Easy-to-digest insights on workplace, personal, and leadership optimization

Is your organization optimized for employee engagement? For many, the answer is no. We’ll tell you why and what you can do to change your no into a yes… Employee engagement has been researched and studied extensively by academics, management consulting firms, and organizations around the globe for decades and while slight language variations may […]

In part 1, we discussed the leadership failure issues associated with the statement, “I’m disappointed but firing them is not an option.” This statement was made by a c-suite executive to an employee who had worked up the courage to report the prejudiced and bias-based behaviors of another leader. As is true of every statement […]

“I’m disappointed but firing them is not an option.” We’re back with another publication of Leadership Fail Statements, a gemisode series dedicated to examining the impact and harm of the actual statements made by organizational leaders in response to issue(s) that were brought to their attention. If you missed parts 1 and 2 of the […]

In the final gem of 2022, we encouraged you to reflect on the year’s “accomplishments and opportunity areas through the lens of your overall health”. Specific to overall health, we referred to “holistic health — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and any other related measurement that matters to you”. With Lunar New Year now days away, […]

Gregorian calendar year 2022 is preparing to come to a close and many end-of-year holiday (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Omisoka) celebrations are either under way or are being meticulously planned for. However, amidst the celebrations, personal and/or business end-of-year reflections can begin to dominate our thoughts. While the practice of examining our actions, beliefs, thoughts, and […]

For failure to demonstrate consistency in its application and create sustained change. FOMO, the other ‘f’ and once the primary concern amongst netizens, has been replaced by the fear of being “cancelled”. If recent headlines about artists changing song lyrics, celebrities, politicians, countries, brands, and everyday people being publicly shamed are any indication, this trend […]

A Gemisode™ Series – Part II Systems, policies, and people eventually fall short of their intentions and as such “all paths to progress begin with acknowledgement”. Whether harm is experienced due to race, gender, ethnicity, religious identity, ability status, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, body shape and/or size, or any other intersectional identity used to judge […]

A Gemisode™ Series – Part I You’re overwhelmed, perhaps exhausted, and juggling more thoughts and responsibilities than you can fathom, yet the ever-pressing demand surrounding you is, ‘be resilient, be, be resilient’!  The American Psychological Association offers that “resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through […]

A Gemisode™ Series – Part II Dr. Sarah Webb, in a 2017 essay explained that internalized oppression was “the belief among historically oppressed people that negative stereotypes about themselves and positive stereotypes about a dominant group are, in fact true.” Delving deeper into the dangers of internalized oppression, the 2022 Forbes article by Janice Gassam […]

A Gemisode™ Series – Part I “The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.”― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed If guaranteed allies were freely handed out, who wouldn’t line up? Receiving support when experiencing difficulty can have a positive impact on our mental and emotional state, yet, […]