By Ryan Bradshaw
Faculty member, Retail Management at American Public University

“My name is Ryan Bradshaw and I am a recovering college dropout.”

I use this line in almost every class I teach or visit. When I was 20 and in my junior year as an undergraduate, everything was looking up. I’ve always been highly motivated and college was no exception.

By Dr. Oliver Hedgepeth
Program Director, Government Contracts and Acquisition at American Public University

Are you thinking about finishing that master’s degree? Maybe you are taking a course here and there in between family vacations, career deployments, deaths, and births and as your budget permits. My advice: find a way to get it done—soon.

I have a secret. I have three unfinished master’s degrees. One from American University in Management Information Systems, one for George Washington University in Operations Research, and one from Catholic University of America in Nuclear Engineering. Together they represent 54 graduate hours of courses. Together, they are totally worthless.

By Dr. Marie Gould Harper
Program Director, Management at American Public University

As more organizations recognize the value of team performance to the bottom line, it is important that we assess what makes a team effective. Leaders at organizations such as Zappos are convinced that flat organizations can be functional and productive if you motivate and coach your employees to work with one another for the common cause.

By Shane Nelson
Faculty Member, Management at American Public University

Every industry and every small-town business has a manager. There are often misconceptions about the different stress levels, workloads, and general responsibilities of managers that work for non-profits and for-profit entities. For-profit business models offer unique challenges, especially for publicly traded companies. In terms of how it achieves its business goals, a non-profit is much different than a for-profit.

By Dr. Suzanne Minarcine
Faculty Director, School of Business at American Public University

If you’ve ever experienced a significant loss, you know that the standard three-day bereavement leave policy does not mean that three days is up and then life – specifically work – goes back to normal. What do you say to your colleague who has experienced a death, and how can you best support that person? It is often difficult to know what to say or how to respond. Even well-meaning words can be hurtful.

By Shun McGhee
Contributor, Career Services

On a hot and sunny day in the 90’s, my mother and aunt drove me to West Virginia State University. During that seven-hour ride to “State,” I thought about attending college and all it entailed, and I realized I had not chosen a major. I confessed this to my mother, and I asked her what she thought was a good major. She replied, “You should major in business because most professions will have some type of business fundamentals associated with it.” So, I declared Business Management as my major. I’ve found that I’m not alone in this situation; many of the students I’ve spoken with have chosen a major blindly.

By Dr. John Richard Horne
Faculty Member, School of Business at American Public University

A common problem for many project managers is that team members show up late for scheduled meetings or, worse yet, do not show up at all. Sometimes the reason is that team members have too many conflicts on their calendars. However, this could be an indication that the meetings are not of great value to the participants.

By Nancy A. Woolever, MAIS, SHRM-SCP
Director, Academic Initiatives, Society for Human Resource Management

In higher education, competency-based education is emerging as an approach to help students leverage past experiences and to help universities create more customized educational experiences. Students may bypass already-mastered subjects as determined by various measures that gauge the student’s competency. This allows a student to broaden his or her educational experience.

In general, competencies represent a collection of knowledge and behaviors that demonstrate mastery of knowledge, yet also show how an individual uses what he or she knows by consistently behaving in a manner that indicates proficiency.

By Robert Gordon
Program Director, Reverse Logistics Management at American Public University

Statistically speaking most Americans will experience job loss at some point in their career. Job loss is not restricted to poor performers of an organization. Organizations are eliminating jobs and closing altogether with amazing frequency and today’s professional must prepare for the likelihood of job loss.