Podcasts about Handbook

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is John Dinsmore, PhD. Fear of failure can be a powerful motivator. John never intended to become a marketing expert. During college and beyond John was in a rock band called "Fried Moose." He tells us that, at the time, he was so afraid of letting his bandmates and family members down as he pursued a career in music that he threw himself into band promotion and merchandising. That fear-driven hustle accidentally built the exact skills that would later land John his first marketing job and eventually make him a professor who is focused on financial decision-making. John Dinsmore is a Professor of Marketing at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio and author of The Marketing of Debt: How They Get You. He is regularly featured in publications such as Forbes, CIO, CBS Marketwatch and US News & World Report for his market commentary and is a frequent conference speaker at organizations such as the American Marketing Association and the Association for Consumer Research. At Wright State, Professor Dinsmore teaches a variety of courses including Digital Marketing, Strategy and Creativity & Problem-Solving, garnering multiple teaching awards. He has provided executive training services to the United States Air Force and Speedway Corporation. His academic research primarily focuses on financial decision-making, methods of payment, and mobile applications, having been published in academic journals including Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Business Research and International Journal of Research in Marketing.  He also recently wrote a chapter for the Handbook of Experimental Finance. Dinsmore has published business cases designated at “Best Sellers” by Harvard Publishing focusing on strategy and analytics. These cases are taught in MBA programs across North America, Europe, Asia, and South America at institutions such as University of Chicago, Peking University, and King's College. This Fall, he will be a featured speaker at TEDx-Dayton to discuss his research on financial decision-making. Prior to earning his PhD, John Dinsmore worked in the marketing industry for 14 years in various roles. Dinsmore holds a BA in Political Science from James Madison University, an MBA in Marketing & Finance from University of Georgia, and a PhD in Marketing from University of Cincinnati. He lives in Dayton, Ohio with his wife, two sons, and a gigantic bulldog named Creed.

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall differentiate the idea of setting boundaries and the importance of identifying our levels of tolerance for particular things. Read the articles from Psychology Today here and here. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

A reading of Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK) Chapter 4. Checkout: www.wifiCFI.com for more audiobook readings and:STUDY COURSES (click any to try free!)Private Pilot >Instrument Rating >Commercial Pilot >CFI Study Course > CFII Study Course > Multi Engine Add-On > CHECKRIDE LESSON PLANS (click any to try free!)CFI Lesson Plans >CFII Lesson Plans > MEI Add-On Lesson Plans >TEACHING COURSES (click any to try free!)Teach Private Pilot >Teach Instrument Rating >Teach Commercial Pilot >Teach CFI Initial >Teach CFII Add-On >Support the show

A reading of Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK) Chapter 3. Checkout: www.wifiCFI.com for more audiobook readings and:STUDY COURSES (click any to try free!)Private Pilot >Instrument Rating >Commercial Pilot >CFI Study Course > CFII Study Course > Multi Engine Add-On > CHECKRIDE LESSON PLANS (click any to try free!)CFI Lesson Plans >CFII Lesson Plans > MEI Add-On Lesson Plans >TEACHING COURSES (click any to try free!)Teach Private Pilot >Teach Instrument Rating >Teach Commercial Pilot >Teach CFI Initial >Teach CFII Add-On >Support the show

Entrepreneurship isn't always about grinding 24/7—and Alex Schlinsky is here to prove it. In this episode of BizNinja Entrepreneur Radio, Tyler Jorgenson sits down with Alex, the founder of Prospecting on Demand, a sales coach, author, and proud heart surgery survivor. Alex shares how his childhood in an entrepreneurial family shaped his belief in hard work, resilience, and creating a life outside of the traditional “employee box.”From his early days hustling as a social media marketer before Facebook ads even existed, to cold-calling his way into becoming a certified Miami Dolphins media member, Alex reveals how persistence and boldness defined his start. But he also opens up about the wake-up call that changed everything: open-heart surgery at just 29, when his wife was five months pregnant. That health crisis inspired his book, The Anti-Hustler's Handbook, and a mission to help agency owners build businesses without sacrificing their lives.You'll hear Alex drop powerful mindset gems—including why most entrepreneurs chase “more” without ever defining success, the mantras he uses to beat negative self-talk, and his legendary “Secret Weapon Question” for closing sales. Whether you're stuck in hustle culture, struggling to scale, or just need a reminder to give yourself grace, this episode is packed with real talk, laughs, and game-changing takeaways.TakeawaysDefine Success on Your Terms: Don't let society or influencers dictate what “winning” looks like. Get clear about what YOU actually want.The Anti-Hustle Mindset: Hard work matters, but blind hustle is a trap. Build a business that supports the life you love, not the other way around.The Secret Weapon Question: In sales, pull out the real buying criteria from your prospects. Go deeper than “I want results” to create trust and close deals.Give Yourself Grace (Not a Pass): You'll stumble—everyone does. Learn from it, but stop punishing yourself for being human.Community Over Isolation: Entrepreneurship doesn't have to be lonely. Build or join a supportive network to stay inspired and grounded.Chapters00:00 Welcome & Guest Intro – Alex Schlinsky01:20 Growing Up in an Entrepreneurial Family02:50 First Steps into Entrepreneurship05:15 Hustling His Way into the Miami Dolphins Media Team08:30 The Wake-Up Call: Open-Heart Surgery at 2910:45 Writing The Anti-Hustler's Handbook14:50 Breaking Free from Hustle Culture16:30 Mantras & Mindset Shifts That Work18:50 Giving Yourself Grace (But Not a Pass)19:45 Building Community with Prospecting on Demand23:20 Sales Psychology & The Secret Weapon Question27:40 Sales Example: “I Just Want a Treat”28:10 Beyond Business: Life, Balance & Bucket Lists29:08 Where to Find Alex Online & Closing

How can Nato make itself future-ready? What are the biggest threats facing Western democracy? And what black swan event helped change the course of the First World War?To find out, Venetia chats to Dr Gabriele Rizzo, a defence futurist and foresight strategist whose job is to imagine different possibilities and help his clients prepare for them. He has years of experience working with the US Space Force, NATO, the Italian Government, the European Defense Agency, and the United Nations.In 2022, UNESCO elected Dr. Rizzo as a UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies and Foresight, making him the youngest recipient ever. He is also in the process of writing the Handbook of Foresight, Strategy, and Futures Studies for Defense and Security, which looks at how foresight strategies can be used in government and policy.Listen to our mini series on the rise of China's military: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/08/battle-lines-podcast-inside-the-rise-of-chinas-military/https://linktr.ee/BattleLinesContact us with feedback or ideas:battlelines@telegraph.co.uk@venetiarainey@RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before starting in with volume three of Tales of Aurduin, The Alchemist and the Eagle, I thought we'd take a fun, cheeky diversion into my quirky (and short) audiobook of God's Handbook for Operating Human Vehicles - A No-nonsense, No Strings Attached Approach to Universal Being (also available in full-color fractal art print and ebook versions). I've broken it up into two parts. Here's Part I, and Part II will come after the next interview and then we'll return to Orobai, Miraanni, and all the heroes of Aurduin with volume III. 

A reading of Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK) Chapter 2. Checkout: www.wifiCFI.com for more audiobook readings and:STUDY COURSES (click any to try free!)Private Pilot >Instrument Rating >Commercial Pilot >CFI Study Course > CFII Study Course > Multi Engine Add-On > CHECKRIDE LESSON PLANS (click any to try free!)CFI Lesson Plans >CFII Lesson Plans > MEI Add-On Lesson Plans >TEACHING COURSES (click any to try free!)Teach Private Pilot >Teach Instrument Rating >Teach Commercial Pilot >Teach CFI Initial >Teach CFII Add-On >Support the show

The technological revolution of artificial intelligence isn't just changing how businesses operate—it's transforming how they're governed. In this riveting conversation, we're joined by Dean Yoost, former senior partner at PWC, and Ashwin Rangan, CEO of DoubleCheck, to explore their groundbreaking book "Governance in the Age of AI: A Director's Handbook."Our guests challenge popular misconceptions about artificial intelligence, arguing that what we call "AI" isn't truly intelligent but rather a sophisticated mathematical prediction engine. This distinction has profound implications for corporate leadership. As Rangan explains, these systems lack the ethical discernment and value judgment capabilities that humans bring to decision-making—a critical limitation that board directors must understand.The business landscape is rapidly evolving under AI's influence. According to research cited, approximately half of middle management positions may disappear or be fundamentally redefined by 2028. This raises urgent questions: Who bears responsibility when AI-informed decisions go wrong? How will corporate hierarchies adapt? What skills will remain uniquely valuable for humans?Both experts emphasize that tomorrow's leaders need a deeper technological understanding than previous generations required. "The technology and strategy discussions are now the same," Hust observes. "You can't be an effective board member without having more than passive knowledge of what's happening in the technology world." Yet they equally stress the enduring importance of wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation—classical virtues that machines cannot replicate.For educators, parents, and aspiring business leaders, this conversation offers crucial guidance on preparing for an AI-transformed future. Rather than focusing solely on technical skills, our guests advocate for revitalizing broader discussions of ethics, critical thinking, and human values. As technology increasingly answers "can we do this?" questions, humans must focus on the "should we do this?" considerations that require judgment and ethical reasoning.Join us for this thought-provoking exploration of how organizations can thoughtfully integrate AI while preserving and enhancing what makes us distinctly human. Subscribe now and share your thoughts on how AI is reshaping leadership in your industry!Support Our WorkThe Center for Demographics and Policy focuses on research and analysis of global, national, and regional demographic trends and explores policies that might produce favorable demographic results over time. It involves Chapman students in demographic research under the supervision of the Center's senior staff.Students work with the Center's director and engage in research that will serve them well as they look to develop their careers in business, the social sciences, and the arts. Students also have access to our advisory board, which includes distinguished Chapman faculty and major demographic scholars from across the country and the world.For additional information, please contact Mahnaz Asghari, Associate Director for the Center for Demographics and Policy, at (714) 744-7635 or asghari@chapman.edu.Follow us on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-feudal-future-podcast/Tweet thoughts: @joelkotkin, @mtoplansky, #FeudalFuture #BeyondFeudalismLearn more about Joel's book 'The Coming of Neo-Feudalism': https://amzn.to/3a1VV87Sign Up For News & Alerts: http://joelkotkin.com/#subscribeThis show is presented by the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy, which focuses on research and analysis of global, national and regional demographic trends and explores policies that might produce favorable demographic results over time.

