The Stellar Communicator

The Hartford’s innovative leadership development program helps both participants and managers enhance their leadership skills and create an inclusive environment for all. It's well established that corporate America, including the financial services industry, lacks diversity in management. Learn here one thing The Hartford is doing to address the problem.

It's well established that corporate America, including the financial services industry, lacks diversity in management. People of Color get hired less frequently, experience lower promotion rates and voluntarily leave at higher rates in most financial institutions. And, when organizations engage in diversity initiatives, they often focus on “fixing People of Color” as if they are the primary problem. The Hartford has long had a distinct culture that supports employees at all levels. Here's how their EMPOWER program helps. [Bylined blog post.]

In response to 2020's civil rights movement, and before President Biden made it a national holiday, some companies began honoring Juneteenth. They've created authentic programing around the holiday. Learn why celebrating the holiday this way is equity signaling, not just "virtue" signaling in your workplace. [Bylined blog post.]

This ghostwritten piece is one I successfully pitched to an agency client based on my subject matter expertise and graduate educational background in corporate communications and cultural transformation. I then researched, developed and wrote the content to fit the client's brand and content strategy. Because equity-focused messaging is now a core offering, I am pleased to have written this. [Ghostwritten blog post.]

This is a ghostwritten blog post I pitched, researched, developed and write for an agency client. While, as is their prerogative, they revised the introductory paragraph and some sources and statistics to suit their unique needs, they maintained the structure and keys to diversity success. Since equity-focused employee messaging is one of my core offerings, this was a pleasure to write. (The original version is available for review upon request.)

Tim Mulligan reshaped the venerable San Diego zoo from a place employees hated to work to one where its workers are more focused, healthy and engaged. Today, as the zoo celebrates its 100th anniversary, it does so in an award-winning environment that’s more profitable than ever. In this Q&A, he tells you how to achieve the same results for your organization. (Printed in "HR Magazine.")

What happens when you don't conduct your employee onboarding properly? What messages are you sending new recruits, current employees, and customers? Read this blog post to learn the answers to that question and the solution to making yours go more smoothly.

Senior executives in the banking industry are retiring, and banks are hard-pressed to replace them. Intensifying the problem is the fact that during the Great Recession, financial institutions hired fewer bankers in their mid-30s and 40s. Artificial intelligence (AI) has eliminated some banking tasks in recent years, causing bank hiring managers to believe that they could hire fewer professionals to address credit risk. However, human-driven credit risk is more sophisticated than the AI technology designed to find and mitigate it, so banks must hire employees specializing in credit risk and train them to do effectively do what AI can't. Training is a primary method for retaining the newest generation of credit risk professionals, too. This 2016 blog post provided insights to bank leaders about its importance. (**This is a blog post I pitched, researched, and wrote for then-40-year-old banking industry consultant, Omega Performance, which provides credit risk training to banks. Moody's Analytics now owns Omega Performance.) Image: Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Pexels

Today, organizational leaders must develop a collaborative leadership culture that facilitates employee engagement if they expect to achieve institutional goals and objectives. Commercial banks are no different, especially in the credit environment they now face. In the post-global financial crisis economy, alleviating financial threats is critical to preventing financial losses. HR and credit administrators must work collaboratively to ensure bankers get proper training to avert financial losses. But, all bank employees must work as a team and understand the key role they each play in creating a culture that reduces credit risk, increasing customer satisfaction and retention and encouraging a positive employee experience across the institution. In this 2016 blog post, I showed bank leaders how to implement strategies that facilitate a collaborative leadership culture. (**This is a blog post I pitched, researched, and wrote for then-40-year-old banking industry consultant, Omega Performance, which provides credit risk training to banks. Moody's Analytics now owns Omega Performance.) Image: Radission US on Unsplash

The last decade in the banking industry has been challenging. The US economy has rebounded, however, and consumers are getting more products and services from banks. Banks remain overwhelmed by the aftershocks of the economic meltdown. Post-crisis, many financial institutions still are working through costly legal outcomes related to poorly structured lending policies and the resulting wave of federal regulation enacted to prevent future financial collapses. Banks are facing increased costs both for complying with and violating new credit regulations designed to protect consumers. But credit risk training can reduce those costs, while increasing customer trust, and this 2016 blog post showed banking leaders how. (**This is a blog post I pitched, researched, and wrote for then-40-year-old banking industry consultant, Omega Performance, which provides credit risk training to banks. Moody's Analytics now owns Omega Performance.) Image: Edmond Dantes on Pexels

In this 2016 blog post, I showed senior banking leaders how banks can manage the regulatory environment while helping prevent future meltdowns by taking steps today to address rising credit risk. One critical way to confront credit risk is through investing in ongoing, robust credit risk training for bankers. While some banks are cutting back on this training, this blog post showed why it’s not advisable as both regulation and risk grow. (**This is a blog post I pitched, researched, and wrote for then-40-year-old banking industry consultant, Omega Performance, which provides credit risk training to banks. Moody's Analytics now owns Omega Performance.) Image: Robb Miller on Unsplash