I speak as one of you. I received my law degree in 2005, and quickly realized that: a.) I wasn’t cut out to be a lawyer (I kind of sucked at it) and b.) I wanted to do something else. Anything else. There are a lot of us that realize that. Once we see the …
Read More…Category: PassiveAggressive
Don’t Mess Up the Easy Stuff: Hiring 101
If someone tells you that their rise to leadership looks like the graph on the left rather than the graph on the right, they are a liar and you should not listen to them. I’ve learned in my squiggly career that you can work hard, you can have the best intentions, but sometimes things …
Read More…Starting A New Job? Read This.
Don’t be the new guy. No, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever change jobs. But it does mean not acting like the new guy. The new guy often suggests solutions that are obvious, pontificates on how HE fixed things at his LAST job, and second guesses everything your team’s doing. He knows how to …
Read More…Do You Disconnect? Vacation and Work
In 2005, I paid $20 for an HOUR of internet service at a resort in Jamaica. Why? To make sure nothing really important happened at work. I’m not a brain surgeon. I’m not (and wasn’t) a CEO. I had perfectly qualified and competent coworkers taking my workload for the week. So why was I so …
Read More…Don’t Be a Workplace Bystander
The bystander effect or Genovese syndrome is a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present. The probability of help has often appeared to be inversely related to the number of bystanders; in other words, …
Read More…Marissa Mayer and You: Working From Home
Guys, let’s stop the general freak out about Marissa Mayer announcing that she was ending the Work from Home program at Yahoo. I know that it’s super fun to be all OMG SHES A WOMAN SHE SHOULD KNOW HOW HARD IT IS!!!!! IF YOU DO GOOD WORK, SUCH GOOD WORK THAT YOUR COMPANY DOESN’T WANT …
Read More…Employee Feedback: Do It Right
Scene: An office building, nondescript, Monday morning, 9 am. (You’re sitting at your desk. The boss strolls by and asks if you can come see them in their office. You nod and follow them in.) Boss: So, Mr. X, you’ve been doing a great job with the Brady project and you’ve produced some terrific work …
Read More…Don’t Tell HR!
We’ve all been part of an organization at some point and time where the #1 rule of Fight Club, er, Work Club is “don’t tell HR!” Coworkers will regale you of stories about the time they told HR about the creepy guy in Marketing looking at the bikini pictures on his work computer, and then …
Read More…Social Media and Your Company: Fine Line
We all have those friends on Facebook. The oversharers. Instead of just telling you how great their holidays were, they detail overdrinking and throwing up at the holiday work party in GRAPHIC DETAIL. Sometimes we don’t need to hear the whole story. That’s how many employers view social media. It’s cool if you’re posting a …
Read More…Secrets of HR
Hi. I’m your HR Lady. I hear that you don’t like HR very much, or you have no idea what we really do. You’re pretty sure I plan that lame holiday party, and you laugh when I wear my Christmas sweaters to work. Let me clear up some misconceptions you may have about me. I …
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