Who is Responsible for Teaching our Kids?

By Deb Boelkes

Since the onset of the pandemic, working parents of school-age children have had to manage the education of their children while also managing their own careers.

Who could have imagined that schools the world over would shut down, not just for weeks, but in some cases for over a year? Who would have ever thought that a public-school teacher, whose salary is paid by taxpayers, could either refuse to teach or be disallowed to teach by the teachers’ union unless specific union demands were met?

Childhood education has certainly changed since my grandfather was a boy—at the turn of the last century. I recall him telling me how he attended school in a one-room schoolhouse in Kansas. The students in his class, mostly between the ages of 6 and 12, either had to walk to school or ride a horse shared with siblings. There was no carpool or school bus. Some had to walk two hours each way.

The schoolmarm, who was responsible for teaching students of all ages and at all grade levels, had a contract with the county school board that stipulated she could keep her job only while she remained unmarried and demonstrated high moral character.

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Leading Through Trying Times

By Deb Boelkes

Life has way of throwing us curve balls when we least expect them. As a leader, it can be challenging enough to quietly deal with your own personal hardships when they happen, but how do you brace yourself to manage situations professionally yet compassionately when those reporting to you suffer a tragedy?

While the COVID-19 pandemic may have been a wonderful boon to some organizations, like major online retailers and home delivery firms, it’s been a disaster for many in the travel, hospitality and tourism industries. The pandemic has completely derailed many small businesses and anyone unfortunate enough to have been labelled non-essential.

When disaster strikes, it’s in the DNA of heartfelt leaders to run toward the fire, so to speak. Just as first responders are trained to do, heartfelt leaders know instinctively to be highly visible. They stand ready to provide support, comfort, and aid to distressed team members whenever it’s needed most. Doing so is what separates heartfelt leaders from the rest.

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Do You Disparage Your Competition?

By Deb Boelkes

I remember when I was four or five years old, some of the neighbor kids would say silly things to each other, like “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” or, “Ooooo, you have coodies!”

Whenever one child might do something mean to another, the recipient might call the instigator a name, like “You coo-koo head!” followed by, “I’m going to tell on you!”

While name calling and character trashing statements may be common practice for preschool aged children, those kinds of abusive remarks were never condoned at my house. To the contrary, if my mother or grandmother happened to overhear me or any of the neighborhood children say such things, they would immediately pull me aside, sit me down, look me straight in the eye, and say to me, “It’s not nice to call people names. You know that don’t you?”

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What the Military Knows about Heartfelt Leadership

by Deb Boelkes

If you or your immediate loved ones have not served in the military, you may assume that all military officers rely on command-and-control style leadership to gain compliance from the ranks. In fact, when it comes to the US Marine Corps, many of us tend to conjure up visions of drill sergeants shouting commands and derogatory statements about an infantry person’s appearance or behavior, while standing just inches from a young grunt’s face. This is hardly the picture most of us envision when it comes to imagining Heartfelt Leadership. With a son, a father, two grandfathers, and generations of great grandfathers before them who served this nation in every major war since 1776, I was very eager to interview military officers as well as corporate leaders when it came time to research and write the two books that Dr. Mark Goulston and I collaborated on, The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture and Heartfelt Leadership: How to Capture the Top Spot and Keep on Soaring. 

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Are You Happy to Have this Year Behind You?

by Deb Boelkes

How would you rate 2020 in the scheme of things? For some folks, 2020 has been a tremendous boon for business. In fact, it’s been the best of times.  For others, this year has been devastating in so many ways. For them it’s been the worst of times.

Perhaps 2020 will go down in the history books as Charles Dickens described in The Tale of Two Cities:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

Many of us faced both the best and worst of times this year. No matter how this year impacted you, it’s more important than ever, as the year comes to a close, to reflect on the intentions we originally set out for ourselves and assess our personal performance. Did we actually accomplish our goals or did we allow the pandemic to defeat us?

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Be Sure to Give Some Heartfelt Thanks to Your Employees

By Deb Boelkes

The holiday season is always a great time to infuse a little WOW into your team members’ lives and strengthen your workplace culture. As my special thanks to you for your continued support, here are some of my favorite ways to show gratitude to all those team members who have been through an especially challenging year.

As the holiday season approaches, most managers start looking for ways to show their teams they care. Yes, that’s what bonuses are for. But cash gifts aside, there are plenty of other ways—more meaningful ways— to show your team members that you really do appreciate all their hard work and dedication, especially after all they’ve been through in this crazy, upside down pandemic year.  

Demonstrating a true sense of heartfelt gratitude is a key part of creating a WOW factor workplace. One of the greatest gifts you can give your team is a culture so great that they can’t imagine working any place else. It all comes down to giving the kind of support, encouragement, guidance, and compassion each team member needs to flourish and thrive.

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The Power of a Heartfelt Loss Review

By Deb Boelkes

When competing for something you really wanted to win, have you ever lost? If you’ve been in sales, did you ever lose a really big deal, one you had poured your heart and soul into for months? Or, have you ever expected a big promotion, but someone else got the job?  Have you ever run for office and failed to win a key endorsement or were defeated at the ballot box?

Let’s face it, losing hurts, especially when the loss is highly visible. A high visibility loss can trigger extreme disappointment, embarrassment, anger, and an impulse to publicly blame a host of other people. Some might even consider suicide as the only way to save face. No one wants to be viewed as a loser.

Yet, from every loss springs new opportunity.

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Are You Ready to See Smiling Faces Again?

By Deb Boelkes

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had my fill of seeing people wearing masks.

I’ve had my fill of going to the grocery store or elsewhere, running into people who I have known for years and should recognize, but don’t. That’s embarrassing.

Most of all, I miss seeing smiling faces.

I never realized before how a smiling face can make my day. But a masked face … not so much. I miss the heartfelt feelings a smiling face conveys.

I feel truly blessed to live in Florida. It’s one of the more progressive states when it comes to allowing people who choose to, to finally return to living a somewhat normal life, with smiling faces, both indoors and out.

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