Blog Posts

The Ultimate Irony: Putin’s Grand Underestimation Of Ukraine And Its People.

Putin had the arrogant feeling that he could snuff out the character of Ukraine and its people.  The palpable irony is that Putin’s cowardly invasion of Ukraine has had the opposite effect, illuminating the resilience, strength, and pride of the Ukrainian people.  Moreover, Putin assumed his massive army would quickly roll over the Ukrainian forces.  Again, Putin was grossly mistaken and now finds himself and his military stuck, facing a fierce and wonderfully stubborn Ukrainian defense. I’ve always believed that, in the end, bullies eventually get what they deserve.  Putin has and will. The great ...

What to do to prevent being hacked or after your computer has been hacked.

Last week was not only interesting, but probably one of the worst weeks of my life. My computer was on at my desk while I was eating lunch and watching the news on TV.  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the cursor on my computer began moving around the computer screen, despite the fact that I was nowhere near the keyboard.  I immediately knew that somehow, I had been hacked, not initially knowing how sophisticated this hacker was.  Lesson one:  should you experience anything like this, immediately shut your computer off, which ...

Lather Up! This Week Is National Handwashing Week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), handwashing is one of the most effective means of preventing deadly infectious diseases.  Simply put, handwashing saves lives.  As such, let’s celebrate the importance of handwashing this week. It has been repeatedly proven that correct handwashing not only reduces the spread of flu, colds, and infectious diarrhea, but also eliminates the spread of antibiotic-resistant germs and very serious potentially life-threatening diseases like hepatitis, tuberculosis, and respiratory infections.  The reason is that most germs are transmitted through hand-to-hand contact.  Sadly, here is how it works: A sick person sneezes, ...

We’ll See Beauty All Around Us, Only If We Look For It

Stop and smell the flowers.  Take the time to appreciate the wonderful and diverse wildlife.  Doing these things will help you live life to the fullest. I live on a lagoon here in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.  The circumference of the lagoon is exactly ½ mile long which makes it easy to know how far I walk each day.  Yesterday I walked a total of 8 miles while taking in the awesome flora and fauna. The cormorant in the first photo gave me a flashback to one of my greatest overseas travel memories.  I was ...

Let’s Ban Bias And Prejudice

Several weeks ago, I had the honor of delivering a Keynote Speech at a Human Resources conference in Huntsville, Alabama, somewhere I had never been.   Prior to the event, I interacted with several of the other speakers for the event.  Sadly, two of them began making fun of us going to rural Alabama, claiming that we would be meeting and presenting to “a bunch of rednecks and hillbillies.”  I found this prejudgment incredibly unfair and unjust.  The rest of this story is both highly ironic and full of Karma. Upon arriving in Huntsville, banner signs ...

Illinois Meets Florida: Discovering A New Hobson’s Choice

Definition of Hobson's choice 1: an apparently free choice when there is no real alternative 2: the necessity of accepting one of two or more equally objectionable alternatives   Since moving to Florida, I quickly learned that parking your car under a tree helps prevent unbearable heat in the car since the tree provides natural shade.  Unfortunately, most of these Florida trees are full of birds that drop you-know-what on your car.  This presents a true Hobson’s Choice:  do I accept a much hotter car interior or bird crap on my car?   The origin for this interesting ...

Illinois Meets Florida

I am still adjusting to my new environment here in Florida.  As such, something very funny happened the other day, illuminating the fact that I am still acclimating to my new place and climate. Every day, I go for walks around the lagoon my place looks out on.  On any given walk, I see 40-50 little lizards that scurry across the sidewalk in front of me.  One day, when returning to my air-conditioned townhome, I saw one of these creatures race across my living room floor.  Moving to my hands and knees, I cluelessly tried to ...

Learning To Have Fun With Change

"Every day the clock resets. Your wins don't matter. Your failures don't matter. Don't stress on what was, fight for what could be."  -Sean Higgins I turned 61-years-old on October 4th. I fielded and appreciated myriad “Happy Birthday” phone messages, emails, Facebook posts, etc. throughout the day. At 5 p.m., I suddenly realized that I had not yet heard from someone who was largely responsible for bringing me into this world, my Mom. So I sent her a message: “Hi Mom. Does 10/4 ring any bells with you?” She immediately recognized she had forgotten it ...

Invariably, Mistakes Will Be Made: The Three Key Tips For Great Customer Service Recovery.

