Congratulations to Meredith and Brad! They were officially married on August 28th. The beautiful ceremony took place at Haywood Hall with a reception immediately following.

The family and I had the honor of attending. We enjoyed Raleigh -- grabbing some North Carolina style BBQ, enjoying the farmer's market, and touring Raleigh's vibrant downtown. We really enjoyed the rickshaw service available -- completely unique - a delightful way to get around.

For those of you who don't know Brad Barbour, he runs our Raleigh office. Meredith works for BB&T.

Congratulations to you both!

Last Thursday I presented at the Southeastern Accounting Show. My topic was "Leveraging Today's Employment Market." The speech focused on hiring best practices as documented in my forthcoming book (MATCH). I also outlined some of the staffing strategies that companies are utilizing to combat these economic times.

During the presentation I got many questions from members of the audience. I tried to answer all the questions thoughtfully with a genuine desire to bring value to those in attendance. But after some self-evaluation I believe I could have been more thorough in three cases. I thought the blog would be a format to delve deeper into this trio. The first of these questions concerned Corporate Culture.

The MATCH process is built upon the concept that understanding Corporate Culture is critical in setting the foundation of a hire. In helping companies to establish this best practice I’ve identified 8 Dimensions of Corporate Culture. During my presentation I got no argument that this was the case in a “for profit” environment. Where the questions arose was in regards to non-profit organizations.

As a reminder, I’ve listed the 8 dimensions of Corporate Culture and the guiding questions as noted in the scorecard:

1. Decision-Making

Guiding question: How are decisions generally made – by consensus or by leadership?

2. Communicating

Guiding question: How do people relate to each other: in a formal and detached way, or in a more infor­mal, personable way?

3. Procedures

Guiding question: Do you value consistency of procedures (i.e., are you organized around roles) or flexibility (i.e., are you organized around talents and skills)?

4. Innovation

Guiding question: Does your company innovate and develop revolutionary products, or does it stick to its core offerings, progressing in steady stages?

5. Employee Makeup

Guiding question: Are employees people who seek meaning in their work or are they a resource hired to do what the company wants them to do?

6. Teaming

Guiding question: Do you reward individuals for what they contribute to groups, or do you reward groups for how they nurture individual development and initiative?

7. Winning

Guiding question: Is your company a world of competing rivals, or a world of cooperation and partnerships?

8. Profits

Guiding question: How much emphasis does your company put on short-term shareholder value versus long-term economic value for all stakeholders?

It was this 8^th dimension of Corporate Culture that was asked about in my seminar. Since non-profit organizations do not concern themselves with profit, what is the 8^th dimension of Corporate Culture to be replaced with? What takes the place of profit orientation when profit isn’t a factor? After all, a non-profit by definition doesn’t focus on the bottom line. They are mission driven vs. profit driven.

I have been thinking about this question ever since my presentation. In all honesty, I am not sure I still have the best answer. However, I think that my thinking is approaching the truth.

My answer is based upon my 13 years on the board of TECH CORPS Georgia -- a non-profit dedicated to bridging the digital divide and keeping computers out of land-fills. Referring back to that experience I believe that the 8^th dimension of Corporate Culture in non- profit is capital resources – with the guiding question ranging across a spectrum of direct vs. indirect focus upon those resources.

So, on the score card of a non-profit the 8^th dimension of Corporate Culture would be evaluated as follows:

8) Capital Resources

Guiding question: How much emphasis does your non-profit organization put on the direct need for capital versus a non-direct focus on capital?

In other words, is the non-profit organization one where all shareholders are asked to focus directly on fundraising, or is the organization one where fundraising is not a concern for those working for the non-profit.

I welcome any thoughts you’d like to share on this matter. I plan on continuing my thoughts on this matter – researching and asking my friends within the non-profit world what they believe. In the meantime I will provisionally replace “profit” with “capital resources” when it comes to evaluating the corporate culture of non-profits. After further investigation we will decide if it is indeed the 8^th dimension.

Just got back from a speakers dinner at the River Room Restaurant. It was great to get to know some of the other presenters. I enjoyed all the topics floating around the table: social media, Peachtree, Quickbooks, and the best Italian food in the city. I even had the pleasure of meeting the Singing CPA who will be presenting at the cocktail hour.

I present tomorrow -- Wednesday, August 18 during the 3:20 -5:00 pm session. The topic is Leveraging Today's Employment Market. You can access the Power Point presentation by clicking on the title.

My goal is to provide those who attend with 6 hiring strategies that can immediately impact their organization -- a method for finding the silver lining in these economic clouds. I look forward to delivering on this goal.

How about that for a headline to catch your attention? I heard it on the radio today and had to validate. Sadly, it seems that there is legitimacy to the statistic.

According to the Harvard Business Review 60% of young male executives would punch a co-worker in the face if they could get away with it. When asked about their superiors, 40% would also punch their bosses in the face if there were no repercussions.

The study did show that these violent tendencies decrease with age.  Only 20% of male readers ages 50+ share these violent desires.

Read the whole story from mint.com here.

My son, Nelson, met Blake Kuller in the third grade. They became fast friends. They shared birthday parties, movies, and slumber parties. They worked on school projects together, and occasionally got into trouble together.

Blake had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), and maybe the reason that Nelson and Blake had such a great friendship was because Nelson never seemed to notice. Sure, he loved escorting Blake on the only elevator in the school, and he loved riding on the back of Blake's scooter, but most of all he simply loved Blake.

Sadly, on the day before the boys would have entered high-school together we lost Blake.  Blake Kuller (14) son of Whalen and Allison Kuller and brother to Jackson (10) Lauren (8) and Ansley (6) passed away early Monday morning at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's Scottish Rite hospital, where he had been admitted after suffering a fall.