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Is America experiencing a jobs crisis?  Let’s do a quick roundup of the numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  As of today, unemployment is 9.1%, meaning almost 14 million Americans are out of work.  Of those, 44% have been unemployed for more than six months.  The average length of unemployment is 40.4 weeks- an all-time high since the federal government began keeping track of such data in 1948.  According to the Gallup organization, a total of 18.2% of the American workforce is underemployed- unemployed or working part-time when they want to work full-time.  Of course, these are national numbers; dramatic regional and demographic pockets of staggering differences are evident around the country. more »

With the big re-set of the economy still in progress, it is far from thriving, however the people you lead still can thrive. A large part of that is up to leaders. New research from the Ross School of Business’s Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship published in Jan-Feb HBR, says that thriving is a function of vitality (being excited about making a difference) and learning (which reinforces people’s belief in their potential for growth)-- “The combination of vitality and learning leads to employees who deliver results and find ways to grow….they successfully perform what’s expected of them today but also have a sense of where they and the company are headed…the energy they create is contagious.” more »