ผลกระทบด้านสิ่งแวดล้อมและแรงกดดันจากสังคมกลายเป็นโจทย์สำคัญของธุรกิจในปัจจุบัน โดยเฉพาะการสร้างซัพพลายเชนที่ไม่อาจมองแค่ประสิทธิภาพหรือกำไรเท่านั้น แต่ต้องขับเคลื่อนไปสู่ความยั่งยืน สร้างความสมดุลระหว่างต้นทุนและความรับผิดชอบต่อสังคมไปพร้อมๆ กัน ร่วมเรียนรู้แนวทางสู่การเป็น 'ซัพพลายเชนสีเขียว' ที่ทั้งแข่งขันได้และรับผิดชอบต่อโลกใบนี้ THE SME HANDBOOK by UOB ซีซัน 9 เอพิโสดที่ 5 นี้ เฟิร์น-ศิรัถยา อิศรภักดี ชวน ปิยะชาติ อิศรภักดี CEO จาก Brandi Institute of Systematic Transformation มาร่วมพูดคุยถึงแนวทางการสร้างซัพพลายเชนสีเขียวอย่างยั่งยืน เจาะลึกโอกาสทางธุรกิจและประโยชน์ที่องค์กรไม่ควรมองข้าม พร้อมถอดกลยุทธ์ด้านความยั่งยืนที่สามารถนำไปประยุกต์ใช้ได้จริง เพื่อสร้างแต้มต่อให้ธุรกิจสามารถเติบโตอย่างมั่นคงในระยะยาว

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall discuss some issues with the idea of boundaries and the way people currently use them. Read the articles from The Guardian here, from Psychology Today here, and take the Boundaries Test here. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

A reading of Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK) Chapter 1. Checkout: www.wifiCFI.com for more audiobook readings and:STUDY COURSES (click any to try free!)Private Pilot >Instrument Rating >Commercial Pilot >CFI Study Course > CFII Study Course > Multi Engine Add-On > CHECKRIDE LESSON PLANS (click any to try free!)CFI Lesson Plans >CFII Lesson Plans > MEI Add-On Lesson Plans >TEACHING COURSES (click any to try free!)Teach Private Pilot >Teach Instrument Rating >Teach Commercial Pilot >Teach CFI Initial >Teach CFII Add-On >Support the show

The “Starving Artist” Myth is Dead w/Paul PapeFrom Starving Artist to Thriving Creative EntrepreneurPaul Eric Pape is a TEDx speaker, author, and creative business strategist known as “Santa for Nerds.” With over 20 years as a successful creative entrepreneur, Paul has designed custom collectibles for Disney, Universal, and Nickelodeon while building his own thriving design studio.Paul is the creator of Gamify Business and author of “The Creative Player's Handbook to Business” – a revolutionary approach that translates intimidating business concepts into language that creative minds actually understand. Using gaming principles and adventure mechanics, Paul helps artists, designers, and creative entrepreneurs build profitable businesses without sacrificing their artistic souls.His mission is simple: to prove that you don't have to be a “starving artist” to be a successful one. Paul shows creatives how to approach business as the creative adventure it truly is, helping them discover that running a business can actually be fun, engaging, and deeply fulfilling.Links:https://www.gamifybusiness.com/podcasthttps://www.instagram.com/paulpapedesigns/Tags:Arts,Author,Business Coach,Creative,Entrepreneur,Mindset,Small Business,Live Video Podcast Interview,Podcast,Phantom Electric Ghost Podcast,The “Starving Artist” Myth is Dead w/Paul PapeSupport PEG by checking out our Sponsors:Download and use Newsly for free now from www.newsly.me or from the link in the description, and use promo code “GHOST” and receive a 1-month free premium subscription.The best tool for getting podcast guests:https://podmatch.com/signup/phantomelectricghostSubscribe to our Instagram for exclusive content:https://www.instagram.com/expansive_sound_experiments/Subscribe to our YouTube https://youtube.com/@phantomelectricghost?si=rEyT56WQvDsAoRprRSShttps://anchor.fm/s/3b31908/podcast/rssSubstackhttps://substack.com/@phantomelectricghost?utm_source=edit-profile-page

