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Leadership isn't a fine art. It isn't a gift that inspirational people are born with. Leadership is a clearly definable skill that can be learned and when applied consistently will motivate your staff to great productivity. Look in the mirror. When you think about your own personal leadership style are you a leader that you would follow?  If not, then maybe it's time to focus on the basic skills that any person in a leadership position can learn and succeed with.

Discrimination itself is not actually illegal. We discriminate every day. When we go to lunch we discriminate against some foods in favor of ones we like. When we make friends we discriminate against some people in favor of others and we do so because of personal like and dislikes. This type of discrimination is, of course, not considered illegal.

Customer Service is common sense. We are all customers in our everyday life and we all know what constitutes good and bad service. So why is it so difficult? Why do we all commiserate with each about bad service that we seemingly receive on a daily basis? It all comes down to two simple words - Actions and Attitudes. Every employee's customer service training should include training on these two simple words.

The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 was signed into law in response to the catastrophic financial meltdown brought on by corporate accounting malpractice.  Enron, Worldcom, Tyco and other large publicly traded corporations released fraudulent and misleading information to the public and hid debt in off-book subsidiaries  When the malfeasance came to light, the resulting carnage included thousands of people's life savings and jobs and nearly a trillion dollars in market loss.  Sarbanes Oxley effectively polices the issues that caused the meltdown and has brought transparency in financial accounting.

The benefits of implementing customer service training for employees and managers are many and the importance of this training should never been overlooked. However, implementing a training program that proves to be successful is a challenge that every company faces since it involves an array of factors. An effective employee training program must go beyond textbook material. It must also take into account the specific company's needs, its customer's needs and an assessment of how well employees and managers are meeting those needs, among other factors.

Finding the right talent for retail positions can be time-consuming and at times extremely frustrating. But, lucky for you the ability to evaluate talent is all around you. All you need to do is shop. As a retail manager or business owner you have the unique opportunity to find talent in your everyday life. So take advantage of it.

Sexual harassment has once again reared its ugly head in the workplace.  Just today, it has been reported that three subordinate employees have accused a high level political appointee to the U.S. Immigrations and customs enforcement administration of sexual harassment.   This particular case raises an aspect of sexual harassment that is usually overlooked when we think of a perpetrator of harassment - the accused party is a woman and the three subordinate employees are male.

Interviewing and hiring is a dangerous legal area for managers. Even questions asked with the best intentions can be considered illegal and open your company up for lawsuits. It is critical for managers to understand exactly what they can and cannot ask in an interview. Questions that are illegal in nature don't usually provide much valuable information anyway and in general are a waste of time from a hiring perspective. Make sure that you give yourself adequate preparation, so that you don't accidentally ask an illegal question.

Nowadays company cultural is a critical component in attracting top-level talent.  Culture is now relevant in every aspect of recruiting. Many prospective employees will value finding an organization that is a good fit for them over a job that pays more money. Human resource managers need to include company culture as part of the recruiting process to ensure that prospective candidates will be a successful fit with their organization.