December Breakfast at PA College of Health Sciences

Boss and Hunky: Lessons You can Learn from the Out-of-Work Gargoyle 

Imagine enjoying one job your entire working life only to have it ripped away suddenly (and literally). By this point, you likely feel too old to begin again yet too young to retire.   

In Boss and Hunky: The Adventures of an out-of-work Gargoyle (POPBooks 2021), author Andrea Mower tells the story of two gargoyles who suddenly found themselves without employment. Readers are taken through their various emotional stages and trotted along their journey—from their “first steps”—to find a place in this new, strange world. Along the quest, Boss and Hunky encounter every personality style found in any workplace. This fresh perspective on human dynamics enlightens readers while keeping them thoroughly entertained.   

The lecture portion of the program offers recruitment tips for hiring displaced, underemployed, and older workers.  

The interactive component of the program includes small group discussions where participants discover their respective work styles. Using the garden scenario for comparison, participants learn how to recognize others’ styles, so they can improve communication and ultimately their professional relationships. (On video conferences, the exercises will require use of breakout rooms).  

Key Takeaways  

RECRUITMENT: Enhance your workforce by identify value in overlooked candidates and hiring them. Like seeing the forest for the trees, get your head out of your resume pile to see a throng of qualified candidates.  

WORK STYLE: Identify your personality type: Who are you? Consider the garden in the Victorian manor Boss called home for a stint. Are you the gnome, fairy, turtle, or angel? Learn tips for bringing out the best in each style, leveraging each for the good of the garden (team), and welcoming everyone into the garden for balance, beauty, and bounty. Unlike other workstyle programs, the characters represent the more difficult-to-work with personalities and how to manage in really tough situations. 

CAREER SEARCH: Do you feel stunted, trapped, or demotivated? Learn to recognize the behaviors and self-perceptions that put you in this mental state and discover habits to help you break the cycle. All growth requires change; embrace it. Also, understand that change for change’s sake is not always good. Sometimes staying the course is not so bad. Adopt an attitude of gratitude. A positive mindset helps to clear your vision.   

 About the Presenter 

Andrea Mower is a Human Resources executive (SHRM-CP, PHR) with over 30 years of experience. Currently the Chief Human Resources & Administrative Officer of a non-profit continuing medical education organization, Andrea has performed all functions of an HR professional, and is especially fond of recruitment and learning about candidates’ journeys. A background in theater combined with years of human resources management enables Andrea to read the subtext that is so often missed on resumes. She believes people are an art, not a science.  

Andrea earned her master’s degree in Organization Leadership from Cabrini University and her bachelor’s degree in Acting from the University of the Arts. She has entertained audiences around the world as a magician’s assistant, promotional model, historical reenactor, and actor.