On Careers
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7 Moves for Effective Meetings
Continue reading… 0 CommentsManagement writer Lin Bothwell once said that it takes a darned good meeting to beat no meeting at all. Those of us who’ve sat through mind-numbing meetings would agree. When people stagger to the door and announce that “it’s time to get back to work,” they are revealing how they regard the time just spent.
Here are a few approaches that can make meetings more productive:
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5 Self-Made Barriers Between You and Your Dream Career
Continue reading… 1 CommentAre any of the obstacles standing between you and your dreams self-inflicted? If so, you’re in good company. We all manage to get in our own way at times. Fortunately, sometimes all it takes to stop getting in our own way is to realize we’re doing it. With that in mind, here are five mistakes I see frequently blocking people’s path to passion:
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Hey, Employees: When You Resign, Be Kind
Continue reading… 0 CommentsLast week, I told you why bosses should be nice when employees resign. Now, I'm going to tell you why—even if your boss is the devil incarnate, Prada-clad or not—you should resign professionally.
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How to Deal With Adversity at Work
Continue reading… 4 CommentsIn a comment on my “How to Survive a Bad Boss” post, one reader asked, “But what if you are so nervous around your boss, and your fear of failure is amplified by her actions….what recommendations might be offered as far as coping skills?”
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Why 'Going Rogue' Is a Good Thing
Continue reading… 4 CommentsThe title of Sarah Palin's book reminds me of something I have known during my entrepreneurial career:
Every start-up needs a rogue.
Or a wild duck. Think of all those V-shaped gaggles of geese flying south right now. Now, picture one goose that is flying out of formation, making its own way against the headwind, no wind drafting, maybe not even knowing the built-in compass heading. Goodness knows that flying in formation is nature's way of protecting the flock.
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How Much Can You Change Your Manager?
Continue reading… 3 CommentsOne of the most common themes of questions I receive at Ask a Manager is: "How can I change my manager?" Or, how can I make her stop this annoying habit, or not be a jerk, or learn to manage her time better?
The answer is: Maybe you can't.
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Fairy Tales and Fables for the Workplace
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe Little Boy Who Cried Wolf (Before Monday): “We need this report done by Monday at the absolute latest. I don’t care what you need to do to meet that deadline, but get it done.” Fast forward two weeks after Monday: “Oh, your report? We haven’t gotten around to it yet.”
[See 10 career mistakes I've made.]
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5 Habits for Creating a Career You Can Love
Continue reading… 1 CommentThe career you have today is the cumulative result of the choices you have made up until now. The career you have next year, or 10 years from now, will stem from the choices you make starting today.
Some of those choices will be conscious, while others will be the result of ingrained habits. And when you develop the right habits, they can be a powerful force in propelling you in a positive direction. With that in mind, here are five habits that will move you toward a career you can love:
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Hey, Bosses: When an Employee Resigns, Be Nice
Continue reading… 6 CommentsI know that the number one reason people leave a job is because they have a problem with their manager. Managers know this too, and as a result some of them take a resignation personally. They shouldn't.
But, wait! Didn't I just say that people quit because of their managers? So, shouldn't managers take it personally?
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9 Ways to Overcome Being Overqualified
Continue reading… 2 CommentsNothing is more frustrating than applying for a job you want and being told you’re "overqualified." You figure that, "Hey, if I’m willing to take this work—work that my skills and experience clearly show I am more than capable of doing—then employers should be thrilled to have me."
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When Fear Grips Business Development
Continue reading… 3 CommentsI am a serial entrepreneur. I start companies. So far in my career—a couple of home runs, a double or two, maybe a single. Never a strikeout. A fly out maybe.
For the past three years, I have been working (nights and weekends) on a new company with a colleague. We have spent well into six figures, not accounting for our time. "Incubating" and "sweat equity" are the terms now in vogue. This is a new business in the publishing space—a niche market easily in the hundreds of millions, (or, as much as $10 billion, according to some estimates).
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5 Signs You May Be a Bad Coworker
Continue reading… 9 CommentsI get a lot of mail at Ask a Manager from people consumed with fury over habits their coworkers have—habits that I bet most of those coworkers aren't even aware of.
