Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
They go on to describe one of the worst effects of cultures that are low on motivation and managed by a team that believes in external (indirect) motivation. They call it the Cobra Effect, and it’s a classic (and hilarious) example of incenting the wrong thing.
In almost every survey over the past decade, workers say they want job security. Some people think that the quest for job security is simply saying “don’t fire me, even if I’m not performing.”
This is one of a series of posts on Intelligent Disobedience by Ira Chaleff. Ira Chaleff uses the analogy of a guide dog as his model for Intelligent Disobedience. A guide dog is trained for months to be calm, patient and obedient. He is taught to guide a blind person safely through any environment while … Continue reading Intelligent Disobedience Part 3: What we can learn from guide dogs
2016 is the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese horoscope. That means it will be a great year for me. I am not a Monkey (I was born in the Year of the Dog) but I admire the monkey spirit.
I recently wrote a post about how the cover letter is being replaced by the Pain Letter. A pain letter takes what you know through research about an industry or company and makes some assumptions about what is keeping a manager up at night. A pain letter assumes some challenges, and then allows you to … Continue reading Better than a Pain Letter
Cover letters seem to be going the way of, well, letters in general. Most are not well-written and most, quite frankly, go unread.
But there are two new versions of the old cover letter that are worth considering. They’re two faces of a single coin, and one of the two may work for you.
The 19th century was a time of great change, and two cultural movements created dynamic tension throughout this fascinating period of world history. The Industrial Revolution transformed societies from agrarian economies to manufacturing economies within a few decades. Industrialization launched a dramatic increase in productivity and the standard of living for each country that became … Continue reading Poetical Science: The Woman who Envisioned the Modern Computer
The world is divided into two kinds of people: those who are on time, and those who are always late. Sociologists have actually studied lateness as it relates to cultures all over the world. Whole countries can be classified according to their perception of time and lateness. Traditionally, cultures are divided into monochronic (where time … Continue reading Be Late for Something Day is September 5 – oops.
One of the most common phrases you’ll hear in a job interview is the ubiquitous “I’m a team player.” Like any personal quality, “team player” falls on a spectrum, but almost no one talks about it that way. This is one of those characteristics where one end of the spectrum is good and the other … Continue reading Are You a Team Player?
I’ve been waiting to see what happens when Generation Selfie and the Working Establishment collide. This story was inevitable.
