Like a Boss with Michael Cohen

As Pride Month 🌈 draws to a close, let's talk about an "issue" that remains controversial: allowing transgender employees to use the restroom 🚾 that matches their gender identity. Yes, the current administration and several federal agencies may be pushing a different narrative, but the law—including Title VII as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Bostock v. Clayton County and numerous state ant...

Last week, I had the true honor of speaking at the SHRM Annual Conference. The event was held in Orlando, FL, home to Walt Disney World , the Happiest Place on Earth. 🏰 While being in Orlando always brings back incredibly fond memories😃, there is one experience which I'd like to forget. It was the vacation I cut short, leaving my family behind, because I "had to" work. ❌❌❌ Friends - taking ti...

This week I have the honor of speaking at the best HR Conference👑of the year - the SHRM Annual Conference, in Orlando, Florida🌞. Spending meaningful time with the most dedicated human resources professionals in the world not only is inspiring, but it provides a crucial reminder about the importance of leadership education. 👩‍🏫 I’ve said it before - I truly believe that education is the silver...

Pride Month🌈 is a time to celebrate—and to reflect on how we show up for the LGBTQ+ community in our workplaces. Today, through my Like A Boss Podcast, I want to share a story about transgender rights in practice and the massively positive impact it had on an organization's culture. 💕 Several years ago, a valued employee at a company I work with came out as transgender and began their transition...

When I was a kid, my "Uncle" Stevie (my dad's best friend) was my favorite person in the entire world.👑 He was the kindest and most thoughtful person I knew and Steve was the true embodiment of the word "mensch." A gay man without his own children, Uncle Stevie treated my brother and me as though we were his kids and we treasured every moment spent with Uncle Stevie. Tragically, as you will hear...

In a comedically poignant moment in the 1991 movie "What About Bob," Bill Murray painstakingly recites the list of all of his (real and perceived) ailments. While the scene is hyperbolic and laugh-out-loud funny, it provides a situation which organizations and leaders find themselves in all the time. Disclosures require action. Is your organization ready? Are you leaders prepared? Do we all unders...

My man Ted Lasso ⚽ is coming back in August! I recently saw the trailer 📽️ for Season 4 and I have been thinking about why that show resonated so deeply with so many people. Yes, it was funny.🤣 Yes, it was warm.💖 Yes, it gave us biscuits🍪, locker room speeches, and “Believe.” But underneath all of that, it also reminded us of something we do not say often enough: everyone struggles.😥 Not some...

As we continue through Mental Health Awareness Month (and always), leaders must support our employees' mental health journeys and continue to emphasize that their mental health matters! We also are approaching the beginning of summer.😎 Beach.🏖️ Mountains.🌄 Lakes.🌊 A lot of employees like to get away from the office or from work and enjoy as much of summer as they can. Some of those employees al...

We don't talk about this enough. In this Mental Health Awareness Month, it's time.⏲️ Some of the most effective leaders I've seen aren't the ones who had it all figured out. They're the ones who've faced real struggles with their mental health — and came out the other side with something most leadership programs can't teach. This week's "Like A Boss" Podcast examines4️⃣ways that navigating mental...

(Originally recorded Fall 2025) The fall is my busiest time of year. Starting the day after Labor Day and running through December, I typically am in a two to three cities each week. It's planes, trains and automobiles in the best way! ✈️ 🚂 🚗 And, while of course I miss being home💔and travel can get tiring🥱, I consider it to be such a unique privilege to meet so many great people who overwhelm...

Great leadership is not built in a single defining moment. It is built in the thousands of small, deliberate steps taken every day — the consistent choices to push forward, learn, adapt, and improve. This is the essence of relentless incrementalism, and it is one of the most underappreciated forces in effective leadership today. We often celebrate🎉the breakthrough — the big product launch, the la...

Today begins the 2026 National Football League Draft! Aside from it being one of my favorite sports days of the year (yes, I’m a huge dork), the Draft provides NFL organizations with a real opportunity to build. But, selecting the right talent requires not only a great deal of work, it mandates that decisionmakers eliminate outdated and anachronistic ways of thinking. In recognition of the Draft a...

Last weekend, I had the privilege of volunteering💁‍♂️at the American Cancer Society 's Philadelphia Coaches vs Cancer BasketBall🏀Gala. The BasketBall Gala is an annual event, this year attended by approximately 350 people and this year raising over $800,000 to support the cancer community. A more inspirational evening I simply cannot imagine.🤲 Throughout the course of the night, I witnessed tru...

