Scratchin' The Surface of Workforce Development

Send us Fan Mail Join me as I walk through some ways I think we allow ourselves to manipulate and be manipulated in workforce. This is a long one! 

Send us Fan Mail Join me as I talk about what I think the difference is between an employee and a workforce developer; what it means to do workforce in 2026; and what I hope for you!

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I discuss realities of contract training in public workforce development from my perspective. 

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of 'Scratching the Surface of Workforce Development,' I addresses the importance of moving past 'false professionalism' to foster genuine communication. I delve into various myths and truths about workforce development, including misconceptions about the role of the federal government, the necessity of both technical and soft skills, and the cul...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Season 3 of 'Scratching the Surface of Workforce Development.' Season 1 we learned how to do this, season 2 we survived life so it's definitely not my best work. But season 3? Season 3 is going to bring some real examples of things that are working.  Stay tuned.  This episode reflects on personal and professional challenges as I discuss the ups and downs...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I describe how I wish we treated data and requests as workforce developers. How I wish funders could be realistic and not encourage the habit. And, in general, some of my pollyanna views of where I wish my industry could go...

Send us Fan Mail Join me as I chat about all things current in workforce and the need to determine what needs to change. I discuss federal and state policy here and my viewpoints on where we are as a policy and a profession. Glad to be back after a long, unscheduled break!

Send us Fan Mail As I experience more and more, I continue to come back to some simple realities of things I hope for my profession, the one we rarely name-Workforce Development. Here I share some of these thoughts. 

Send us Fan Mail Workforce developers typically pride themselves on how much 'work' they do in a day. Their jobs require it. But, when do we network? When do we take the time to build relationships outside of those we are directly responsible to? Rarely in some cases. These relationships are critical for so many reasons. They're also vital to the business development process that&ap...

Send us Fan Mail There are critical occupations required to support most export industries. Where do they stand in your community?

Send us Fan Mail As the country depends more and more on 'workforce developers', I think there are critical skills that must be learned and employed to be successful at the local level. I share some of those here as I've heard from listeners that this content is what they're most interested in. Here you go! If you have other topics you'd like me to consider adding, please...

Send us Fan Mail Join me this episode as I chat about the harsh realities of living in survival mode,  antiquated workforce systems, robots, addiction, scarcity mentalities, hard decisions, hard conversations, and poor outcomes. Ultimately, workforce development is in a crossroads as it's become the sexy topic of the time period, but most still don't understand it. Our workforce is produ...

Send us Fan Mail Join as Ryan Miller and I discuss the work his office, AccelerateMS, is doing in Mississippi. This new office has a broad mandate and is working to secure Mississippi's future. 

Send us Fan Mail We are coming off a big win in Mississippi and as I sat in the Capitol watching the Legislators do their part of this, my brain went to work. Economic, Workforce, and Community Development intersect in many ways, and sometimes not at all. Remember, we just scratch the surface of topics! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, I have the pleasure of hosting Matt Bogoshian, Executive Director of the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative. Matt is a leading policy expert and doing great things in the space of pulling varied groups of humans together to support manufacturing in America!  Check out their website at https://americanmcc.org/ and I urge you to sign up for their weekly call...

Send us Fan Mail Join us as Reuben, Associate Vice President for Research at Mississippi State University (More here:  https://www.research.msstate.edu/directory/rfb2 ) and I discuss all things workforce, our partnerships, and the work he and his university are doing to support manufacturing in Mississippi. 

Send us Fan Mail We spend a lot of time in workforce development discussing deficiencies. Join me as I talk about how I believe we have to move forward as communities, regions, states, and, frankly, the country. We can only control our small portion of it but I do think there are ways to move forward and get big wins. 

Send us Fan Mail Join me as I talk about a few of the things I wish I knew when I entered formal workforce development through a workforce training role.  Do you have others you wish you knew?  LET ME KNOW! 

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the introductory episode of Scratchin' The Surface of Workforce Development! Join me as I share my 'why' for even recording this and ultimately why I wanted to get a conversation going!