BJ Gallagher

In business, smart hiring managers know that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Hypothetical questions are useless in the selection process -- the only thing a hypothetical question will tell you is how good the job applicant is at making up hypothetical answers. If you want to...

The Buddha knew a thing or two about leadership, teamwork, communication, change, conflict, and the stresses and strains that are part and parcel of organizational life. After all, the Buddha was founder, CEO, and CSO (Chief Spiritual Officer) of a large, successful organization that was built to last. His was...

Every April when "Take Your Child to Work Day" rolls around, I think of Lisa Hammond, founder of "Femail Creations," a catalog company selling products made by women for women. She was a young mother of two when she started her business 20 years ago. And she managed to build...

I recently met Julie Larson, an Idaho consultant and organizer of a Facebook group called "The Go-Giver Group." I'd never heard the term "Go-Giver" before and it intrigued me, so I asked her about it. She suggested I get in touch with Bob Burg, who coined the term in his...

"The term 'homosexual' is really a misnomer when it comes to lesbians," Kristin Katalin told me when we sat down to talk recently. "The more appropriate term would be 'homoemotional.' For most of us, it isn't about sex so much as it's about...

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are," wrote French diarist Anais Nin. This is not just true of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed teen Trayvon Martin -- it is true of all of us. How we see a...

A couple weeks ago, I was out walking my dog with a friend and her two dogs. One of her dogs is a sweetie, but the other is a real handful. As we discussed the behavior problems she was struggling to tame, she mentioned that she was using special music...

Not too long ago, Berrett-Koehler publisher Steve Piersanti sent me a list that surprised the heck out of me. Piersanti has always seemed like such a positive, upbeat, optimistic guy -- so his downbeat message came as a shock. Entitled "The Ten Awful Truths about Book Publishing," here's...

"You can judge the character of a man by the way he treats his women, his children, and his animals," according to author and gender expert Dr. Pat Allen. By these criteria, our president stands head and shoulders above his GOP challengers.

Obama Respects Women: Obama fell in love...

Bill Treasurer knows a thing or two about courage. In his early career as a member of the U.S. High Diving team, he performed over 1500 dives from heights scaling to over 100 feet (the equivalent of a ten-story building). Today he is a business consultant who works with organizations...

The good news is that the recession is officially over and the recovery has begun -- we're on our way back up -- slowly, to be sure, but it's moving in the right direction. The bad news is that many of the jobs that disappeared in the Great Recession aren't...

Ruth Lavigne was thirty years old when she started working with a therapist. She had just given birth to her second child and was experiencing some depression. She felt trapped in an unhappy marriage and unfulfilled in her work. She was a banquet waitress, working for her in-laws.

"I have...

"In the beginning was the Word," according to the Bible. Words create our reality. Words have power -- to uplift or to tear down, to inspire or to incite, to heal or to hurt. Words create our world -- for better or for worse.

Rush Limbaugh's personal name-calling ("slut" and...

Former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith has re-kindled the pilot light of resentment, frustration, and disgust flickering in the hearts of millions of workers across the country. Smith's resignation letter, published in the New York Times on March 14, cited Goldman Sachs' "toxic and destructive" corporate culture as...

"Hell is other people," wrote the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. He was right, but only half right. The other half is, "Heaven is other people, too." To work in an organization necessarily means working with other people -- coworkers, bosses, customers, vendors, the public. Our relationships with other people are...

Years ago, Mother Teresa was invited to attend an anti-war rally. She declined, reportedly saying something to the effect that: "Anti-war protestors are some of the most war-like people I've ever seen. I have no interest in participating in war. But, if you ever hold a pro-peace rally, let me...

Two incredibly talented people died on the same winter weekend -- pop star and actress Whitney Houston and Wall Street Journal columnist and best-selling author Jeffrey Zaslow. Both touched millions of lives, bringing inspiration, joy, and empowerment to their fans around the world. Both were superstars in their respective fields....

It was late in the afternoon one day last week and I was feeling weepy as I drove to the veterinary oncologist to pick up my dog after a day of tests. Fannie has had two surgeries in the past year to remove malignant melanoma from her tongue, but a...

'Tis the season for making resolutions for the new year. "Out with bad habits -- in with the new!" We make resolutions, draw up lists, and put sticky notes on the bathroom mirror to remind ourselves of our new commitments. Our enthusiasm is high and we're optimistic about the "new...

I can't believe I've finally found an amazing artist who is also a savvy businesswoman! What a happy surprise to discover an artist who uses both sides of her brain equally well. She goes by the name of MONA!, she lives and works in North Carolina and she...