Set the Stage for Better Conversations
It’s time for your yearly conversational health checkup. When was the last time you had a real conversation with someone other than a family member?
Category: Communication
The Modern Administrative Assistant
Administrative Professionals Week fell this year on April 24. The modern admin assistant is tasked with a variety of important tasks, including data management, supervision, budget responsibilities, even hiring and training. Good riddance to the days when as Peggy Olsen, in Season One of Mad Men, said, “He may act like he wants a secretary, but most of the time they’re looking for something between a mother and a waitress.”
Making Real Connections
Confession: I’m an extrovert who dislikes networking events. I like meeting new people, but I find making small talk tedious within a few minutes of arriving. Superficial chat exhausts me, and it’s rare to make a true connection at most business events or parties.
Exclamation Points and the Female Brain
The exclamation point may have originated from a Latin exclamation of joy (io). According to Wikipedia, the modern exclamation point was introduced in the Middle Ages when copyists wrote the Latin word io at the end of a sentence to indicate joy. (An end of the sentence “hurray.”) Grammar manuals describe its function as “indicating strong feelings or high … Continue reading Exclamation Points and the Female Brain
Let’s Eliminate Employee Probation
“Probation” has a couple of meanings, including one from our criminal justice system. Its technical definition is “the release of an offender from detention, subject to a period of good behavior under supervision.” We also use it for newly hired employees, making their first few months feel like a presumption of incompetence until proven otherwise.
11 Things Besides Salary You Can Negotiate
You might be able to get more value from your initial job offer if you budget carefully and negotiate.
What Nick Foles Can Teach Us about Character
2019 update: Welcome to Jacksonville, Nick Foles! We’re so proud to have you wear number 7 for the Jags. Here’s a reprint of the post I wrote about you after your Super Bowl victory. You’re an inspiration. Nick Foles is the man of the hour. A second string quarterback who took down the best quarterback … Continue reading What Nick Foles Can Teach Us about Character
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
One of her great actionable takeaways is the phrase: “The story I’m telling myself is…” She introduces the concept with a story about a time she was completely overwhelmed with work.
Managing the Micro Manager (Part Two)
If you work for a micromanager, it’s easy to feel like giving up. After being second guessed, checked and re-checked, and getting blamed for project delays, you may want to throw in the towel. Your manager is so busy counting trees that he’s forgotten you’re even in a forest.
Managing the Micromanager
I suspect micromanagers are made, not born. Somewhere along the line, they probably got burned by a project that didn’t go well.
