Professional Development Opportunity!

Our friends at Wily—a design agency based at Camp North End in Charlotte—are running a Design Sprint Bootcamp on September 11-12Jake Knapp—creator of Design Sprints and author of NYT bestseller “Sprint“—will lead Day 1 of the two day training. Jake perfected Design Sprints while at GV/Google Ventures helping companies like AirBnB, Slack, Nest, Flatiron Health, and 23andMe solve big challenges. Jeff Grant will be leading Day 2 to cover prototyping and testing. Jeff innovates the retail security experience as head of product and innovation at InVue, has created satellite hardware for NASA, and was former co-founder and director of IDEO’s toy business line where he helped invent new products. Jake and Jeff will walk you step-by-step through the training and will be spilling all of their design and prototyping secrets.

Details are at wilysprints.com and a nice Harvard Business Review article about sprints can be found here.


Charlotte Region By the Numbers

In June, the Charlotte Regional Partnership announced that it was launching a new quarterly economic activity report to capture an overarching look at capital investment, job growth and other important business data across the 16-county Charlotte region.  We read the published report and learned that the vast majority of companies that located or expanded in the region are manufacturers.  The report also reinforced that financial services is not the largest employer among the region’s industry sectors (it is healthcare by a large margin).  Read the new report here.


July 2018 Workforce Report

LinkedIn publishes a monthly analysis of employment trends in the USA workforce.  The report is divided into two sections:  a National section that provides insights into hiring, skills gaps, and migration trends across the country, and a City section that provides insights into localized employment trends in 20 of the largest USA metro areas.  In its newly-published July report, LinkedIn shared that Charlotte ranked among the top 10 cities in two different categories.  Learn more here.


Walk With Croixstone

Although pancreatic cancer is the 3rd leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S., most people know little about the disease.  Croixstone Consulting is a huge supporter of the Charlotte Affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the world’s toughest cancer on all fronts:  research, clinical initiatives, patient services and advocacy.  So why does Croixstone passionately fight to rewrite the future of this disease?  Patti Weber lost her father in 2005 to pancreatic cancer, and Mark Weber lost his mother to the same disease in 2012.  We invite you, your friends and loved ones to join us at PurpleStride Charlotte, the walk to end pancreatic cancer, on September 15 in Uptown Charlotte.  Join our team here.


Industry Profile: Healthcare

Did you know that healthcare accounts for 1 in 10 jobs in the Charlotte region? That represents more than 137,000 diverse workers offering varied skill sets and education levels.  And did you know that the Charlotte region has the largest concentration of medical device manufacturers in the Carolinas?  With a total impact estimated at $13.4 billion, the healthcare sector has a significant, and rapidly-growing, impact on the Charlotte region’s economy.  Learn more about our local healthcare sector via industry reports published by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the Charlotte Regional Partnership.


Charlotte Growth Report

The workforce in the Charlotte region has grown by 28 percent since 2001 (compared to just under 10 percent growth nationwide). This is one of several fascinating statistics included in the Charlotte Chamber’s 1st Quarter 2018 Growth Report.  Read the report to learn about the largest sector by total employment in the Charlotte area (surprise – it isn’t financial services or retail) as well as the importance of both Professional Services and Manufacturing to the Charlotte region’s economy in Q1.


Seed20 OnStage!

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” Today, we focus on an upcoming event dedicated to those in the Charlotte community that are “doing for others” each and every day…SEED20 OnStage!

SEED20 is the annual program of Social Venture Partners Charlotte (a nonprofit organization) to identify, highlight and connect the community to the region’s most promising social entrepreneurs tackling pressing challenges.

Croixstone’s Mark Weber is serving as the Lead Partner for this year’s powerful program, best known for its high-energy SEED20 OnStage event where ten members of the SEED20 class compete to win cash awards by making three-minute “pitches” to a panel of judges and a community audience.

This year’s event takes place at the Bechtler Museum and Knight Theater in front of an audience of 1,000 guests on April 16, 2018.  We invite you to view the SEED20 video and website to learn more.

Tickets for the event are now on sale.  To purchase tickets, Click Here


2018: The Year of Professional Courage

With months of revelations about sexual harassment and abuse of men and women across industries, we encourage you to make 2018 the year of professional courage. Guest blogger, Tony Armeni, shares his insights below.

What are we to think of all the news about workplace behavior, and particularly sexual harassment, in the media of late?
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I am sure you have read and heard every possible angle about the individuals, situations, causes, explanations, and even excuses. Who knew? When did they know? How could this be?
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The one thing I have heard little about is accountability. Do we really need more training and clarifications from attorneys about the definition of sexual harassment? Do we need more value statements about integrity and transparency? The answer is NO! It is time for human resource leaders, and their executive peers, to step up and start holding their organizations and individuals in them accountable for behaviors that are in clear violation of the policies and training that they have already established. Enough about all the grey areas, misinterpretations, consensual this and that and all the other excuses. We know what this looks and sounds like. We know what the right thing to do is.  Now we need to start doing it.  
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No more separating the offender from the accuser, rationalizing how you can’t afford to lose the star performer, implementing mutual separation agreements for the accuser and so forth. Let’s eradicate the innuendo and foul language, jokes, inappropriate remarks and other behaviors that create a culture of tolerance and acceptance.
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It is important to make sure our policies on workplace behavior and sexual harassment are well communicated and that we have trained everyone in our organizations. We must take every complaint seriously and investigate thoroughly. Once all the facts are known, we must do the right thing, regardless of who the violator might be.
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Merriam-Webster defines courage as the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear or difficulty. Get an early start on your new year’s resolutions and begin now to demonstrate professional courage and start leading your organization’s accountability crusade. Let’s make 2018 the year of professional courage.
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About Our Guest Blogger
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Tony Armeni, MBA, SPHR and SCP, is a senior consultant in Croixstone’s human capital practice. With extensive experience in diverse industries, cultures and environments (including Fortune 200 companies), Tony has delivered high-impact results to support the business objectives, change initiatives and leadership development activities at companies including SCOR, Joerns Healthcare, Sompo Japan, CSX World Terminals and more. Tony offers deep expertise in helping organizations navigate through sexual harassment complaints, investigations and training.
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Are you ready to make 2018 the year of professional courage?  For a confidential discussion, contact Mark Weber, Managing Partner, at (980) 263-0234 or by email at mweber@www.croixstone.consulting


#MakeYourMark in 2018

Happy New Year!  The Croixstone team is ready with some creative ways to start the year off on the right foot.  It’s time to #MakeYourMark in 2018.

  • One great way to start the year is by enjoying the great outdoors on New Year’s Day.  North Carolina State Parks will be hosting First Day Hikes throughout the state to start the year off right.  To read more about First Day Hikes in North Carolina, check out a story in the Shelby Star here and see a full list of hikes sponsored by North Carolina State Parks here.
  • Looking to make 2018 your healthiest year yet?  Start the year off with a free Healthy Lunch & Fitness Goal-Setting Session hosted by NoDa Personal Training.  To learn more and to register, click here.
  • Ready to take your career to the next level?  Check out 10 things to do in the new year to skyrocket your career in 2018 here.