Today I'm talking to economic historian Judge Glock, Director of Research at the Manhattan Institute. Judge works on a lot of topics: if you enjoy this episode, I'd encourage you to read some of his work on housing markets and the Environmental Protection Agency. But I cornered him today to talk about civil service reform.Since the 1990s, over 20 red and blue states have made radical changes to how they hire and fire government employees — changes that would be completely outside the Overton window at the federal level. A paper by Judge and Renu Mukherjee lists four reforms made by states like Texas, Florida, and Georgia: * At-will employment for state workers* The elimination of collective bargaining agreements* Giving managers much more discretion to hire* Giving managers much more discretion in how they pay employeesJudge finds decent evidence that the reforms have improved the effectiveness of state governments, and little evidence of the politicization that federal reformers fear. Meanwhile, in Washington, managers can't see applicants' resumes, keyword searches determine who gets hired, and firing a bad performer can take years. But almost none of these ideas are on the table in Washington.Thanks to Harry Fletcher-Wood for his judicious transcript edits and fact-checking, and to Katerina Barton for audio edits.Judge, you have a paper out about lessons for civil service reform from the states. Since the ‘90s, red and blue states have made big changes to how they hire and fire people. Walk through those changes for me.I was born and grew up in Washington DC, heard a lot about civil service throughout my childhood, and began to research it as an adult. But I knew almost nothing about the state civil service systems. When I began working in the states — mainly across the Sunbelt, including in Texas, Kansas, Arizona — I was surprised to learn that their civil service systems were reformed to an absolutely radical extent relative to anything proposed at the federal level, let alone implemented.Starting in the 1990s, several states went to complete at-will employment. That means there were no official civil service protections for any state employees. Some managers were authorized to hire people off the street, just like you could in the private sector. A manager meets someone in a coffee shop, they say, "I'm looking for exactly your role. Why don't you come on board?" At the federal level, with its stultified hiring process, it seemed absurd to even suggest something like that.You had states that got rid of any collective bargaining agreements with their public employee unions. You also had states that did a lot more broadbanding [creating wider pay bands] for employee pay: a lot more discretion for managers to reward or penalize their employees depending on their performance.These major reforms in these states were, from the perspective of DC, incredibly radical. Literally nobody at the federal level proposes anything approximating what has been in place for decades in the states. That should be more commonly known, and should infiltrate the debate on civil service reform in DC.Even though the evidence is not absolutely airtight, on the whole these reforms have been positive. A lot of the evidence is surveys asking managers and operators in these states how they think it works. They've generally been positive. We know these states operate pretty well: Places like Texas, Florida, and Arizona rank well on state capacity metrics in terms of cost of government, time for permitting, and other issues.Finally, to me the most surprising thing is the dog that didn't bark. The argument in the federal government against civil service reform is, “If you do this, we will open up the gates of hell and return to the 19th-century patronage system, where spoilsmen come and go depending on elected officials, and the government is overrun with political appointees who don't care about the civil service.” That has simply not happened. We have very few reports of any concrete examples of politicization at the state level. In surveys, state employees and managers can almost never remember any example of political preferences influencing hiring or firing.One of the surveys you cited asked, “Can you think of a time someone said that they thought that the political preferences were a factor in civil service hiring?” and it was something like 5%.It was in that 5-10% range. I don't think you'd find a dissimilar number of people who would say that even in an official civil service system. Politics is not completely excluded even from a formal civil service system.A few weeks ago, you and I talked to our mutual friend, Don Moynihan, who's a scholar of public administration. He's more skeptical about the evidence that civil service reform would be positive at the federal level.One of your points is, “We don't have strong negative evidence from the states. Productivity didn't crater in states that moved to an at-will employment system.” We do have strong evidence that collective bargaining in the public sector is bad for productivity.What I think you and Don would agree on is that we could use more evidence on the hiring and firing side than the surveys that we have. Is that a fair assessment?Yes, I think that's correct. As you mentioned, the evidence on collective bargaining is pretty close to universal: it raises costs, reduces the efficiency of government, and has few to no positive upsides.On hiring and firing, I mentioned a few studies. There's a 2013 study that looks at HR managers in six states and finds very little evidence of politicization, and managers generally prefer the new system. There was a dissertation that surveyed several employees and managers in civil service reform and non-reform states. Across the board, the at-will employment states said they had better hiring retention, productivity, and so forth. And there's a 2002 study that looked specifically at Texas, Florida, and Georgia after their reforms, and found almost universal approbation inside the civil service itself for these reforms.These are not randomized control trials. But I think that generally positive evidence should point us directionally where we should go on civil service reform. If we loosen restrictions on discipline and firing, decentralize hiring and so forth — we probably get some productivity benefits from it. We can also know, with some amount of confidence, that the sky is not going to fall, which I think is a very important baseline assumption. The civil service system will continue on and probably be fairly close to what it is today, in terms of its political influence, if you have decentralized hiring and at-will employment.As you point out, a lot of these reforms that have happened in 20-odd states since the ‘90s would be totally outside the Overton window at the federal level. Why is it so easy for Georgia to make a bipartisan move in the ‘90s to at-will employment, when you couldn't raise the topic at the federal level?It's a good question. I think in the 1990s, a lot of people thought a combination of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act — which was the Carter-era act that somewhat attempted to do what these states hoped to do in the 1990s — and the Clinton-era Reinventing Government Initiative, would accomplish the same ends. That didn't happen.That was an era when civil service reform was much more bipartisan. In Georgia, it was a Democratic governor, Zell Miller, who pushed it. In a lot of these other states, they got buy-in from both sides. The recent era of state reform took place after the 2010 Republican wave in the states. Since that wave, the reform impetus for civil service has been much more Republican. That has meant it's been a lot harder to get buy-in from both sides at the federal level, which will be necessary to overcome a filibuster.I think people know it has to be very bipartisan. We're just past the point, at least at the moment, where it can be bipartisan at the federal level. But there are areas where there's a fair amount of overlap between the two sides on what needs to happen, at least in the upper reaches of the civil service.It was interesting to me just how bipartisan civil service reform has been at various times. You talked about the Civil Service Reform Act, which passed Congress in 1978. President Carter tells Congress that the civil service system:“Has become a bureaucratic maze which neglects merit, tolerates poor performance, permits abuse of legitimate employee rights, and mires every personnel action in red tape, delay, and confusion.”That's a Democratic president saying that. It's striking to me that the civil service was not the polarized topic that it is today.Absolutely. Carter was a big civil service reformer in Georgia before those even larger 1990s reforms. He campaigned on civil service reform and thought it was essential to the success of his presidency. But I think you are seeing little sprouts of potential bipartisanship today, like the Chance to Compete Act at the end of 2024, and some of the reforms Obama did to the hiring process. There's options for bipartisanship at the federal level, even if it can't approach what the states have done.I want to walk through the federal hiring process. Let's say you're looking to hire in some federal agency — you pick the agency — and I graduated college recently, and I want to go into the civil service. Tell me about trying to hire somebody like me. What's your first step?It's interesting you bring up the college graduate, because that is one recent reform: President Trump put out an executive order trying to counsel agencies to remove the college degree requirement for job postings. This happened in a lot of states first, like Maryland, and that's also been bipartisan. This requirement for a college degree — which was used as a very unfortunate proxy for ability at a lot of these jobs — is now being removed. It's not across the whole federal government. There's still job postings that require higher education degrees, but that's something that's changed.To your question, let's say the Department of Transportation. That's one of the more bipartisan ones, when you look at surveys of federal civil servants. Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, they tend to be a little more Republican. Health and Human Services and some other agencies tend to be pretty Democrat. Transportation is somewhere in the middle.As a manager, you try to craft a job description and posting to go up on the USA Jobs website, which is where all federal job postings go. When they created it back in 1996, that was supposedly a massive reform to federal hiring: this website where people could submit their resumes. Then, people submit their resumes and answer questions about their qualifications for the job.One of the slightly different aspects from the private sector is that those applications usually go to an HR specialist first. The specialist reviews everything and starts to rank people into different categories, based on a lot of weird things. It's supposed to be “knowledge, skills, and abilities” — your KSAs, or competencies. To some extent, this is a big step up from historical practice. You had, frankly, an absurd civil service exam, where people had to fill out questions about, say, General Grant or about US Code Title 42, or whatever it was, and then submit it. Someone rated the civil service exam, and then the top three test-takers were eligible for the job.We have this newer, better system, where we rank on knowledge, skills, and abilities, and HR puts put people into different categories. One of the awkward ways they do this is by merely scanning the resumes and applications for keywords. If it's a computer job, make sure you say the word “computer” somewhere in your resume. Make sure you say “manager” if it's a managerial job.Just to be clear, this is entirely literal. There's a keyword search, and folks who don't pass that search are dinged.Yes. I've always wondered, how common is this? It's sometimes hard to know what happens in the black box in these federal HR departments. I saw an HR official recently say, "If I'm not allowed to do keyword searches, I'm going to take 15 years to overlook all the applications, so I've got to do keyword searches." If they don't have the keywords, into the circular file it goes, as they used to say: into the garbage can.Then they start ranking people on their abilities into, often, three different categories. That is also very literal. If you put in the little word bubble, "I am an exceptional manager," you get pushed on into the next level of the competition. If you say, "I'm pretty good, but I'm not the best," into the circular file you go.I've gotten jaded about this, but it really is shocking. We ask candidates for a self-assessment, and if they just rank themselves 10/10 on everything, no matter how ludicrous, that improves their odds of being hired.That's going to immensely improve your odds. Similar to the keyword search, there's been pushback on this in recent years, and I'm definitely not going to say it's universal anymore. It's rarer than it used to be. But it's still a very common process.The historical civil service system used to operate on a rule of three. In places like New York, it still operates like that. The top three candidates on the evaluation system get presented to the manager, and the manager has to approve one of them for the position.Thanks partially to reforms by the Obama administration in 2010, they have this category rating system where the best qualified or the very qualified get put into a big bucket together [instead of only including the top three]. Those are the people that the person doing the hiring gets to see, evaluate, and decide who he wants to hire.There are some restrictions on that. If a veteran outranks everybody else, you've got to pick the veteran [typically known as Veterans' Preference]. That was an issue in some of the state civil service reforms, too. The states said, “We're just going to encourage a veterans' preference. We don't need a formalized system to say they get X number of points and have to be in Y category. We're just going to say, ‘Try to hire veterans.'” That's possible without the formal system, despite what some opponents of reform may claim.One of the particular problems here is just the nature of the people doing the hiring. Sometimes you just need good managers to encourage HR departments to look at a broader set of qualifications. But one of the bigger problems is that they keep the HR evaluation system divorced from the manager who is doing the hiring. David Shulkin, who was the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), wrote a great book, It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country. He was a healthcare exec, and the VA is mainly a healthcare agency. He would tell people, "You should work for me," they would send their applications into the HR void, and he'd never see them again. They would get blocked at some point in this HR evaluation process, and he'd be sent people with no healthcare experience, because for whatever reason they did well in the ranking.One of the very base-level reforms should be, “How can we more clearly integrate the hiring manager with the evaluation process?” To some extent, the bipartisan Chance to Compete Act tries to do this. They said, “You should have subject matter experts who are part of crafting the description of the job, are part of evaluating, and so forth.” But there's still a long road to go.Does that firewall — where the person who wants to hire doesn't get to look at the process until the end — exist originally because of concerns about cronyism?One of the interesting things about the civil service is its raison d'être — its reason for being — was supposedly a single, clear purpose: to prevent politicized hiring and patronage. That goes back to the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883. But it's always been a little strange that you have all of these very complex rules about every step of the process — from hiring to firing to promotion, and everything in between — to prevent political influence. We could just focus on preventing political influence, and not regulate every step of the process on the off-chance that without a clear regulation, political influence could creep in. This division [between hiring manager and applicants] is part of that general concern. There are areas where I've heard HR specialists say, "We declare that a manager is a subject matter expert, and we bring them into the process early on, we can do that." But still the division is pretty stark, and it's based on this excessive concern about patronage.One point you flag is that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is the body that thinks about personnel in the federal government, has a 300-page regulatory document for agencies on how you have to hire. There's a remarkable amount of process.Yes, but even that is a big change from the Federal Personnel Manual, which was the 10,000-page document that we shredded in the 1990s. In the ‘90s, OPM gave the agencies what's called “delegated examining authorities.” This says, “You, agency, have power to decide who to hire, we're not going to do the central supervision anymore. But, but, but: here's the 300-page document that dictates exactly how you have to carry out that hiring.”So we have some decentralization, allowing managers more authority to control their own departments. But this two-level oversight — a local HR department that's ultimately being overseen by the OPM — also leads to a lot of slip ‘twixt cup and lip, in terms of how something gets implemented. If you're in the agency and you're concerned about the OPM overseeing your process, you're likely to be much more careful than you would like to be. “Yes, it's delegated to me, but ultimately, I know I have to answer to OPM about this process. I'm just going to color within the lines.”I often cite Texas, which has no central HR office. Each agency decides how it wants to hire. In a lot of these reform states, if there is a central personnel office, it's an information clearinghouse or reservoir of models. “You can use us, the central HR office, as a resource if you want us to help you post the job, evaluate it, or help manage your processes, but you don't have to.” That's the goal we should be striving for in a lot of the federal reforms. Just make OPM a resource for the managers in the individual departments to do their thing or go independent.Let's say I somehow get through the hiring process. You offer me a job at the Department of Transportation. What are you paying me?This is one of the more stultified aspects of the federal civil service system. OPM has another multi-hundred-page handbook called the Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families. Inside that, you've got 49 different “groups and families,” like “Clerical occupations.” Inside those 49 groups are a series of jobs, sometimes dozens, like “Computer Operator.” Inside those, they have independent documents — often themselves dozens of pages long — detailing classes of positions. Then you as a manager have to evaluate these nine factors, which can each give points to each position, which decides how you get slotted into this weird Government Schedule (GS) system [the federal payscale].Again, this is actually an improvement. Before, you used to have the Civil Service Commission, which went around staring very closely at someone over their typewriter and saying, "No, I think you should be a GS-12, not a GS-11, because someone over in the Department of Defense who does your same job is a GS-12." Now this is delegated to agencies, but again, the agencies have to listen to the OPM on how to classify and set their jobs into this 15-stage GS-classification system, each stage of which has 10 steps which determine your pay, and those steps are determined mainly by your seniority. It's a formalized step-by-step system, overwhelmingly based on just how long you've sat at your desk.Let's be optimistic about my performance as a civil servant. Say that over my first three years, I'm just hitting it out of the park. Can you give me a raise? What can you do to keep me in my role?Not too much. For most people, the within-step increases — those 10 steps inside each GS-level — is just set by seniority. Now there are all these quality step increases you can get, but they're very rare and they have to be documented. So you could hypothetically pay someone more, but it's going to be tough. In general, the managers just prefer to stick to seniority, because not sticking to it garners a lot of complaints. Like so much else, the goal is, "We don't want someone rewarding an official because they happen to share their political preferences." The result of that concern is basically nobody can get rewarded at all, which is very unfortunate.We do have examples in state and federal government of what's known as broadbanding, where you have very broad pay scales, and the manager can decide where to slot someone. Say you're a computer operator, which can mean someone who knows what an Excel spreadsheet is, or someone who's programming the most advanced AI systems. As a manager in South Carolina or Florida, you have a lot of discretion to say, "I can set you 50% above the market rate of what this job technically would go for, if I think you're doing a great job."That's very rare at the federal level. They've done broadbanding at the Government Accountability Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The China Lake Experiment out in California gave managers a lot more discretion to reward scientists. But that's definitely the exception. In general, it's a step-wise, seniority-based system.What if you want to bring me into the Senior Executive Service (SES)? Theoretically, that sits at the top of the General Service scale. Can't you bump me up in there and pay me what you owe me?I could hypothetically bring you in as a senior executive servant. The SES was created in the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act. The idea was, “We're going to have this elite cadre of about 8,000 individuals at the top of the federal government, whose employment will be higher-risk and higher-reward. They might be fired, and we're going to give them higher pay to compensate for that.”Almost immediately, that did not work out. Congress was outraged at the higher pay given to the top officials and capped it. Ever since, how much the SES can get paid has been tightly controlled. As in most of the rest of the federal government, where they establish these performance pay incentives or bonuses — which do exist — they spread them like peanut butter over the whole service. To forestall complaints, everyone gets a little bit every two or three years.That's basically what happened to the SES. Their annual pay is capped at the vice president's salary, which is a cap for a lot of people in the federal government. For most of your GS and other executive scales, the cap is Congress's salary. [NB: This is no longer exactly true, since Congress froze its own salaries in 2009. The cap for GS (currently about $195k) is now above congressional salaries ($174k).]One of the big problems with pay in the federal government is pay compression. Across civil service systems, the highest-skilled people tend to be paid much less than the private sector, and the lowest-skilled people tend to get paid much more. The political science reason for that is pretty simple: the median voter in America still decides what seems reasonable. To the median voter, the average salary of a janitor looks low, and the average salary of a scientist looks way too high. Hence this tendency to pay compression. Your average federal employee is probably overpaid relative to the private sector, because the lowest-skilled employees are paid up to 40% higher than the private sector equivalent. The highest-paid employees, the post-graduate skilled professionals, are paid less. That makes it hard to recruit the top performers, but it also swells the wage budget in a way that makes it difficult to talk about reform.There's a lot of interest in this administration in making it easier to recruit talent and get rid of under-performers. There have been aggressive pushes to limit collective bargaining in the public sector. That should theoretically make it easier to recruit, but it also increases the precariousness of civil service roles. We've seen huge firings in the civil service over the last six months.Classically, the explicit trade-off of working in the federal government was, “Your pay is going to be capped, but you have this job for life. It's impossible to get rid of you.” You trade some lifetime earnings for stability. In a world where the stability is gone, but pay is still capped, isn't the net effect to drive talent away from the civil service?I think it's a concern now. On one level it should be ameliorated, because those who are most concerned with stability of employment do tend to be lower performers. If you have people who are leaving the federal service because all they want is stability, and they're not getting that anymore, that may not be a net loss. As someone who came out of academia and knows the wonder of effective lifetime annuities, there can be very high performers who like that stability who therefore take a lower salary. Without the ability to bump that pay up more, it's going to be an issue.I do know that, internally, the Trump administration has made some signs they're open to reforms in the top tiers of the SES and other parts of the federal government. They would be willing to have people get paid more at that level to compensate for the increased risks since the Trump administration came in. But when you look at the reductions in force (RIFs) that have happened under Trump, they are overwhelmingly among probationary employees, the lower-level employees.With some exceptions. If you've been promoted recently, you can get reclassified as probationary, so some high-performers got lumped in.Absolutely. The issue has been exacerbated precisely because the RIF regulations that are in place have made the firings particularly damaging. If you had a more streamlined RIF system — which they do have in many states, where seniority is not the main determinant of who gets laid off — these RIFs could be removing the lower-performing civil servants and keeping the higher-performing ones, and giving them some amount of confidence in their tenure.Unfortunately, the combination of large-scale removals with the existing RIF regs, which are very stringent, has demoralized some of the upper levels of the federal government. I share that concern. But I might add, it is interesting, if you look at the federal government's own figures on the total civil service workforce, they have gone down significantly since Trump came in office, but I think less than 100,000 still, in the most recent numbers that I've seen. I'm not sure how much to trust those, versus some of these other numbers where people have said 150,000, 200,000.Whether the Trump administration or a future administration can remove large numbers of people from the civil service should be somewhat divorced from the general conversation on civil service reform. The main debate about whether or not Trump can do this centers around how much power the appropriators in Congress have to determine the total amount of spending in particular agencies on their workforce. It does not depend necessarily on, "If we're going to remove people — whether for general layoffs, or reductions in force, or because of particular performance issues — how can we go about doing that?" My last-ditch hope to maintain a bipartisan possibility of civil service reform is to bracket, “How much power does the president have to remove or limit the workforce in general?” from “How can he go about hiring and firing, et cetera?”I think making it easier for the president to identify and remove poor performers is a tool that any future administration would like to have.We had this conversation sparked again with the firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner. But that was a position Congress set up to be appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and removable by the President. It's a separate issue from civil service at large. Everyone said, “We want the president to be able to hire and fire the commissioner.” Maybe firing the commissioner was a bad decision, but that's the situation today.Attentive listeners to Statecraft know I'm pretty critical, like you are, of the regulations that say you have to go in order of seniority. In mass layoffs, you're required to fire a lot of the young, talented people.But let's talk about individual firings. I've been a terrible civil servant, a nightmarish employee from day one. You want to discipline, remove, suspend, or fire me. What are your options?Anybody who has worked in the civil service knows it's hard to fire bad performers. Whatever their political valence, whatever they feel about the civil service system, they have horror stories about a person who just couldn't be removed.In the early 2010s, a spate of stories came out about air traffic controllers sleeping on the job. Then-transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, made a big public announcement: "I'm going to fire these three guys." After these big announcements, it turned out he was only able to remove one of them. One retired, and another had their firing reduced to a suspension.You had another horrific story where a man was joking on the phone with friends when a plane crashed into a helicopter and killed nine people over the Hudson River. National outcry. They said, "We're going to fire this guy." In the end, after going through the process, he only got a suspension. Everyone agrees it's too hard.The basic story is, you have two ways to fire someone. Chapter 75, the old way, is often considered the realm of misconduct: You've stolen something from the office, punched your colleague in the face during a dispute about the coffee, something illegal or just straight-out wrong. We get you under Chapter 75.The 1978 Civil Service Reform Act added Chapter 43, which is supposed to be the performance-based system to remove someone. As with so much of that Civil Service Reform Act, the people who passed it thought this might be the beginning of an entirely different system.In the end, lots of federal managers say there's not a huge difference between the two. Some use 75, some use 43. If you use 43, you have to document very clearly what the person did wrong. You have to put them on a performance improvement plan. If they failed a performance improvement plan after a certain amount of time, they can respond to any claims about what they did wrong. Then, they can take that process up to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and claim that they were incorrectly fired, or that the processes weren't carried out appropriately. Then, if they want to, they can say, “Nah, I don't like the order I got,” and take it up to federal courts and complain there. Right now, the MSPB doesn't have a full quorum, which is complicating some of the recent removal disputes.You have this incredibly difficult process, unlike the private sector, where your boss looks at you and says, "I don't like how you're giving me the stink-eye today. Out you go." One could say that's good or bad, but, on the whole, I think the model should be closer to the private sector. We should trust managers to do their job without excessive oversight and process. That's clearly about as far from the realm of possibility as the current system, under which the estimate is 6-12 months to fire a very bad performer. The number of people who win at the Merit Systems Protection Board is still 20-30%.This goes into another issue, which is unionization. If you're part of a collective bargaining agreement — most of the regular federal civil service is — first, you have to go with this independent, union-based arbitration and grievance procedure. You're about 50/50 to win on those if your boss tries to remove you.So if I'm in the union, we go through that arbitration grievance system. If you win and I'm fired, I can take it to the Merit Systems Protection Board. If you win again, I can still take it to the federal courts.You can file different sorts of claims at each part. On Chapter 43, the MSPB is supposed to be about the process, not the evidence, and you just have to show it was followed. On 75, the manager has to show by preponderance of the evidence that the employee is harming the agency. Then there are different standards for what you take to the courts, and different standards according to each collective bargaining agreement for the grievance procedure when someone is disciplined. It's a very complicated, abstruse, and procedure-heavy process that makes it very difficult to remove people, which is why the involuntary separation rate at the federal government and most state governments is many multiples lower than the private sector.So, you would love to get me off your team because I'm abysmal. But you have no stomach for going through this whole process and I'm going to fight it. I'm ornery and contrarian and will drag this fight out. In practice, what do managers in the federal government do with their poor performers?I always heard about this growing up. There's the windowless office in the basement without a phone, or now an internet connection. You place someone down there, hope they get the message, and sooner or later they leave. But for plenty of people in America, that's the dream job. You just get to sit and nobody bothers you for eight hours. You punch in at 9 and punch out at 5, and that's your day. "Great. I'll collect that salary for another 10 years." But generally you just try to make life unpleasant for that person.Public sector collective bargaining in the US is new. I tend to think of it as just how the civil service works. But until about 50 years ago, there was no collective bargaining in the public sector.At the state level, it started with Wisconsin at the end of the 1950s. There were famous local government reforms beginning with the Little Wagner Act [signed in 1958] in New York City. Senator Robert Wagner had created the National Labor Relations Board. His son Robert F. Wagner Jr., mayor of New York, created the first US collective bargaining system at the local level in the ‘60s. In ‘62, John F. Kennedy issued an executive order which said, "We're going to deal officially with public sector unions,” but it was all informal and non-statutory.It wasn't until Title VII of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act that unions had a formal, statutory role in our federal service system. This is shockingly new. To some extent, that was the great loss to many civil service reformers in ‘78. They wanted to get through a lot of these other big reforms about hiring and firing, but they gave up on the unions to try to get those. Some people think that exception swallowed the rest of the rules. The union power that was garnered in ‘78 overcame the other reforms people hoped to accomplish. Soon, you had the majority of the federal workforce subject to collective bargaining.But that's changing now too. Part of that Civil Service Reform Act said, “If your position is in a national security-related position, the president can determine it's not subject to collective bargaining.” Trump and the OPM have basically said, “Most positions in the federal government are national security-related, and therefore we're going to declare them off-limits to collective bargaining.” Some people say that sounds absurd. But 60% of the civilian civil service workforce is the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security. I am not someone who tries to go too easy on this crowd. I think there's a heck of a lot that needs to be reformed. But it's also worth remembering that the majority of the civil service workforce are in these three agencies that Republicans tend to like a lot.Now, whether people like Veterans Affairs is more of an open question. We have some particular laws there about opening up processes after the scandals in the 2010s about waiting lists and hospitals. You had veterans hospitals saying, "We're meeting these standards for getting veterans in the door for these waiting lists." But they were straight-up lying about those standards. Many people who were on these lists waiting for months to see a doctor died in the interim, some from causes that could have been treated had they seen a VA doctor. That led to Congress doing big reforms in the VA in 2014 and 2017, precisely because everyone realized this is a problem.So, Trump has put out these executive orders stopping collective bargaining in all of these agencies that touch national security. Some of those, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), seem like a tough sell. I guess that, if you want to dig a mine and the Chinese are trying to dig their own mine and we want the mine to go quickly without the EPA pettifogging it, maybe. But the core ones are pretty solid. So far the courts have upheld the executive order to go in place. So collective bargaining there could be reformed.But in the rest of the government, there are these very extreme, long collective bargaining agreements between agencies and their unions. I've hit on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as one that's had pretty extensive bargaining with its union. When we created the TSA to supervise airport security, a lot of people said, "We need a crème de la crème to supervise airports after 9/11. We want to keep this out of union hands, because we know unions are going to make it difficult to move people around." The Obama administration said, "Nope, we're going to negotiate with the union." Now you have these huge negotiations with the unions about parking spots, hours of employment, uniforms, and everything under the sun. That makes it hard for managers in the TSA to decide when people should go where or what they should do.One thing we've talked about on Statecraft in past episodes — for instance, with John Kamensky, who was a pivotal figure in the Clinton-Gore reforms — was this relationship between government employees and “Beltway Bandits”: the contractors who do jobs you might think of as civil service jobs. One critique of that ‘90s Clinton-Gore push, “Reinventing Government,” was that although they shrank the size of the civil service on paper, the number of contractors employed by the federal government ballooned to fill that void. They did not meaningfully reduce the total number of people being paid by the federal government. Talk to me about the relationship between the civil service reform that you'd like to see and this army of folks who are not formally employees.Every government service is a combination of public employees and inputs, and private employees and inputs. There's never a single thing the government does — federal, state, or local — that doesn't involve inputs from the private sector. That could be as simple as the uniforms for the janitors. Even if you have a publicly employed janitor, who buys the mop? You're not manufacturing the mops.I understand the critique that the excessive focus on full-time employees in the 1990s led to contracting out some positions that could be done directly by the government. But I think that misses how much of the government can and should be contracted out. The basic Office of Management and Budget (OMB) statute [OMB Circular No. A-76] defining what is an essential government duty should still be the dividing line. What does the government have to do, because that is the public overseeing a process? Versus, what can the private sector just do itself?I always cite Stephen Goldsmith, the old mayor of Indianapolis. He proposed what he called the Yellow Pages test. If you open the Yellow Pages [phone directory] and three businesses do that business, the government should not be in that business. There's three garbage haulers out there. Instead of having a formal government garbage-hauling department, just contract out the garbage.With the internet, you should have a lot more opportunities to contract stuff out. I think that is generally good, and we should not have the federal government going about a lot of the day-to-day procedural things that don't require public input. What a lot of people didn't recognize is how much pressure that's going to put on government contracting officers at the federal level. Last time I checked there were 40,000 contracting officers. They have a lot of power. In the most recent year for which we have data, there were $750 billion in federal contracts. This is a substantial part of our economy. If you total state and local, we're talking almost 10% of our whole economy goes through government contracts. This is mind-boggling. In the public policy world, we should all be spending about 10% of our time thinking about contracting.One of the things I think everyone recognized is that contractors should have more authority. Some of the reform that happened with people like [Steven] Kelman — who was the Office of Federal Procurement Policy head in the ‘90s under Clinton — was, "We need to give these people more authority to just take a credit card and go buy a sheaf of paper if that's what they need. And we need more authority to get contract bids out appropriately.”The same message that animates civil service reform should animate these contracting discussions. The goal should be setting clear goals that you want — for either a civil servant or a contractor — and then giving that person the discretion to meet them. If you make the civil service more stultified, or make pay compression more extreme, you're going to have to contract more stuff out.People talk about the General Schedule [pay scale], but we haven't talked about the Federal Wage Schedule system at all, which is the blue-collar system that encompasses about 200,000 federal employees. Pay compression means those guys get paid really well. That means some managers rightfully think, "I'd like to have full-time supervision over some role, but I would rather contract it out, because I can get it a heck of a lot cheaper."There's a continuous relationship: If we make the civil service more stultified, we're going to push contracting out into more areas where maybe it wouldn't be appropriate. But a lot of things are always going to be appropriate to contract out. That means we need to give contracting officers and the people overseeing contracts a lot of discretion to carry out their missions, and not a lot of oversight from the Government Accountability Office or the courts about their bids, just like we shouldn't give OPM excess input into the civil service hiring process.This is a theme I keep harping on, on Statecraft. It's counterintuitive from a reformer's perspective, but it's true: if you want these processes to function better, you're going to have to stop nitpicking. You're going to have to ease up on the throttle and let people make their own decisions, even when sometimes you're not going to agree with them.This is a tension that's obviously happening in this administration. You've seen some clear interest in decentralization, and you've seen some centralization. In both the contract and the civil service sphere, the goal for the central agencies should be giving as many options as possible to the local managers, making sure they don't go extremely off the rails, but then giving those local managers and contracting officials the ability to make their own choices. The General Services Administration (GSA) under this administration is doing a lot of government-wide acquisition contracts. “We establish a contract for the whole government in the GSA. Usually you, the local manager, are not required to use that contract if you want computer services or whatever, but it's an option for you.”OPM should take a similar role. "Here's the system we have set up. You can take that and use it as you want. It's here for you, but it doesn't have to be used, because you might have some very particular hiring decisions to make.” Just like there shouldn't be one contracting decision that decides how we buy both a sheaf of computer paper and an aircraft carrier, there shouldn't be one hiring and firing process for a janitor and a nuclear physicist. That can't be a centralized process, because the very nature of human life is that there's an infinitude of possibilities that you need to allow for, and that means some amount of decentralization.I had an argument online recently about New York City's “buy local” requirement for certain procurement contracts. When they want to build these big public toilets in New York City, they have to source all the toilet parts from within the state, even if they're $200,000 cheaper in Portland, Oregon.I think it's crazy to ask procurement and contracting to solve all your policy problems. Procurement can't be about keeping a healthy local toilet parts industry. You just need to procure the toilet.This is another area where you see similar overlap in some of the civil service and contracting issues. A lot of cities have residency requirements for many of their positions. If you work for the city, you have to live inside the city. In New York, that means you've got a lot of police officers living on Staten Island, or right on the line of the north side of the Bronx, where they're inches away from Westchester. That drives up costs, and limits your population of potential employees.One of the most amazing things to me about the Biden Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was that it encouraged contracting officers to use residency requirements: “You should try to localize your hiring and contracting into certain areas.” On a national level, that cancels out. If both Wyoming and Wisconsin use residency requirements, the net effect is not more people hired from one of those states! So often, people expect the civil service and contracting to solve all of our ills and to point the way forward for the rest of the economy on discrimination, hiring, pay, et cetera. That just leads to, by definition, government being a lot more expensive than the private sector.Over the next three and a half years, what would you like to see the administration do on civil service reform that they haven't already taken up?I think some of the broad-scale layoffs, which seem to be slowing down, were counterproductive. I do think that their ability to achieve their ends was limited by the nature of the reduction-in-force regulations, which made them more counterproductive than they had to be. That's the situation they inherited. But that didn't mean you had to lay off a lot of people without considering the particular jobs they were doing now.And hiring quite a few of them back.Yeah. There are also debates obviously, within the administration, between DOGE and Russ Vought [director of the OMB] and some others on this. Some things, like the Schedule Policy/Career — which is the revival of Schedule F in the first Trump administration — are largely a step in the right direction. Counter to some of the critics, it says, “You can remove someone if they're in a policymaking position, just like if they were completely at-will. But you still have to hire from the typical civil service system.” So, for those concerned about politicization, that doesn't undermine that, because they can't just pick someone from the party system to put in there. I think that's good.They recently had a suitability requirement rule that I think moved in the right direction. That says, “If someone's not suitable for the workforce, there are other ways to remove them besides the typical procedures.” The ideal system is going to require some congressional input: it's to have a decentralization of hiring authority to individual managers. Which means the OPM — now under Scott Kupor, who has finally been confirmed — saying, "The OPM is here to assist you, federal managers. Make sure you stay within the broad lanes of what the administration's trying to accomplish. But once we give you your general goals, we're going to trust you to do that, including hiring.”I've mentioned it a few times, but part of the Chance to Compete Act — which was mentioned in one of Trump's Day One executive orders, people forget about this — was saying, “Implement the Chance to Compete Act to the maximum extent of the law.” Bring more subject-matter expertise into the hiring process, allow more discretion for managers and input into the hiring process. I think carrying that bipartisan reform out is going to be a big step, but it's going to take a lot more work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall discuss misbehavior in children with ADHD and offer advice on what parents can do about it. Read the article from Child Mind Institute here. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

