Once your child turns 18, your ability to act on their behalf changes. Their medical history is no longer available and you cannot make medical decisions for them. Even if your child lives at home or is on your health insurance, a parent has no legal authority to make health care decisions nor do they have the right to obtain medical information due to the Privacy Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Mike Cahill, President of Banking Services at Ruoff Home Mortgage. We hope you enjoy Mike’s wisdom and perspective.

I recently came across a person on social media who was probably one of my worst hires ever. A very good person, just a very bad fit for the job and a poor judgment call on my part. I shared this with a friend who reminded me of a promotion I gave someone a few years back that was also ill advised. This friend has known me for a long, long time, so we reminisced about various bad hires or poor promotion decisions I made over the years.

As we all move up through management, the decisions that more times than not either make our break our success are the people decisions. Who do you hire, promote, reassign, develop, fire, etc.? After making sure you have the appropriate vision and strategy for your business, nothing is more important than the people decisions we all make.

At home, your family is exposed to the risks of robbery, fires, weather damage, and car accidents, among other things. When your young adult heads off to college, the same risks exist, even when they live on campus. It is important to understand your insurance policies to know what is covered and where there may be gaps.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Shery Roussarie, President and CEO of Allied Physicians of Michiana, LLC. We hope you enjoy Shery’s wisdom and perspective.

Two recent experiences have caused me to think about the legacy I am building. Is it a legacy where people will speak fondly of me, or will it be a celebration the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Dorothy’s house landed in Oz?

The first of these experiences was at Notre Dame’s annual President’s Breakfast. This year’s event concluded with a special tribute to John Affleck-Graves, retiring Chief Financial Officer of Notre Dame since 2004. It just takes a quick Google search to see the significant impact Dr. Affleck-Graves is leaving on Notre Dame and the financial development of the region.

What is hard to convey in an online search, or even in a sentimental tribute, is how he makes you feel. Should you have the good fortune to meet Dr. Affleck-Graves, you would indeed come away feeling blessed. He is one of those rare individuals who fully engages in the conversation at hand without regard to the status, title, or role of the person with whom he is speaking. Whether you are the president of the university or a little-known attendee at a breakfast.

 Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Anita S. Knudtson, Consultant/Owner of Experient Consultancy. We hope you enjoy Anita's wisdom and perspective.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger, Jim Gilkey, Director of Member Development at trueU. We hope you enjoy Jim’s wisdom and perspective.

I remember when my first employee quit. I was sitting in my office, a first-time branch manager at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, listening to a newly hired employee explain to me how he got an offer from “his dream job” and how he would be leaving me in two weeks. I told him, “no worries - sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and let him take the next two weeks out of the office to prepare for his next role.

I sat in my office for a while after he left. My head was spinning - a battle was raging inside me. One voice was trying to reassure me, explaining the logic of why this employee left (he is a millennial), telling me that I’d do the same if I were in his position (no one grows up dreaming of renting cars for a living). The other voice was not as sure.

Would that employee have quit if I was a better leader?

Accidents are preventable, predictable, and unacceptable. Heat illnesses are no exception – they are preventable. It is your responsibility as an employer to provide a workplace safe from excessive heat, as well as appropriately train your employees on understanding heat illnesses and how they can be prevented. 

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Joe Calloway, author of “Keep It Simple,” “Magnetic,” and several other game-changing business books. We hope you enjoy Joe’s wisdom and perspective.

There are common threads woven through winning companies and top individual performers. There are also common threads woven through the mediocre and the struggling.

When I talk with people in companies that are not doing well, they will invariably tell me how complicated their business is, how different it is from other businesses, and that they “have a thousand things to do” each and every day.

Celebrating one of the nation's most historical holidays can be festive, but has the potential for risk. So we bring you a look at the 4th of July by the numbers with interesting statistics and facts. As with any holiday celebration, have fun and stay safe!

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger, David Mann, Managing Partner at The Firefly Group. We hope you enjoy David’s wisdom and perspective.

About a year ago, I had the opportunity to introduce The Firefly Group and our team to a room of 200+ talented, inspiring, go getters who are making a positive difference in the world. It is always my desire to deliver my message in a way that hits its mark, but with this particular group I had an increased desire to leave a positive impression as we had recently formalized our partnership and were meeting the broader team for the first time.

At the end of my introductory remarks I was asked several questions. I was feeling pretty good until someone asked - "Tell us your firm's core values?" Embarrassingly, with a deer in the headlights expression on my face and my mind going completely blank, I looked at the person asking the question and had to admit that I could not name a single one of them. Spending the next couple of days ruminating on this experience, I continued to ask myself - do our core values actually mean anything or are they just something we tell people we have and hang on the wall? If I can't name them, how in the world could I possibly be living by any of them?