and the reality that a company divided cannot stand. Do a quick scan of your internal diversi...

For HR professionals, difficult conversations are the ticket of admission to strategic partnership. In this second episode of Season 2, I chat with David Creelman , a global HR consultant based in Canada (we won't hold that against him, eh?) about a topic buzzing the ears of many company executives around the world. Wokeness. Based on the teachings of Dr. Peter Boghossian, David and I discuss...

Season 2 kicks off with a bang as I chew the fat with the inimitable Jeff Wald, best selling author, founder of two tech firms, angel investor, startup advisor and all-around man with a plan. His latest book, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations is based on gobs of data that is too often ignored in the world of Human Resources. The book also includes the prediction...

We make it way more difficult than it needs to be, don't we? It's a universally accepted tenet that our ability and willingness to develop our people may be the most important investment in time and resources we have. And our employees agree...they are literally craving more development , so why do we consistently fall short? Join me for a conversation with Julie Winkle-Giulioni, author...

Episode 12 brings us Kyle Roed, senior HR practitioner with CPM Holdings, author of the " New School HR " blog, and the creator and host of the Rebel HR Podcast , found wherever you fancy your podcast platforming. We prove that we can both go in any number of interesting tangents, and slowly peel the Kyle Roed onion to reveal a closet bad-ass who reveals an earlier profession that belies...

When you get a couple old HR salts going, the conversation goes fast & furious. Join me and Kris Dunn ("KD") for a hash & dash that includes the changes in strategic planning, HAG's, MBO's (and other $5 terms) and COVID be damned if we're going to remain in a fetal position in 2021. KD talks about his love of proctoring, some interesting discoveries about ZOOM role...

This is a fun one, folks ~ Sarah Hodges is an executive coach, speaker, and founder of the Hodges Leadership Institute, an On'Demand, web-based program designed to improve corporate culture through leadership EQ training, all backed by her proprietary neurophysiological "A+ Method." Download The HodgesCoaching 2020 Brochure right here . On this episode we discuss the challenges of h...

Meet Charlie Morrison, Chairman and CEO of Wingstop Restaurants, Inc. In a first, I have Charlie visit me in the studio for a live conversation. We discuss foundational values, the business dynamic of the “pivot” during a pandemic, the importance of culture, and the critical component our restaurant employers play in the American ecosystem. Charlie Morrison is Chairman and CEO of Wingstop Inc., wh...

Andy Storch is a busy guy...host of two podcasts, founder of the Talent Development Think Tank conference and Talent Development Virtual Summit, husband, father, friend and just for kicks...author! Own Your Career Own Your Life is Andy's freshly released book (available on Amazon as of 11/16/20) is for the job seeker tired of accepting "okay" as a career.  We discuss old habits and...

In retrospect, wasn't September 2020 fun? If October taught us anything, it's that we ain't seen nothin' yet. Listen to Whit's "10 Reasons October 2020 Will Never Be Forgotten", including all your favorites: POTUS, SCOTUS, COVID, Debates, Bobulinski, an October Surprise and of course...The Big Guy. Looking for a fitness app specifically designed for Pickleheads?...