Blogging, Writing, and Publishing

Recently a friend shared her dream to get into “publishing”. I listened intently as she described her desire to write articles and becoming a published author. I’ve read her work in some of our locally published magazines and have no doubt that she would make a great writer. I also recognized that she was where I found myself a few years back; full of ideas, but nowhere to publish them. The first inclination is to do what many budding authors have done; purchase a copy of the bestselling writer’s reference book. The book is a great place to develop ideas and sell articles. It also provides a good service with great details on which publisher is purchasing which articles and for how much. However, the reference cannot guarantee that you will have the platform to actually sell an article. After a few years of buying these books, I recognized the growing trend of many magazines not taking on new authors and paying less than ever before if they did buy an article. Why? Because of the cha...

Setting a good ethical example does not necessarily mean subordinates will follow it. Some may feel that circumstance justifies unethical behavior. Therefore, the leader must constantly monitor the organization’s ethical climate and take prompt action to correct any discrepancies between the climate and the standard. To effectively monitor organizational climates, leaders can use a periodic Ethical Climate Assessment Survey combined with a focused leader plan of action as follows: Begin the plan of action by assessing the unit. Observe, interact, and gather feedback from others, or conduct formal assessments of the workplace. Analyze gathered information to identify what needs improvement. After identifying what needs improvement, begin developing courses of action to make the improvements. Develop a plan of action. First, develop and consider several possible courses of action to correct identified weaknesses. Gather important information, assess the limitations a...