This episode covers all the things about Orcs from the 2024 Player's Handbook that you might need to know! Cold Open 0:00 Opening Theme and Intro 3:09 Themes & Lore 4:25 The Stats 12:28 The Changes 18:06 Open Discussion 19:50 Final Thoughts and Closing Theme 50:10 Post-Credits (incl. Giveaway) 52:11 DON'T FORGET TO LIKE & SUBSCRIBE! Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=84724626 Website: https://www.itsamimic.com Email at info@itsamimic.com Social: Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/itsamimic/?hl=en Threads at https://www.threads.net/@itsamimicpodcast Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/itsamimic/ Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/ItsaMimic/ Find Us On: Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/3Y19VxSxLKyfg0gY0yUeU1 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-a-mimic/id1450770037 Podbean at https://itsamimic.podbean.com/ YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQmvEufzxPHWrFSZbB8uuw Dungeon Master 1:  Adam Nason Dungeon Master 2:  Megan Lengle Dungeon Master 3:  Tyler Gibson Narrator:  Steve Golding Script By:  Adam Nason, Megan Lengle, and Tyler Gibson Produced By:  Megan Lengle Director:  Adam Nason Editor:  Adam Nason Executive Producer:  Adam Nason Main Theme:  Cory Wiebe Musical Scores:  Tyler Gibson Logo by:  Megan Lengle Other Artwork is owned by Wizards of the Coast. This episode is meant to be used as an inspirational supplement for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and tabletop roleplaying games in general.  It's A Mimic! does not own the rights to any Wizards of the Coasts products.

