In any healthy team of professionals, there will occasionally be disagreement. Team members bring different perspectives, priorities, and risk tolerances, so they will advocate for different paths forward. This discord seems like an annoying roadblock until you realize it’s better than the alternative. Corporate cultures where a single suggestion is mindlessly accepted offer far fewer opportunities for refining and finding the best option available.  

You don't have to give up efficiency or give up having a variety of opinions on the table. Healthy disagreement, respectful conversation, and finding a truly ideal solution are possible when you work toward inclusive leadership.  

Anyone actively involved in higher education in the past two years has had a wild ride. From instructors to students to administrators, no one had an easy time making choices, adapting courses, or learning in a new setting. Many prospective students continue to wonder how COVID-19 changed the college experience in 2020 and 2021 and beyond. They are looking to the future and asking, “When the pandemic ends, will school change forever?” 

There will always be perks and drawbacks when you choose to pursue a new career, be it for the first time or as you’re switching industries. Any career counselor would tell you to choose a career based on your preferences and aversions. For instance, if you have always struggled with and disliked math, choosing an actuarial or accounting career could make your day-to-day challenging. If you've been holed up with a calculator doing equations for fun throughout your youth, it might be the perfect fit. 

Many people have approached the United States' increased focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in different ways over the past few years. Reading books about lesser-known histories of cultures in the United States has been eye-opening for some. For others, it's more relational, talking to friends, family, and coworkers to see if their experiences can help inform more equitable and positive experiences and relationships in the future. 

Angela and David Anderson spent years helping Oregon’s wine industry grow by providing Web and consulting services for restaurants and wineries. In 2019 they stepped onto the front line of the industry and opened Syndicate Wine Bar in downtown Beaverton. Syndicate is “a community wine bar, bringing in all facet of wine culture,” they wrote. "A place where all people could sip, sample, buy bottles and snack on appetizers."

Living in a diverse area like Portland, you're likely to encounter people from other countries than you. People who speak different languages and who have different norms for how they receive healthcare. 

It's been true for decades that gender roles in United States workplaces have been changing. While this can sometimes feel jarring if you grew up expecting to interact in one way with men and another with women, culturally, learning these changing norms can be very helpful. Furthermore, the growing inclusion and acceptance of transgender and nonbinary identities in the professional sphere has added additional challenges for those who may not understand these concepts or simply not be aware of how to address their colleagues. 

Finding a new job or finding your first job is an exercise in patience, resilience, and persistence because no one likes to find out that they didn't get an interview or are just not the top choice for an employer. It can feel like you have sent a million applications even if you are still relatively early in your process of applying. There are ways you can keep things in perspective and make sure you have the staying power to get ready for a job hunt. If you're lucky, you won't need these strategies, but recognize that great workers sometimes have long job hunts, especially in specialized industries or times of economic shift. Here are some tips for how to stay sane while job hunting. We wanted to include some of the more gentle job search tips 2021 has to offer. 

This month we interviewed Jeff Stell with Business Oregon who, after 26 years working at the Oregon Department of Human Services, decided to try something new. He enrolled at Portland State University in the Master of Public Administration program and simultaneously took a new position at Business Oregon as the Business Projects Incentives Coordinator where his job was to implement incentive programs that would strengthen the development of businesses, communities, and economies in Oregon. With that shift Jeff says he “encountered three career changing opportunities" that helped him discover that a great amount of import/export activity happening across the state, and exporting wasn’t getting the attention it needed at the state and local levels.

Courtney is a functional nutritional therapy practitioner and yoga instructor. She earned her master’s degree in applied behavioral science/counseling in 2002 from Bastyr University with the intention of becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist, but instead started a family of her own and stayed home for several years until her youngest started kindergarten. In 2013 she continued her studies at the Nutritional Therapy Association and works in a family functional medicine clinic in Portland, Oregon. In 2017, Courtney rounded out her education by becoming a registered yoga teacher, and currently specializes in teaching yoga to seniors.