Shutterstock “If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.” That’s what Army General Eric Shinseki said, and it applies to all of us regardless of business. Trouble is, studies show that most change efforts fail. Period. Why? It’s not for lack of time or money or consultants. Those resources are in rich supply. It’s not lack of effort. The marketplace of ideas has an abundance of hard workers. Intelligence isn’t the issue.

While Gen X and Boomers often considered pension plans, 401(k)’s, and health insurance among the most important benefits when choosing a job, millennial employees are looking for companies with student loan repayment programs. Today’s employment landscape resulted from a crippling student debt crisis: $37,172 on average, for a 2016 graduate.

Shutterstock We’ve all received the well-meaning advice to “stay positive.” The greater the challenge, the more this glass-half-full wisdom can come across as Pollyannaish and unrealistic. It’s hard to find the motivation to focus on the positive when positivity seems like nothing more than wishful thinking. The real obstacle to positivity is that our brains are hard-wired to look for and focus on threats.

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images Strong personal brands are rooted in authenticity. They stand out from their peers and deliver consistently on their brand promise. Authenticity is the cornerstone for building trust, support, and promotion. This is true whether you’re branding a product, a corporation, or yourself. But what happens when a strong, respected brand does something to sever that trust? That’s the situation with Ryan Lochte’s shenanigans in Brazil last week.

Ivanka Trump delivers a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump received the number of votes needed to secure the party’s nomination. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicked off on July 18.

Shutterstock You can feel energy in rooms. It radiates. When teams are energized, they feel like they can achieve almost anything. But when there’s an energy gap among your people, it’s up to you the leader to set the tone for the level of energy that is expected. You have to exude the kind of energy you want to see. Here are a few tips to get your team more energized for better days ahead: • First calibrate where you are.

Working full-time is not easy, and job-hunting is no picnic either. Work is stressful and it can be complicated. The work on your desk is typically the easy part. The ‘people’ part of any job is another story! We can talk to ourselves about our problems and most of us do, but an outside opinion gives us perspective we can’t get on our own.

Shutterstock One of the most shocking conversations you will ever have in your job is when your boss tells you that you’re done working for the company. Maybe it’s a layoff that completely blindsides you. Maybe it’s a performance-related issue that you were aware of. No matter the cause, the actual event can be a total shocker. While getting fired and getting laid off may involve different things, it’s important to handle the situation professionally either way.

Shutterstock This morning I made myself a bowl of oatmeal, poured an ice tea, and headed towards my home office. But I was already thinking about work, and my toe caught the edge of the second step. Wham! Oatmeal and tea splattered everywhere. At 7:58:01 I was excited about a great new idea. At 7:58:31 I was mopping up a mess. This is a trivial example, but it’s also the way life is.

pexels.com You know the potential value of content marketing; it’s one of the most important and most potentially advantageous marketing strategies of the modern era, in part because of how tightly it connects to other strategies like SEO, conversion optimization, and social media marketing. But the path to success in content marketing is anything but linear.