The Cosmere RPG has come out to digital backers, so we wanted to talk about our initial thoughts, talking about the systems, and squeeing about the amazing art! We blabbed so much that lore will be... another episode at some point. There are no Stonewalkers spoilers in this episode, though we will discuss the Handbook and World Guide. Today we have Ian (Weiry), Evgeni (Argent), Matt (Comatose), and Adim (AAKS)! If you didn't back the Kickstarter, you can buy the RPG on various places: https://www.cosmererpg.com/shop We referenced the Shard of Opportunity actual play, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/@ShardofOpportunity Chapters: 0:00:00 Introductions 0:02:01 Disclaimers, RPG Structure 0:09:33 System Talk / Plot Die 0:18:31 Action economy 0:26:24 Scene types 0:34:11 Expertises 0:38:22 Stats 0:47:51 Paths 0:54:33 Goals 1:01:45 Showing off paths 1:10:46 Art squeeing 1:20:48 Favorite art pieces 1:52:44 Favorite bits of lore 2:07:48 What are you excited about? 2:23:10 Who's That Cosmere Character If you like our content, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/17thshard Purchase merch here! https://store.17thshard.com/ For discussion, theories, games, and news, come to https://www.17thshard.com Come talk with us and the community on the 17th Shard Discord: https://discord.gg/17thshard Want to learn more about the cosmere and more? The Coppermind Wiki is where it's at: https://coppermind.net Read all Words of Brandon on Arcanum: https://wob.coppermind.net Subscribe to Shardcast: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:102123174/sounds.rss Send your Who's That Cosmere Characters to wtcc@17thshard.com

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall encourage parents of infants to take a break from their smart phones and attend to the natural rhythm and needs of their baby. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

Episode 233 In this episode, we sit down with speech-language pathologist Linsey Jones, who's leading groundbreaking work in her district by delivering smart, targeted, and manageable literacy interventions to kindergarten students.Linsey shares how her background in speech-language pathology led her to create a data-driven, highly responsive tier 2 intervention program. She walks us through how she uses assessments (think: letter-sound knowledge, early phonemic awareness, and real-time data tracking), what her 15-minute intervention sessions really look like, and how thoughtful collaboration with classroom teachers has created system-wide change.We also talk about how her work has been influenced by literacy expert Julia Lindsey and how their entire district is now seeing almost no students falling behind by the end of kindergarten.ResourcesLearn more about Linsey's Tier 2 Phonemic Awareness Intervention ProgramCheck out Linsey's website: speechlanguageliteracyconnection.com Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills with Julia Lindsey (podcast episode)  Reading Above the Fray by Julia Lindsey (book)Kindergarten TEAM Reaches (nearly) 100% Success Using Evidence-Based Practices (podcast episode)Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath (book)  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

In this episode of the Child Psych Podcast, Tania Johnson, registered psychologist and co-founder of the Institute of Child Psychology, reads Chapter 4 from "The Parenting handbook: Your Guide to Raising Resilient Children." This chapter explores what happens when we parent from a place of reactivity, often driven by stress, overwhelm, or our own unresolved triggers,and how it impacts our connection with our children. Tania and Tammy gently guide listeners through real-life examples, reflective questions, and practical strategies to move from reaction to intention, helping parents cultivate more mindful, attuned responses in everyday moments.Whether you've found yourself yelling more than you'd like or just want to better understand your emotional patterns, this chapter is an invitation to pause, reflect, and grow.Get your free chapter now: https://instituteofchildpsychology.com/myparentinghandbook/?srsltid=AfmBOorLpc0Nr3Se1mhz27nAY6IYa418Ukp0zLuGq60-hnu5HgubzZck Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ephesians 6:14b tells us to stand firm with the breastplate of righteousness in place. But what does that look like in our everyday decisions?In this week's episode, Angie and Susie unpack how righteousness is more than a lofty word, it's about choosing to live in a way that aligns with God's character. From the decisions we make in private to how we treat others in public, righteousness protects our hearts and helps us walk in step with the Spirit.Together, we explore how God's justifying grace bridges the gap between our imperfections and His holiness and how living in that grace shapes the choices we make each day.Ephesians 6:14b (NIV)with the breastplate of righteousness in place,https://livesteadyon.com/https://susiecrosby.com/Free Resource: Armor of God Quick Reference GuideWant a simple, powerful way to keep the truths of Ephesians 6 close at hand? Download our Armor of God Quick Reference Guide—a one-page visual that outlines each piece of armor, highlights a key truth to remember, and includes a supporting scripture.Pin it to your fridge, tuck it in your Bible, or post it by your desk. Let it be a daily reminder that you are equipped to stand firm.Click here to download your free guide: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/LDKZP6U/armorStep By Step Study SheetWant to follow along with your own study? Download the free Step By Step study sheet to dig into scripture one word at a time and apply God's truth to your life.Get your study sheet here.https://www.logos.com/https://enduringword.com/https://www.wordhippo.com/https://www.biblegateway.com/https://www.blueletterbible.org/William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 247.James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 23.Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 179–180.Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 191.Robert G. Bratcher and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 161.Harold W. Hoehner, “Ephesians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 643.Theme music:Glimmer by Andy Ellison

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall discuss the role grandparents can play in helping their children, raise their grandchildren. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

In this episode, Dr. Samuel B. Lee, MD sits down with Teemu Arina, internationally recognized biohacker, founder of Hololife Center, and author of The Biohacker's Handbook, for an extraordinary conversation about biohacking, ancient wisdom, and humanity's next evolutionary leap—Hololife. From Teemu's early struggles with severe burnout and chronic illness to his transformative healing journey through biohacking and spiritual exploration, his story is a testament to the profound power of integrating body, mind, and spirit.Teemu shares how his awakening in the Amazon rainforest connected him deeply with ancestral traditions, emphasizing the importance of balancing technological advancements with spiritual wisdom. This episode dives deep into holistic health, authentic living, and the emergence of new paradigms that go beyond mere biological optimization, providing inspiration and actionable wisdom for those seeking profound transformation and genuine self-discovery.Sacred Truths & Lessons from This Episode: • Biohacking alone isn't enough—true healing integrates mind, body, and spirit. • Your deepest wounds are pathways to your greatest gifts. • Obsessive self-optimization can mask deeper emotional insecurities. • Authenticity and vulnerability are the real metrics of human growth. • The future of humanity depends on balancing technological innovation with spiritual evolution.To learn more about Teemu Arina:

Struggling with behavior challenges in your school? In this episode of The Principal's Handbook, Barb Flowers explains why a strong Tier One PBIS system is a game changer for improving school-wide behavior. Whether you don't have a system yet or yours feels stale, Barb shares simple, practical steps to set clear expectations, reinforce positive behavior, and use consistent consequences.Get ready to refresh your approach and create a positive, calm school climate that supports both students and teachers.Click HERE to get the Free PBIS Tier 1 Toolkit. 

