An Interview with Phil La Duke — Have a vision larger than yourself and tell your team about it all the time. Elon Musk is constantly talking about how his companies are saving the human race. Whether you believe him or not, Tesla and SpaceX have very strong employment brands and have far less trouble finding people…

An Interview with Phil La Duke — Be the ball, Danny (Caddyshack) — Resolve to be the company that you would like to work for regardless of your position within the company. Solicit ideas from your employees on what ideas they have to become that company. …

An Interview with Phil La Duke — Be sure that prospective employees understand the “why” behind what they will do as part of your team. As noted, at Anderson Center for Autism, we make sure that every candidate knows that they can be part of something very meaningful right out of the gate; we communicate our mission…

An Interview With Phil La Duke — At the end of the day, our word and commitment are fundamental for elements that either build trust or tear down trust one interaction and conversation at a time. As part of my series about people who stepped up to make a difference during the COVID19 Pandemic, I had the…

An Interview with Phil La Duke — Implement a skills-first approach to hiring and advancement. I cannot stress enough the importance of this enough. There is a wealth of genius and talent among the U.S. workforce who don’t have four-year college degrees but are exceptionally skilled. I once worked for an employer who hired a welder who…

An Interview with Phil La Duke — Focus on Mental Health and Employee Well-Being: Business owners can no longer simply focus on supporting their employees’ physical upkeep through healthcare benefits alone. Instead, modern companies require an approach that takes into consideration the physical, mental, social, and financial well-being of their employees. The pandemic has allowed people to…

An Interview with Phil La Duke — Listen more. Our younger employees like the flexibility and comfort of remote work at home. As a result, they do not want to return to a traditional work office and schedule. While some of this may be to the detriment of their development, we must listen to what they are…

An Interview with Phil La Duke — Prioritizing accessible information (especially when remote). To support an increasingly distributed workforce, cultures of clear documentation will become standard for high-performing organizations. At TXI, we recently promoted an internal communications manager to our leadership team with the explicit goal of improving our transparency while becoming increasingly more distributed.

An Interview with Phil La Duke — Build and protect a culture based on winning and mutual respect. Build and protect a culture based on winning and mutual respect. I think this is fairly self-explanatory. The main point here is that true leaders don’t choose between winning and treating others with dignity and respect. The two are…