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Goodwill Exposed Paying Sweatshop Wages to Disabled

Crisis management required after media highlights contrast between stated mission and reality The revelation that some disabled Goodwill workers make as little as 22 cents an hour while execs regularly rake in as much as $1.1 million annually has created a crisis of reputation for the nonprofit organization. According to NBC News, Labor Department documents …

CFC Summer 2013 Action Planning — What Do They Want?

Update on Proposed Changes to CFC Regulations: First, regarding the proposed changes to the CFC regulation (in my May 30 posting), I want to thank you if you took the opportunity to send a comment to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) about the proposed changes. While the Federal Register comment period closed on June …

You and Your Nonprofit Board – New and Recommended

The whole gamut of board issues is covered from “A Blue Ribbon Nominating Committee for your Board” by Jan Masaoka to “Act Your Age: Organizational Life Cycles and How They Impact Your Board” by Mike Burns to “Don’t Just Whack“Em and Plaque“Em” with an excellent example for an exit interview of Board members by Carol Weisman.

The Technical Communicator

As an addendum to the previous post on Tips For A Training Manual, I have to add that communicating information face-to-face is difficult and is even more challenging when you communicate via text. Whether you are writing user manuals, online help, technical documents or release notes for software applications, you need to have certain attributes …

Integral Perspective on Spirituality at Work

I love how social media works to connect people across time and space. I’ve posted several of my blogs and articles on my Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/LindaJFerguson) and LinkedIn groups. From one of my posts, I ‘met’ Margot Borden from France. After a few exchanges of ideas, I invited her to write a guest blog …

Failures Don’t Have to Be Fatal

I’ve said many times: I’ve learned more from my failures than from my successes…and I’ve made some whoppers. Goof-ups, missteps, slip-ups and embarrassments are no reason to ring one’s hands and hang one’s head. In fact, our mistakes can be the most powerful teachers we have. The lessons we learn often stick with us for …

Paula Deen’s Racist Reputation Wreck

No amount of crisis management can prevent Food Network from giving Deen the boot Paula Deen has enjoyed a long run as one of the most well-known celebrity chefs in the world, but a poorly-handled admission of racist views and actions has forced Food Network to drop her from its roster. One read through this …

Special CFC Update: Congressional Hearing on Proposed CFC Regulations

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The Congressional Hearing on OPM’s Proposed Changes to CFC which was originally scheduled for June 26, 2013 has been postponed. The hearing is tentatively being rescheduled for July 10, 2013 Watch This Space for Updates. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) received more than 800 comments about the proposed changes to the CFC …

How to Manage Overwhelm by Setting Boundaries

Even if you love your work, you can get overwhelmed if it gets out of control. Many of my executive coaching clients set boundaries to help them be more effective in their professional and personal lives. Boundaries are the lines we draw that help define our roles and interactions. Here are some tips for setting …