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall discuss the involuntary nature of life transitions and what makes these changes so difficult. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

Series: N/AService: Sun PMType: SermonSpeaker: Josh McKibben

In this edition of the Money Makers Investment Trusts Podcast, Jonathan Davis, editor of the Investment Trusts Handbook and winner of the 2024 AIC Best Broadcast Journalist Award, is joined by Steven Marshall, co-founder, chair, and managing partner of Cordiant Digital Infrastructure (CORD). This discussion was recorded on Monday 04 August 2025. *** Out now: The 2025 Investment Trusts Handbook *** The Investment Trusts Handbook is an independent educational publication designed to provide investors with a handy annual reference book that summarises all you need to know about investment trusts. Now in its eighth year, the Handbook is a high-quality, full-colour hardback of more than 340 pages, the largest yet, with reviews of the past year, extensive interviews and commentary, plus nearly 80 pages of “how to” information and performance data. Available to order from Harriman House (https://harriman-house.com/ithb2025) or Amazon. There is also a free e-book version you can read on a PC, tablet or smartphone, plus an audiobook version. *** Section Timestamps: 0:00:24 - Introduction 0:01:14 - What digital infrastructure means 0:03:57 - The types of investors 0:06:31 - Competitive advantages for success with big infrastructure 0:09:44 - Debt and the underlying rate of return 0:10:57 - Experience as an investment trust 0:14:23 - Pension fund investments 0:17:30 - The risk of takeover 0:21:08 - A short break 0:22:13 - The AI arms race 0:23:42 - The drive into Europe 0:28:40 - A disappointing holding 0:31:57 - The dividend 0:33:22 - Lessons learnt from DGI9 0:36:21 - Risks 0:40:20 - Close If you enjoy the weekly podcast, you may also find value in joining The Money Makers Circle. This is a membership scheme that offers listeners to the podcast an opportunity, in return for a modest monthly or annual subscription, to receive additional premium content, including interviews, performance data, links to third party research, market/portfolio reviews and regular comments from the editor. A subscription costs £12 a month or £120 for one year. This week, as well as the usual features, the Circle features a profile of Odyssean Investment Trust (OIT). Future profiles include Gresham House Energy Storage (GRID) and abrdn New India (ANII). Subscribers can also see Jonathan's latest video in the Trust of the Week series, this time looking at Utilico Emerging Markets (UEM). Our new expanded weekly subscriber email includes a comprehensive summary of all the latest news plus the week's biggest share price, NAV and discount movements. Subscribe and you will never miss any important developments from the sector. For more information please visit money-makers.co/membership-join. Membership helps to cover the cost of producing the weekly investment trust podcast, which will continue to be free for the foreseeable future. We are very grateful for your continued support and the enthusiastic response to our 290 podcasts since launch. You can find more information, including relevant disclosures, at www.money-makers.co. Please note that this podcast is provided for educational purposes only and nothing you hear should be considered as investment advice. Our podcasts are also available on the Association of Investment Companies website, www.theaic.co.uk. Produced by Ben Gamblin - www.bgprofessional.co.uk

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall discuss important skills that parents can teach their child to help them this school year. Read the article from Edutopia here. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

What does a successful school year look like for your building? In this episode of The Principal's Handbook, we explore how to set clear, purposeful goals that guide your school forward. I'll share my personal approach to creating a vision and drafting goals before the year begins — rooted in district priorities, building data, and staff input — so you can lead with confidence and intention.You'll learn: Why starting with your own vision is essential — and how it actually makes shared leadership stronger Five key reasons to draft goals before the year starts How to involve your Building Leadership Team (BLT) and staff so goals become truly collectiveTips for making your planning time efficient and aligned to what matters mostPlus, I'll give you a quick look at my Lead with Clarity: Vision & Goals Workbook and how ChatGPT prompts can help you organize your thoughts and simplify this process.Start your year anchored in clarity and purpose — and set your building up for success!

I had a great time talking with Bridget Shirvell about her new book Parenting in a Climate Crisis; A Handbook for Turning Fear into Action - I may have gotten a little excited when she was talking about the contents of the book, knowing there was a chapter about activism... Bridget is a freelance writer, and has done pieces for Martha Stewart and PBS, Conde Nast and New York Times, and others about food, travel and the environment. Having her own young child inspired her to write the book, to prepare young people to take on the world that we leave, by teaching the love of nature.From her website: "In this urgent parenting guide, learn how to navigate the uncertainty of the climate crisis and keep your kids informed, accountable, and hopeful–with simple actions you can take as a family to help the earth.Kids today are experiencing the climate crisis firsthand. Camp canceled because of wildfire smoke. Favorite beaches closed due to erosion. Recess held indoors due to extreme heat. How do parents help their children make sense of it all? And how can we keep our kids (and ourselves) from despair?"You can find all of Bridget's incredible work (and her book!) at her website here: https://breeshirvell.com/She's also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breeshirvellSend me a message!Support the showPlease follow Grounded In Maine podcast on Instagram here YouTube channel link is here You can DM me there or email me at amysgardenjam@gmail.com Website for Amy's Garden Jam is https://amysgardenjam.com/ (podcast has its own tab on this site!) Amy's email newsletter: https://amy-fagan.kit.com/499688fe6a How Do I Get There From Here by Jane Bolduc - listen to more at https://www.janebolduc.com/Podcast cover by Becca Kofron- follow here on Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/cute_but_loud/ and check out her awesome art projects. Grounded in Maine Podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout, the easiest podcast hosting platform with the best customer service! Learn more at https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1851361 You can support this podcast one time (or many) with the Buy me a coffee/Hot Chocolate link here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/groundedinmaine Grounded in Maine Podcast is sponsored by ESG Review. Learn more about the good they're doing at https://esgreview.net/

This episode covers all the things about the base Barbarian class from the 2024 Player's Handbook that you might need to know! Cold Open 0:00 Opening Theme and Intro 0:52 Themes & Lore 1:40 Core Traits 11:02 Mechanics 12:23 Open Discussion 30:14 Final Thoughts and Closing Theme 42:20 Post-Credits (incl. Juggernaut Barbarian) 45:37 DON'T FORGET TO LIKE & SUBSCRIBE! Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=84724626 Website: https://www.itsamimic.com Email at info@itsamimic.com Social: Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/itsamimic/?hl=en Threads at https://www.threads.net/@itsamimicpodcast Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/itsamimic/ Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/ItsaMimic/ Find Us On: Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/3Y19VxSxLKyfg0gY0yUeU1 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-a-mimic/id1450770037 Podbean at https://itsamimic.podbean.com/ YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQmvEufzxPHWrFSZbB8uuw Dungeon Master 1:  Tyler Gibson Dungeon Master 2:  Coffee Bitch Dave Dungeon Master 3:  Sean O'Coin Narrator:  Megan Lengle Script By:  Coffee Bitch Dave, Sean O'Coin, and Tyler Gibson Produced By:  Coffee Bitch Dave Director:  Tyler Gibson Editor:  Adam Nason Executive Producer:  Adam Nason Main Theme:  Cory Wiebe Musical Scores:  Tyler Gibson Logo by:  Megan Lengle Other Artwork is owned by Wizards of the Coast. This episode is meant to be used as an inspirational supplement for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and tabletop roleplaying games in general.  It's A Mimic! does not own the rights to any Wizards of the Coasts products.

ในโลกของโลจิสติกส์ที่ลูกค้าคาดหวังความรวดเร็วและแม่นยำ ผู้ประกอบการ SME รวมถึงเจ้าของกิจการที่กำลังเติบโต ก็ต้องพัฒนาโลจิสติกส์ให้ตอบโจทย์มากกว่าที่เคย เพื่อให้ธุรกิจสามารถเติบโตและดำเนินไปอย่างยั่งยืน THE SME HANDBOOK by UOB เอพิโสดที่ 4 ของซีซัน 9 นี้ เฟิร์น-ศิรัถยา อิศรภักดี ชวน ฐานิตา อุปรานุเคราะห์ VP Regional ของ Ninja Van มาช่วยฉายภาพรวมของการจัดการโลจิสติกส์ภายในประเทศแบบครบวงจร ไม่ว่าจะเป็นการวางแผนเส้นทาง การจัดระบบคลังสินค้า ไปจนถึงการใช้เทคโนโลยีมาช่วยติดตามและปรับปรุงการจัดส่ง เหมาะสำหรับผู้ประกอบการที่อยากลดต้นทุน เพิ่มประสิทธิภาพ และขยายธุรกิจอย่างยั่งยืน

In this episode, I'm talking to Eoin MacCarthaigh. This is the latest in a running series of conversations between Eoin and I, where we share 3 things each from the world of education that have been causing us some consideration.We discuss: 1. The challenges of instructional coaching2. The challenges of achieving improvement in education3. Handbooks versus playbooks and what this means for professional development4. Whether themes can be considered hinterland in English curriculum design5. The relationship between direct instruction and EnglishIf you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhk and Eoin @EMCTeachLinks:Carl Hendrick's X post regarding coachingCraig Barton's podcast with Adam BoxerClaudia Lewis' blogpost on playbooks and handbooks

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall discuss concerns that teachers want parents to understand about their children. Read the articles from Your Tango here and from The Ledger here. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

Episode 232We know MTSS can feel like one more acronym and maybe one more thing on your plate. But what if it was the thing that helped everything else run more smoothly instead?In this episode, we chat with Stephanie Stollar and Sarah Brown, authors of MTSS for Reading Improvement, who help us rethink what strong systems of support actually look like. Together, we explore how to move beyond one-off interventions and start building aligned, school-wide systems that  support every reader. You'll hear:The difference between MTSS and interventionWhy Tier 1 instruction is your most powerful lever for changeWhat it looks like to work within your reality, not around itHow class-wide supports and smart teaming can lead to huge growthWays teachers (even without formal leadership roles) can spark changeRESOURCESMTSS for Reading Improvement by Stephanie Stollar and Sarah Brown Reading Science Academy with Stephanie Stollar  MTSS Data Academy with Sarah Brown Schoolwide Reading MTSS CollaborativeThe Reading League Book Study for MTSS for Reading Improvement (You can still sign up for recordings!)  We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

Allies are recovered as a pair of Oracles step back from the ledge. For Transcripts, our Tip Jar, and the official Discord Server: https://bloomandblight.com/ Theme Song: "Seconds Rising Star (Delphinium Vers.)" by Harper S.K. Songs featured courtesy Epidemic Sound: "Holophrased" by Ave Air, "Distressed" by Hanna Ekstrom and Anna Dager, "Melted Mind" by Max Anson, "Next Step" by Helmut Schenker, "Empty Street" by Taylor Crane, "Do Not Let Me Go (Instrumental Version)" by Gamma Skies, "The Sky is A Choir" by Polar Nights, "Starbreach" by Marten Moses, "The Long Wait" by Alexandria Woodward, "Subzero" by Anthony Earls. Check out the Slayer's Survival Guide and Hunter's Handbook: https://evilhat.com/product/slayers-survival-kit-and-hunters-journal-bundle/

Are you stepping into a new school year feeling nervous or unsure how to start strong? In this episode of The Principal's Handbook, we dive into a powerful back-to-school mindset reset to help you kick off the year with confidence and clarity. Whether you're a seasoned principal or stepping into a new building like I am this year, it's completely normal to feel those back-to-school butterflies.We'll explore why the natural reset of a new school year is a gift you can leverage to grow as a leader. I'll guide you through intentional reflection questions to help you examine how you showed up last year—through your values, thoughts, emotions, and actions—so you can decide who you want to be this year.You'll learn: ✅ Why confidence is a choice, not a trait ✅ How to identify thoughts that support or sabotage your leadership ✅ How to set clear priorities and show up as the leader you want to bePlus, I'll share a simple mindset shift exercise to ground you as you step into the year ahead. If you're ready to lead with more calm, confidence, and purpose, this episode is for you.Get my free workshop, Stop Doubting Your Decisions. Check out my other principal freebies, HERE.

