Some small-business owners are working to educate themselves and their teams about what to do in a situation involving an active shooter. Performing an internal threat assessment is one key step, and First Defense Solutions co-owner Heidi Wysocki notes that there has "to be some sort of way for employees to anonymously raise a red flag."

Hiring a diverse workforce improves morale and engagement and creates a more competitive company, writes Kim Raymond, senior vice president for global talent strategy at MSI. "Although many companies may recognize the benefits of diversity, not all do what it takes to make it happen," Raymond writes.

The three-legged stool of retirement savings, consisting of Social Security, a pension and personal savings, is broken, writes Chad Parks of Ubiquity Retirement + Savings. To help fix the problem, he recommends doubling the amount that employees and employers pay in Social Security taxes and placing the extra funds in an account in the employee's name.

Consider job candidates' potential more than their experience, writes Rachel Cubas-Wilkinson, a senior consultant for The Myers-Briggs Company. "As hiring managers, we can evaluate good leadership, individual contribution, strong interpersonal skills, and collaboration skills in so many ways other than by years of experience, and consider that some skills are transferable across contexts, and that more nuanced qualifications can be obtained on the job," she writes.

Los Angeles-based Mi Terro has developed a way to create fabric from unused milk, with about five shirts generated from each glass worth of milk. The process takes two months and involves converting milk proteins into fibers.