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Being a great place to work starts with a great place to live

Capital follows talent, but talent follows place. I first heard this statement from placemaking expert James Lima.   Most of my time is spent helping organizations create great places to work. The ability to attract and retain talent is the difference between successful organizations and others. But is being a great place to work enough to ensure that people will accept a job offer and that a company can build a strong workforce? At one time, it was. For decades, people tended to stay close to where they grew up. Today, this is no longer the case. A great place to work may not be ...

Political potpourri

Last week, I wrote about the tendency of Gov. Patrick Morrisey to continue on as if he is still trying to win a GOP primary by taking certain actions and making certain statements aimed at keeping his base in his corner. But I still don’t know who the base is that he keeps playing to on this issue of religious exemptions to West Virginia’s school-age immunization program required by State Code. I just went back to Morrisey’s website for his campaign for governor and I can’t find anything showing me he campaigned specifically on this issue. While a bill to allow for religious ...

Barista proletariat wins in New York

Zohran Mamdani’s lead in first choices in New York City’s ranked-choice mayoral primary, and his inevitable victory when second, third, fourth and fifth choices of trailing candidates are allocated to candidates voters ranked lower, mean that he’ll be the Democratic nominee for mayor of the nation’s largest city and the likely winner of the general election in November. Mamdani, 33, is a three-term state assemblyman who calls himself a democratic socialist. He has backed a rent freeze, city-run grocery stores, free buses, putting homeless service centers in the subways, a $30 ...

Trump doctrine

My young family and I were in Israel when the Israel Defense Forces and Mossad began their offensive operations against Iran on June 13, commencing what President Donald Trump has since called the “12-Day War.” Although the Mossad’s intelligence and the IDF’s rapid establishment of air superiority inside Iran proved to be nothing less than extraordinary, my wife and I lived on pins and needles for those first few days of the war. We had to be ready day or night, at a moment’s notice, to drop everything we were doing, grab our 6-month-old baby, and race to the house’s “safe ...

Birthday bash in Barbour County

Hello from Barbour County! Teter Creek community will be having a birthday bash on June 28 beginning at 10 am. Come on out for a fun day of corn hole, cake walk, karaoke, food and more. There will be a Summer Tea Buffett on June 29 at Adaland Mansion. Call 304-457-1587 to reserve your spot. The 3pm seating is still available to reserve. Cost is $35 per person The Barbour County Fairgrounds is wanting crafters and vendors for their Independence Day Celebration on July 5. Festivities will be from 10 am to 8 pm. Indoor and outdoor spaces are available to rent. Applications are ...

Every day is a new opportunity for employers to retain talent

They are poaching our people. They stole one of our best employees. Such statements are heard periodically. They reflect a misunderstanding of the employee/company relationship. Employees, unless contracted in a way that does not allow departures (or allows them only under certain conditions), are free to work where they want to and leave when they want to. No one “poaches” or “steals” anyone. They might try to recruit an employee, and they might succeed if the person is open to leaving…which is a good reason to be proactive about retaining talent.  There are times when ...