This episode covers all the things about the Sage background from the 2024 Player's Handbook that you might need to know! Opening 0:00 Intro 2:11 Themes & Lore 2:31 The Numbers 5:35 Feat 11:57 Gear 14:02 Missing Feature 17:56 Discussion 20:14 Outro and Closing Theme 43:57 Post Credits 46:13 DON'T FORGET TO LIKE & SUBSCRIBE! Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=84724626 Website: https://www.itsamimic.com Email at info@itsamimic.com Social Media: Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/itsamimic/?hl=en Threads at https://www.threads.net/@itsamimicpodcast Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/itsamimic/ Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/ItsaMimic/ Find Us On: Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/show/3Y19VxSxLKyfg0gY0yUeU1 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-a-mimic/id1450770037 Podbean at https://itsamimic.podbean.com/ YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzQmvEufzxPHWrFSZbB8uuw Dungeon Master 1:  Megan Lengle Dungeon Master 2:  Adam Nason Dungeon Master 3:  Brad McMann Narrator:  Pepperina Sparklegem Script By:  Brad McMann, Adam Nason, and Megan Lengle Director:  Megan Lengle Editor:  Adam Nason Producer:  Adam Nason Executive Producer:  Adam Nason Main Theme:  Cory Wiebe Musical Scores:  Tyler Gibson Logo by:  Megan Lengle Other Artwork is owned by Wizards of the Coast. Other Artwork is owned by Wizards of the Coast. This episode is meant to be used as an inspirational supplement for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and tabletop roleplaying games in general.  It's A Mimic! does not own the rights to any Wizards of the Coasts products.

In 2004, Madelaine Weiss had a flesh-eating disease, which started as strep throat and extended into her arm. She had a 1% chance of survival. The doctors were threatening to remove her upper right quadrant, but after seven weeks in the hospital and three months off her post at Harvard Medical School, here she is – happy, healthy, prosperous, and productive with a smile. Madelaine Weiss is a Harvard-trained licensed psychotherapist and mindset expert, with an MBA and board certification in executive, career, and life coaching. She is the founder and former chair of The School-Business Partnership, former parenting education facilitator, group mental health practice administrative director, corporate chief organizational development officer, associate director of an educational resource program at Harvard Medical School, and bestselling author of “Getting to G.R.E.A.T. 5-Step Strategy for Work and Life.” "The harder a decision is to make.....  STOP and take time to listen to your inner voice."   Madelaine shares her full story in her interview and points you to building your best adventures in life.  I"A great life depends on a great fit between who we are and the environments in which we work and live." Getting to G.R.E.A.T. is a lively, practical guidebook for living with a proven method that has already changed so many lives. Loaded with science and stories, each information-packed chapter launches with a topic-relevant vignette from the author's own experience, moves to research and practical recommendations on each chapter topic, and concludes with a chapter-specific case example and exercise for personal use.   Beginning with the pivotal event that shaped the trajectory of her work and life, Madelaine Weiss reveals a powerfully effective five-step strategy for satisfaction and success in your own work and life.   DIVE INTO A WORLD WHERE YOU AND YOUR BRAIN TEAM UP TO BUILD THE STORIES OF YOUR LIFE!

What is the Church of the SubGenius?What if parody could be sacred? This video explores the Church of the SubGenius—a surreal blend of satire, esotericism, and counterculture. Discover the origins of “Bob” Dobbs, the mystery of Slack, and how this invented religion both mocks and mirrors spiritual belief. Drawing from academic research on contemporary religion, occultism, and pop culture, this episode unpacks one of the most bizarre and thought-provoking movements of our time. Is it a joke, a faith, or something in between? Watch to find out.CONNECT & SUPPORT

More evidence of how what we were told during the Q operation is coming to light right now, and how some who never followed it to begin with are now confused; I also cover many sections of the NEA's 2025 Handbook and how discriminatory it is against White's; and a quick story about sloppy steaks. Substack:  https://theamericanclassroom.substack.com/p/treason-doesnt-pay-well   Book Websites: https://www.moneytreepublishing.com/shop PROMO CODE: “AEFM” for 10% OFF https://armreg.co.uk PROMO CODE: "americaneducationfm" for 15% off all books and products. (I receive no kickbacks).

Love to hear from you; “Send us a Text Message”We explore Father Gabriele Amorth's book "God Most Powerful," which serves as a practical handbook for spiritual warfare. Rather than becoming obsessed with evil, Father Amorth encourages us to focus on strengthening our relationship with God through prayer, sacraments, and embracing truth. The best defense against darkness isn't fear but cultivating goodness and wonder in our daily lives.The conversation takes a fascinating turn as we discuss how young people today are desperately seeking meaning in a culture that often reduces humans to mere biological accidents. As one psychiatrist observed, "Young men will crawl over broken glass to find meaning." This search becomes particularly challenging when our society distorts language and rejects fundamental realities about human nature. St. Edith Stein's profound wisdom offers guidance: "Speak the truth in love and love people in the truth. One without the other is a destructive lie."Michael also reveals how developing relationships with saints provides spiritual allies in times of darkness. His simple prayer during the worst moments—"You're God, I'm not, please help"—offers immediate relief by acknowledging the divine relationship that sustains us.Our guest Michael Lichens, author and editor with a passion for overlooked aspects of Christian history, walks us through this harrowing yet ultimately redemptive story. Purchase Link: God Most Powerful, By Fr. Gabriele Amorth, An Exorcists Testament to God's Victory over SatanReady to discover how wonder might transform your own battles? Listen now, and consider downloading the Claymore Militus Christi Battle Plan and join us in reclaiming what it means to be a man. Share this episode with someone and discuss the questions together: Discuss Ephesians 6:10-20. In it Saint Paul says, "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the world rulers of this present darkness...Discuss how this is seen in our culture today: Sister Lucia of Fatima wrote, "The last great battle between Our Lord and Satan will be fought over marriage and the family". While listening to the podcast Consider and discuss:  "Young people are searching for the truth and this is what Father Amorth brings out over and over and over again, the importance of staying in the truth and reality. Truth and reality. Where do you find the truth? What is real? How should I live my life right? What is my identity?"Jacks Latest Blog Young Men United in the Eucharist: Heroically Rebuilding the Three Necessary SocietiesFollow us and watch on X: John Paul II Renewal @JP2RenewalSubscribe to our Newly Resurrected YouTube Channel!Sign up for our Newsletter: https://jp2renew.org/Support the show

The Gospel of John Week 4 Scripture: John 2:1-22, Genesis 1:10 & 12, Isaiah 62:5, Isaiah 25:6-9 Today's study starts with the story of a wedding at Cana in Galilee and the text opens with “On the third day.”  The first day is Sunday, the second day of the week is Monday and the third day is Tuesday.  The wedding is happening on a Tuesday. Why is the wedding on Tuesday? The answer is because of what we read in Genesis 1:10 and 12 where God declared everything as good, not once but twice on the third day of creation and the rabbis said the third day is an especially good day - what a great day for marriages! So orthodox Jewish people have set their wedding dates on Tuesdays going back to Biblical times. Mary, Jesus' mother is at this wedding, too. They are most likely into the 4th or more day of the wedding feast. (They typically lasted a week or longer). And they run out of refreshment and Mary lets Jesus know they have run out of wine. Mary then tells the servants to “do whatever He tells you.”  This is a word for us today - to do what Jesus tells us. We are to listen and obey. Pastor considers the questions: “Isn't this a rather frivolous miracle? Why would Jesus for His first miracle make 150 gallons of wine?”  Let's take a look at this miracle in light of what the Old Testament Scriptures say and what the Jewish people believe: God speaks of Himself as being married to His people. God calls Himself the groom and He gives Himself for His bride (the children of Israel). We reading Isaiah 62:5 "For as a young man marries a young woman, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." And the Bible talks of wedding feast banquets when Messiah comes. Isaiah 25:6-9 begins with:  “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare     a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—     the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy     the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;     he will swallow up death forever.” These are a sample of the verses Jewish people knew and now Jesus performs His first miracle at a wedding! This is not a frivolous miracle - this is Jesus saying: “I am the Bridegroom. I am the One who provides everything you need. I am the One who brings in the wedding feast!”  This miracle points to Jesus as the Messiah! It is a dramatic declaration of Jesus' identity and purpose and going forth Jesus will continually refer to Himself as the Bridegroom and to His people as those who get to be invited to the wedding feast. Pastor shares other great insight into:     1.    Why it's important that the jars where stone and not clay pottery     2.    The use of the word “signs”     3.    The 7 miracles shared in the Gospel of John and how they show Jesus' identity and demonstrate He is the Messiah.     4.    The recent archeological discoveries that go back to the 1st century. Next in our text we read the story of the Temple cleansing where Jesus overturns money changing tables at the Temple.  John is the only gospel that has this story at the beginning of Jesus ministry, the other gospels have it at the end of His ministry. Pastor shares the perspective of there being 2 temple cleansing: 1 at the beginning and.another at the end of Jesus' ministry. Other interesting points     ⁃    The temple was to be a house of prayer - not a market place     ⁃    Money changing was being done where worship was supposed to be happening     ⁃    Tyrian Stater - 1/2 shekel temple tax     ⁃    Pastor shares a detailed description of the Temple in Jesus' day and does a dating of events in conjunction with the building of the temple and Jesus' ministry     ⁃    Pastor suggests a book by Jack Finnegan, “Handbook of Biblical Chronology” Our reading today ends with John 2:20-21 where we read that Jesus knows what is in our hearts. He can see into our very souls. We cannot con Jesus. He is the Living God come to earth and we cannot fool Him.   Pastor ends today's class with a look at the Feasts of the Lord celebrated by the Jewish people and how the festivals point us to understanding their connection to who Jesus is: The Fulfillment of each festival. Our website – https://www.awakeusnow.com Watch the video from our website! https://www.awakeusnow.com/2-year-study-of-the-gospels-upper Watch the video from our YouTube Channel!! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOzMkhPyiNWwlJRpV6Bwpu01     ⁃    The Gospel of John study is part five of five of our Two Year Study of the Gospels.      ⁃    The Gospel of John may be one of the most powerful books ever written. Many people have come to faith after reading only this book of the Bible.  Scholarly and archeological discoveries in recent decades give us new insight on details in the Gospel of John. We can now understand it as the most Jewish rather than the most “Gentile/Greek” of the Gospels, and when we do that we see many things that we missed before. Our 2 year study of the gospels is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time!

