Here’s the Corporate BS for August 24-30:
August 24–thinking cap:  A quaint, teacherly metaphor for applying one’s full mental capacities to a problem, the use of which is tacit acknowledgment that most of the time people are walking around wearing their “I’m totally tuned out and coasting” cap.

The beginning.
Supervisor:  “Hello, HR Manager?  I want to fire Employee.”
HR Manager:  “Why?”

This week’s song is Elvis Costello’s poignant, even stirring, “Shipbuilding.”

Hiring, discharge, all in between; Discrimination, harassment, seen and unseen.
Documents, handbooks, paper bits; Managers, supervisors, having fits.

Do you have an office tic of some kind? Drumming your fingers on your desk. Snapping a ballpoint pen open and closed. Rattling change in your pocket. Crossing your legs back and forth. Spinning in your desk chair. As this video clip demonstrates, there may come a time when you’ll need to get help.

Hiring, discharge, all in between; Discrimination, harassment, seen and unseen.
Documents, handbooks, paper bits; Managers, supervisors, having fits.

The company’s C-Suite was composed of all men. At regular meetings, it wasn’t unusual for the guys to start with a few questionable jokes, some racy humor and a bit of sexual banter. Boys will be boys, and besides, it was all in good fun.

The recently departed Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had plenty to say on many important subjects. He asked a simple question that should make every executive, manager, supervisor, human resources professional, employee, and employment lawyer sit straight up in his/her chair and take stock of what one is doing or not doing in his/her job.

I dreamed that the human resources department for all my clients had been outsourced. CEOs of every company had called a meeting and announced that having an HR department inside the company added no value. Outsourcing was the answer.