I recently moved from Illinois to Florida.  No one likes a move.  As such, you want to make sure you hire the right Moving/Van Line company.  If you don’t, your move will quickly go from bad to unbearable.  Unfortunately, I did not and had an absolutely horrific experience with Bekins/Boyer-Rosene Moving & Storage, Inc. and will never hire them again. Here is what went wrong and an outline of my terrible experience with Bekins: The representative who sold me their services (Dean) was very prompt in returning my messages during the sales process, and all ...

7 Ways To Manage A Talent Shortage

Are you ready to handle the current job surge?  Nearly half of the 22 million jobs that were eliminated in the early months of the pandemic have been recovered.1 A combination of the financial stimulus, the quick roll-out of vaccines, and increasingly positive jobs reports have caused hiring to be on the rise.  Thus, competition for talent has grown extremely intense.  In fact, 42% of companies report that they have job openings that they cannot fill.1 In addition, a 2021 Federal Census Survey reported that 6 million people did not seek work because of childcare ...

Leveraging Your LinkedIn Contacts Through LinkedIn Recommendations.

I have always appreciated the power of LinkedIn.  As “luck” would have it, I knew one of the Founders of LinkedIn when they were first formed.  As such, I was their 7,000th member and this is how I quickly reached the 30,000 maximum LinkedIn connections; there are now over 740 million members. I am now ready to take a big step in leveraging and helping these contacts, offering to write recommendations for them, if they would do so for me. So, what do you say?  Please let me know if you are up for doing this to help each other.  Email me at kevin@kevinsheridanllc.com ...

Want Employees To Return To The Office? Then You Better Let Them Bring Their Pets.

It Turns Out That Man’s Best Friend Has More Leverage Than You Might Have Thought.  Many Employees Say Their Pet Is The Main Reason They Are Unwilling To Return To The Office. As a result, many employers are preparing for a surge of furry new coworkers. Roughly 1.6 million pets were adopted in 2020.1  Pets are loving family members for about 85 million Americans.1 Underscoring these animals’ importance is the reality that they provided solace and peace to employees who were battling anxiety, depression, and loneliness during the Covid-19 Pandemic.  Furthermore, the sheer uncertainty ...

Remote Onboarding Really Needs Improvement

9 Tips For Awesome Onboarding Fully 64% of employees will leave a job within a year due to bad onboarding.1  In addition, 35% of HR Managers report that remote recruiting and onboarding has become more difficult during Covid, due to a lack of relationship-building opportunities and the increasing challenge for new hires to understand and accept company culture.2 With recruiting and hiring set to accelerate in the upcoming months, as well as the reality that many employees will continue to work from home, there will and should be a new emphasis on great remote onboarding. 9 Tips ...

What A Wonderful Emergence! Our Collective Post-Pandemic Recovery!

Hoorah! It is what we have all been waiting for – the resurgence of the world economy. I am sure many of you were adversely impacted, emotionally and financially, by the Covid-19 pandemic, as was my business as a Keynote Speaker and Management Consultant. I went from traveling two times a week to deliver Keynote Speeches and Consulting Services, to nearly all my live events being cancelled. Thankfully, the second book I wrote, The Virtual Manager, allowed me to muddle through the year offering training on its core topics, that being Remote Work, Virtual Managers, and Remote Workers.   ...

Why Would Anyone Choose To Do A Job About Which They Aren’t Passionate?

When I published my Six-time Best-Seller, Building A Magnetic Culture back in 2011, the statistical breakdown of Employee Engagement was as follows: The statistics have not changed much since then, with the middle category of Not Engaged/Not Disengaged remaining the largest of the three categories.  When people see the size of that middle category, they tend to be surprised.  After working as a Management Consultant in the field of Employee Engagement for over 35 years, I discovered that one of the main reasons so many workers are not engaged is that they are simply in the wrong job....

A Gift From A Decorated World War I Veteran

Sadly, my 87-year-old Mother’s health is failing, both mentally and physically.   Two months ago, she called me to tell me how much pain she was in, confessing “Kevin, I am ready to die.  Will you please come out here to say goodbye?”  Of course, I said “yes,” and quickly booked my flight to Orange County, California. Ironically, the “Goodbye Trip” re-energized Mom.  She began assembling all of the possessions she would give her children before her death, including the American flag given to her at her father’s honorary military funeral.  Her Father was a ...

Why Event Planners Think Kevin Sheridan Should Be Your Next Keynote Speaker

Kevin has been described as “the speaker of the year,” “intellectually and emotionally engaging with relevant, actionable, best practice ideas,” and “the most exceptional motivational speaker we’ve ever heard.” Below are just a few of the reasons why Kevin has become a favorite among meeting/event planners and a trusted partner for speaker bureaus and corporate executives: 1. Kevin brings sheer energy to the event. Every time he takes the stage or leads a Podcast, he is passionate about his delivery.   2. Kevin is first and foremost, a teacher. Every participant will leave the event with previously undiscovered ideas and the best ...