ในยุคที่ธุรกิจต้องปรับตัวอย่างต่อเนื่อง การบริหาร ‘กระแสเงินสด' อย่างชาญฉลาด คือหัวใจของความอยู่รอดและการเติบโต โดยเฉพาะในระบบซัพพลายเชนที่เชื่อมโยงทุกฟันเฟืองขององค์กรไว้ด้วยกัน THE SME HANDBOOK by UOB เอพิโสดที่ 3 ของซีซัน 9 นี้ เฟิร์น-ศิรัถยา อิศรภักดี ชวน รศ. ดร.คณิสร์ แสงโชติ อาจารย์ประจำภาควิชาการธนาคารและการเงิน คณะพาณิชยศาสตร์และการบัญชี จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย มาเจาะลึกกลยุทธ์บริหารกระแสเงินสดให้ไหลลื่น มั่นคง และพร้อมรับมือกับความไม่แน่นอนในห่วงโซ่อุปทาน พร้อมส่งมอบเครื่องมือวิเคราะห์ที่ช่วยให้คุณ ‘คุมเกม' ได้อย่างมั่นใจ

Welcome to The Mental Breakdown and Psychreg Podcast! Today, Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall discuss some of the reasons we are seeing so many issues in public education. Read the articles from The Lakeland Ledger here and from the American Psychological Association here. You can now follow Dr. Marshall on twitter, as well! Dr. Berney and Dr. Marshall are happy to announce the release of their new parenting e-book, Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child Part 2: Attention. You can get your copy from Amazon here. We hope that you will join us each morning so that we can help you make your day the best it can be! See you tomorrow. Become a patron and support our work at http://www.Patreon.com/thementalbreakdown. Visit Psychreg for blog posts covering a variety of topics within the fields of mental health and psychology. The Parenting Your ADHD Child course is now on YouTube! Check it out at the Paedeia YouTube Channel. The Handbook for Raising an Emotionally Health Child Part 1: Behavior Management is now available on kindle! Get your copy today! The Elimination Diet Manual is now available on kindle and nook! Get your copy today! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube Channels, Paedeia and The Mental Breakdown. Please leave us a review on iTunes so that others might find our podcast and join in on the conversation!

Are you letting your mindset get in the way of leading challenging teachers effectively?In this episode of The Principal's Handbook, Barb shares three powerful mindset shifts every school leader needs when working with challenging teachers. From taking things personally, to labeling staff as “negative” or “toxic,” to simply avoiding tough personalities altogether — Barb unpacks the traps that many principals fall into and shows how reframing your thoughts can transform tough dynamics.Barb also introduces Byron Katie's four questions as a tool to challenge assumptions and highlights the power of shifting your thinking to create more positive emotions, better relationships, and stronger leadership.Grab her free Quick Guide to Navigating Challenging Teacher Dynamics to go deeper, and start experimenting with just one mindset shift this week.FREE DOWNLOADS*The Principal's Email DetoxDecisive Leadership- Free WorkshopPrincipal Checklist to Disconnect From SchoolBehavior Blueprint for PrincipalsThe Principal's Power Hour Blueprint

In this enlightening episode of "Father and Joe," hosts Father Boniface Hicks and Joe Rockey delve into the profound journey of transforming from mere onlookers to active participants in the Mass. This transformation is likened to the difference between watching a NASCAR race and being one of the drivers, feeling every exhilarating moment. Father Boniface emphasizes that this journey is not an all-or-nothing proposition; it's about making a choice. He contrasts the utilitarian view of the Mass with its true essence—an ever-growing relationship, much like a marriage, which flourishes the deeper it becomes.The conversation addresses common objections, such as the misconception that every Mass is the same, and highlights how each experience is unique, just as no two days with a friend are ever identical. Father Boniface eloquently speaks about the Mass as a dynamic relationship, not a transactional experience. It's about the opportunity to sacrifice, love, and give everything for something greater, echoing the Christian value of martyrdom—offering oneself entirely out of love.Together, they explore the structure of the Mass, from the initial acknowledgment of sins to the transformative power of the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist. This episode uncovers how each stage of the Mass is designed to guide us from external observance to internal engagement. They discuss practical steps for entering deeper into the Mass, recognizing the signs and symbols that catch our attention, and ultimately meeting Christ through the Holy Communion. As Father Boniface mentions, staying in this relationship, even when not fully engaged, brings profound growth, both spiritually and personally.Father Boniface also touches on his book, "The Hidden Power of Silence in the Mass," inviting listeners to dive deeper into the beauty and purpose of the Mass. This episode serves as both a spiritual guide and a heartfelt conversation, encouraging everyone to reclaim their faith journey and build a stronger union with God, whether they've drifted away or seek to deepen their existing relationship.Tags: Mass, Spirituality, Church, God, Eucharist, Relationship with God, Faith Journey, Active Participation, Worship, Spiritual Growth, Community, Catholicism, Marriage Analogy, Transformation, Sacrifice, Liturgy, Eucharistic Prayer, Encountering Christ, Holy Communion, Personal Growth, Divine Presence, Christian Values, Faith Obstacles, Spiritual Direction, Handbook to Mass, Engaging Worship, Religious Practice, Catholic Faith, Spiritual Reflection, Deepening Faith, Mass Structure, Spiritual Conversations, Faith and Love, Building Relationships, Finding Purpose, Mass Experience, Christian Life, Spiritual Insights, Worship Guidance, Faith RenewalHashtags: #Mass #Spirituality #Church #God #Eucharist #FaithJourney #ActiveParticipation #Worship #SpiritualGrowth #Community #Catholicism #MarriageAnalogy #Transformation #Sacrifice #Liturgy #HolyCommunion #PersonalGrowth #ChristianValues #FaithObstacles #SpiritualDirection #MassHandbook #EngagingWorship #ReligiousPractice #CatholicFaith #SpiritualReflection #DeepeningFaith #MassStructure #SpiritualConversations #FaithAndLove #BuildingRelationships #FindingPurpose #MassExperience #ChristianLife #SpiritualInsights #WorshipGuidance #FaithRenewalThis line is here to correct the site's formatting error.

Episode 231Working with students who struggle to make sense of complex texts? You're not alone! Christina Cover, a high school special educator, interventionist, English teacher, and literacy coordinator, is here to help! In this episode, Christina shares real-world, research-based strategies she uses to help her students break down and make sense of challenging texts. From her go-to routine Getting the Gist to building vocabulary and using morphology instruction in context, Christina walks us through what works in her classroom.You'll hear:How to support students in summarizing and understanding complex textsWhy vocabulary and morphology matter so much for comprehensionWays to make test prep meaningful without sacrificing deeper readingHow writing can be a powerful tool for reading comprehensionIf you teach in grades 3 and up, this episode is full of tools and inspiration you can take straight back to your classroom.Resources:Getting the G.I.S.T. Word Matrices Frayer Models Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) The Writing RevolutionQFT: Question Formulation TechniqueProject for Adolescent Literacy: email: pal@seekcommonground.org   We answer your questions about teaching reading in The Literacy 50-A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-World Answers to Questions About Reading That Keep You Up at Night.Grab free resources and episode alerts! Sign up for our email list at literacypodcast.com.Join our community on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter.

Click here if you join us for live coaching in The 8 to 4 Principal Blueprint Live.Are you being intentional about building parent connections this year — or just hoping relationships fall into place? In this episode of The Principal's Handbook, we continue our summer planning mini-series with Part #4, diving into three strategies I'm using right now to plan for meaningful parent engagement in my new school. From being truly present at key events, to sending clear, proactive communication that eases parent worries, to planning ways to keep families involved all year long — these ideas will help you foster trust and build a strong school community from day one. Tune in and get inspired to strengthen your parent partnerships before the year even starts!FREE DOWNLOADS*The Principal's Email DetoxDecisive Leadership- Free WorkshopPrincipal Checklist to Disconnect From SchoolBehavior Blueprint for PrincipalsThe Principal's Power Hour Blueprint

The phrase “it's just a small project” has probably caused more confusion, blown more budgets, and strained more relationships than we'd care to admit. It sounds harmless, maybe even charming - the architectural equivalent of a quick favor. But that phrase carries weight. Because behind every modest addition, bathroom remodel, or garage conversion is the same professional rigor we apply to larger work … just without the benefit of scale. Whether it's fees that don't shrink as expected, construction costs that defy logic, or clients caught off guard by the number of decisions they'll need to make, these projects demand clarity, patience, and experience. So today, we're talking about what architects need to communicate, anticipate, and prepare for when the work is small but the expectations are not. Welcome to Episode 180: Size Doesn't Matter.  [Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player]  Architectural Fees Don't Scale jump to 3:50 One of the most misunderstood aspects of residential design is how architectural fees are determined. Many clients assume that a smaller project should result in a proportionally smaller fee. But architectural fees don't scale like that. A 400-square-foot addition still requires site measurements, code research, zoning analysis, (possibly) consultant coordination, and detailed documentation. Whether the project is 400 or 4,000 square feet, many of the baseline efforts remain the same. You still need floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, building sections, wall sections, electrical layouts, and coordination with structural engineers or energy consultants. And while the documentation may be shorter, the care and precision required to make a small project work can sometimes take even more time. For example, a kitchen renovation might involve more detail and coordination per square foot than an entire house. The AIA has published guidance on fee structures in the "Architect's Handbook of Professional Practice," (this is a book that I highly recommend) which notes that project complexity and risk should be used to help determine compensation, not just size. As architects, we must be clear in helping clients understand that fees represent time and expertise, not floor area. If you charge a fixed fee or percentage of construction cost, be sure to explain what that covers and what it doesn't. Helping clients see the value in pre-design services, permitting assistance, and construction observation can prevent misunderstandings later. Saving the best for last, just because it's a small project doesn't mean the liability is small. Professional risk remains, which means the time spent to get it right matters, regardless of scale. the post that I referenced in our discussions was this one ...*the penalty of drawing too much -  Excessive or Essential? The Entire Timeline jump to 9:43 Clients often think the timeline for a small project will be quick. And to be fair, the design phase might be shorter than that of a ground-up custom home. But that's only one piece of the puzzle. Permitting can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the jurisdiction. In some cities, small additions are routed through full plan review just like new homes. And once the project is permitted, the construction timeline is subject to the availability of contractors and materials, site conditions, and even weather. It's our responsibility to help clients understand the full arc of the process. According to a 2023 survey from Houzz, the average design-to-completion timeline for a kitchen remodel is around 8-12 months, even when the construction itself only takes 2-3. Why the gap? Because there are lags built into the process. Design review boards, HOA approvals, contractor bidding windows, and permit review times all add up. When you add in backorders on appliances or materials, things can shift quickly. That's why it's so important to map out the process...