Here are five signs that you might be the one pushing your coworkers to the limits of their sanity:
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10 Career Mistakes I've Made
Continue reading… 1 CommentUnless your career has been an unblemished rise to the top, you can probably identify a few mistakes (or maybe more than a few) made along the way. Here are some of mine:
1. Charting a path from A to B to C to D without giving much thought as to whether I'd like B and C. That is often a very bad move, because although D may be nirvana, B and C are where a lot of time is spent.
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7 Steps to Sustain a Career Change
Continue reading… 4 CommentsIf it's time for a career change, to a path that energizes and inspires you, try this. Grab a magic wand (an invisible one will do), close your eyes, spin around three times, wave the wand and say, "Wobbity bobbity, fibbity fun, when I open my eyes, career change be done!" Really. Do it. I'll wait.
[See how to change your work and the world.]
How'd that work? Not so well? Bummer. It looks as if you'll have to do it the way everyone else does it—one step at a time. Here's the reality: Real substantive change doesn't happen with the wave of a magic wand. Success requires commitment, effort, and persistence. It unfolds over time. It's easy to come out of the starting gate sprinting full speed toward change. But this isn't a sprint. You have to be in it for the long term. Here are some tips to help you maintain momentum on the way to a career you love.
Pick a path you care about. Imagine two paths. One of them you pick because other people will admire it, or because that's where the money is, or because of external expectations. The other lights a fire inside of you. It energizes you to even think about. A big part of maintaining momentum is about feeding the energy to keep you moving forward. When you aim your efforts toward something you really care about, you get energy from the pursuit. It's also a lot easier to take the inevitable bumps and bruises along the way when you experience them in pursuit of something you love.
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What to Expect When Across-the-Board Layoffs are Coming
Continue reading… 2 CommentsMy company just announced "across the board" layoffs. Does that really mean that 5 percent of every department will be cut? The announcement said the entire company will be affected.
Not knowing the inner workings of your company, I can't say for sure what the management has planned. However, in general, it's unlikely that the same percentage will be cut from each department.
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How to Survive a Bad Boss
Continue reading… 7 CommentsHave you heard the one about the boss who made his assistant check his sandwich every day to be sure it didn’t contain tomatoes? Or the boss who always worked weekends and put dated notes on everyone’s desk saying, “I was here. Where were you?”
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20 'Rules for Radicals'
Continue reading… 2 CommentsMy friend Nicholas Bate is a visiting lecturer at Warwick Business School in England. His minibooks are classics. His 14 Rules for Radicals
was a nice jumping off point for me, and I wanted to point you toward his "rules." (Aside: Here in America, Nick, we always need a round number like 20, so I've added six. I just had to make some parenthetical comments, too.)
[See 20 temptations to fight at work.]
This is Nick's introduction:
Be different. Be distinct. Be radical. It's good for you, it's good for your business. It's good for your kids. Be a radical. And now would be a perfect time.
. . . When I was at secondary school, the deputy headmaster demanded to see me. Apparently my school trousers broke school uniform regulations. They broke the rules. There were "too radical." That was the start of something. . . .
These are the radicals' rules, according to Nick:
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6 Things You Learn at the Job Interview
Continue reading… 8 CommentsI preach all the time about how the small stuff matters in a job search, because employers are drawing conclusions about you based on little things. The reverse is also true. As a candidate, you can learn a ton about a prospective employer by watching how they handle little things during the hiring process. Here are six:
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When a Résumé Should Take Risks
Continue reading… 3 CommentsThere has long been a debate among human resources professionals over whether a job applicant is wise to include a section pertaining to personal interests on a résumé.
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4 Myths About Career Passion
Continue reading… 5 CommentsI make my living helping people figure out how to create careers that light them up, so I end up having a lot of random conversations about career passion. While the idea is appealing to everyone (because who wouldn't want to love their work?), it can also kick up a fair amount of skepticism.
[See how to change the world and your work.]
No doubt some of that skepticism is fueled by an overdose of happy-thought gurus who are long on fluff and short on realistic implementation. But a big part of it is also tied to an all too common misperception that pursuing passion is little more than unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky dreaming. That misperception is fed by a number of widespread myths. Here are four of the most common myths that prevent people from stepping into their potential.
Myth No. 1: Pursuing your passion is selfish and self-indulgent. Too many people fall prey to the notion that if it's fun, it must be selfish. And of course we can't have that! Better to stick our noses to the grindstone and grit our teeth. (What's up with that?) Is creating a career where you feel energized and engaged in your own best interest? Of course! But finding work you love is also one of the best things you could ever do for your loved ones.