What Is Trending Now On kevinsheridanllc.com?

Employee Retention A quarter of employees worldwide plan to quit their jobs post-COVID1. Employee burnout and anxiety have been major reasons for employee turnover.  Millennials and working parents are the populations most likely to leave their jobs post-COVID.   Employee Engagement The Four Most Effective Ways To Increase Employee Engagement: Offer consistent and ongoing recognition and praise. Ensure that your Managers are having regular and frequent dialogues with the direct reports about career development. Teach your managers to treat their employees as Human Beings, as opposed to cogs on the wheel of productivity. Offer new and improved health ...

Why The Return To The Offices Stresses Out Many Workers

The good news and the bad news, for the indecisive about returning to the office, is that we are in an incredibly unique moment in time. After many months of being asked to work remotely, your organization is now asking you to come back to the office. Should you go? “The decision is really stressing me out,” says Tom Miller, a Sales Representative for a Manufacturing firm in Chicago.  He reports that this decision is all his coworkers are talking about. “What is it going to be like?” “What are we going to do?” The decision ...

Interested In Becoming An Author? I can help you.

When I first became an author “accidentally”, I never anticipated how it could change my life forever.  I never dreamed that I would be the Author of two successful Management Books, one of which would make SIX of the Top Ten Best-Seller Lists, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. So if you have aspirations of successfully writing and publishing a book and/or a desire to have your book become a Best Seller, let me help. Where to begin. What you will find is that there are tens of thousands of would-be authors who say they ...

Doing Nothing Can Actually Make You More Productive. What?!

Yes, that is right: One secret to boost your productivity is finding time to do nothing. We’ve all spent over a year now trying to squeeze out effort in every second of our workday. Thus, it seems simply counter-intuitive that peering out the window, daydreaming, or closing your eyes, would actually boost one’s productivity. But according to recent neuroscience research, it does. The scientific reason for this is that the brain uses those free moments for important “clean up” work. However, during the pandemic, the lines between home and work have become blurred, making it much more difficult to ...

Junior Staff Of Professional Service Firms Are Resigning In Great Numbers*

Employee burnout has never been worse. As I have highlighted in the many Podcasts I have led this year, both the Covid-19 Pandemic and increased workloads have triggered a significant rise in mental health problems for all employees, especially with the shift to solitary remote working.  But the rise in mental health problems has been the most dramatic for junior professional service workers. Junior lawyers and consultants are warning that they are suffering burnout after working longer hours in isolation, highlighting fears of an exodus from some of the biggest global management consulting, financial, and law firms. This ...

How To Interpret The Nonverbal Cues Of Your Boss And Coworkers While Working from Home

We were once adept at reading the nonverbal cues of our boss and coworkers in a physical office space.  Upon receiving an email which was confusing, we could simply swivel our chairs or walk down the hall and ask the sender for clarification.  When seeing a downcast look or slumped shoulders, we immediately and accurately concluded that our boss was disappointed, or a coworker stressed out.  Moreover, we had all day to figure it out and got hints as we walked to the office watercooler. Now our work interactions are confined to a screen, via Zoom, ...

Reconnecting With Your Work BFF

Eight Useful Tips For Staying Close And Connected With Your BFF At Work For six years, Ron Smith and Julianne Reynolds saw each other every workday.  They consistently high-fived each other in the hallways.  They regularly shouted to one another from their offices at the bank where they worked in Chicago, Illinois.  They shared lunch, exercise routines, and even shared books they had read. Then suddenly, when the Pandemic hit in March of last year, they went home. Ron even said “Getting to see Julianne was a special part of my workday.  Now that we ...

How The COVID-19 Shutdown Is Overwhelming The World’s Workers With Stress/Anxiety

Quite simply, since the beginning of the pandemic, the workplace has become incredibly intense, forcing many workers to “be close to a nervous breakdown,” in the words of one employee I recently interviewed: Limited sleep. A loss of appetite. Unable to take time off. Increased workloads and strict deadlines. Being told to “do more with less.” Threatened that they are “replaceable.” Limited or no performance feedback. Social distancing. Masking. No face-to-face interaction, other than Zoom calls. Unshakable stress. Tears. Increased consumption of alcohol and drugs. Utter exhaustion. Burnout Since its beginning, the pandemic has devastated workers’ emotions, ...