Okay, maybe "sins" is aggressive and "deadly" 💀 hyperbolic, but these mistakes are very serious, far too common and simply cannot happen. 🙅‍♂️ After a brief ADA primer, this week's video examines what are, based on my experience in assisting clients confronting these issues, a sort of Top 🔟 list of ADA interactive process mistakes. These frequently-made errors apply to leaders and to HR pros al...

The University of Michigan Men's Basketball🏀Team has won it all! They danced🕺with 67 other teams and were crowned👑champions of the NCAA Tournament. As is always the case in #MarchMadness , there were so many compelling stories and so many talented players. This year, however, one of the most impactful storylines was provided by hashtag #UniversityofMichigan forward, Will Tschetter . A 5th year...

I hear it far too often: “Performance appraisals are a waste of time and only reward the top and punish the bottom." 🙉 ❌ Nope. ❌ Ain't true. ❌ Just not right at all. While I do agree that, when a manager does not give the requisite attention or take sufficient time, the poorly worded or largely-ignored appraisal can create more harm than good. But in my experience, these problems overwhelmingl...

Last week, Mia Cohen 🏃‍♀️and I🏃‍♂️ran the Philly Love Run. Mia ran👟the half-marathon in support of the Glioblastoma Foundation and in honor of 2 people close to her who recently passed from that horrifying form of brain cancer. I ran the 1️⃣3️⃣.1️⃣ miles to support Mia. A more inspirational and meaningful experience I cannot imagine. When you run as slowly as I do, you have A LOT of time to liv...

Far too often, managers and supervisors fail properly and adequately to prepare for interviews they are to conduct. This lack of readiness leads to a myriad of problems, including by way of example, the following: Not asking all of the necessary questions. ❓❓❓ Not asking the right questions. ⚠️ A candidate's belief that the interview is not interested. 😴 A failure to sell your organization. 😶...

The seemingly daily changes in employment laws have wreaked havoc with many of our workplaces. We live in a state of confusion and consternation 😕 and, at times, we simply do not know what we can and cannot do. Given the complications, prudent organizations are focusing on the safety and well-being of their employees and have doubled down on harassment prevention trainings 👩‍🏫 and other session...

I was in my early 30s. I was married to an amazing woman 💘 and we had a wonderful young daughter👼. I was just so happy, personally. Problem was, I hated my job. And that professional dissatisfaction was creeping into my home life. I knew something had to give. Uncomfortable with confrontation, I took a chance and approached my boss. It was the single most important work-related conversation I ev...

Those are the words of world-renown philosopher, deep-thinker and awesome sneaker-owner👟, Theodore "Ted" Lasso. Although the quote comes from a fictional coach of a made-up European football ⚽team, the sentiment could not be more real and more true. Ted understands and appreciates the importance of our taking care of each other.🫂 As leaders, the responsibility to be present (physically, intelle...

Last week I had coffee ☕ with one of my former players 🥎, now a freshman at a local university. A first generation college student, this young woman is doing phenomenally well and I'm indescribably proud of her (can you feel my smile?).🥹 While our conversation was meandering at times (but always fun), she wanted to make sure to emphasize to me how, in the face of various first-year mistakes, sh...

MARCH MADNESS is upon us! Starting this week, 68 men's and 68 women's college basketball teams will compete for NCAA immortality. Each team has one goal - to win it all!🏆 Each player will be looking for that One Shining Moment. 🌟 But to get the big dub, talent simply is not enough. The winners on both the women's and men's side will be the teams that combine talent and two additional and equally...

In 1970, there was a school district in Chesterfield County, Virginia that employed a mandatory maternity leave policy. A high school 🏫 history teacher (who would become very close to me) in that district became pregnant 🤰 and was told that, due to this policy, she had to stop teaching at the end of her first trimester. 📅 That teacher said no, took a stand, and fought against this policy all th...

Last summer☀️, I posted a video about my own mental health concerns and the fact that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who struggle and liars.💡(link to that video: https://lnkd.in/e_jujWSr ). So many of you reached out to express kindness💕and to let me know that I was not alone. The reality is that so many of us, as leaders and as humans, endure periods of hurt. The reality is t...