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Success on the job is not just a function of technical competence. Social skills and good judgment are critical.

As individuals, many of us take little time for reflection. We are always onto the next thing, grinding to become more. How then do we become more, when we don’t know who we are to begin with?

After the coronavirus pandemic forced changes to work life – particularly an increase in remote work and a decrease in the need for office space – the results of this survey seem to suggest businesses are reverting to their traditional thinking.

Despite the rough past 16 months and the pandemic’s continued impact on the economy, local forecasters are optimistic about the short- and long-term future of the Central Massachusetts business community, especially as statewide restrictions have been lifted and vaccination rates rise.

As Central Massachusetts, and the nation, recovers from the sharpest recession in its history, companies around the region are coping with the same situation.

According to an April report from the National Association of Homebuilders, which indicated lumber prices have tripled during the pandemic, that increase over the last year has added nearly $36,000 to the cost of a new single-family home.

To better represent its patient population, the board of directors at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center has made an effort during the past three years to diversify and include a greater variety of perspectives under the leadership of chair Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham.

In less than a year, employers went from holding hands with their employees saying, “We’re all in this together,” even as companies were laying off their workers begging them to understand, to now employers saying, “People are just lazy and entitled.”

This five-month investigation by Worcester Business Journal and Worcester Regional Research Bureau dives into how racial discrimination in mortgage lending and home ownership creates neighborhoods of have's and have-not's in Greater Worcester, where educational and economic success is harder to achieve.

The aftermath of the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, on May 25, 2020, brought pledges from Central Massachusetts business leaders to work to address institutional racism in society, as well as examine their own cultures relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion.