In the U.S., Labor Day marks the “unofficial end of summer” and, according to the U.S. Department of Labor website is the “annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.”

Everyone seems so angry these days. Maybe it’s due to the proliferation of one-way, anonymous communication tools where one can spit vitriol with no consequences or repercussions. Embedded within this anger is a deep feeling that rights and personal freedom have been infringed. Through my lens, it seems as if the concept of “freedom” has somehow been uncoupled from that of citizenship.

We live in a highly polarized society in which we routinely place labels on individual citizens and categorize issues as black/white or right/wrong depending on our political and socio-economic leanings. However, if you look past the headlines, most people and issues don’t fit neatly into the boxes we’ve assigned them to.

If you manage a customer service team, add this story to the list of examples you use on how NOT to treat your customers.

Email might be the last place you’d look to hone your emotional intelligence skills, but in my opinion it should be at the top of the list. Why?

I used to keep a lot in my head - believing that I could remember everything I needed to do in our pre-show routine - only to be burned on multiple occasions.