Making people successful
Perhaps I’m a bit optimistic, but I am inherently convinced that anyone can be successful given the right attitude and circumstances. Photo credit: Wikipedia I think I came to this conclusion in...
View ArticleGetting better at being wrong
WRONG WAY (Photo credit: CarbonNYC) A few days ago, someone corrected a mistake that I made. I nodded and said, “Now I know.” Perhaps this doesn’t seem like a strange situation to you, but it...
View Article2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 2,400 views in 2012. If...
View ArticleAre you a bottleneck?
Is your staff frustrated? Do you feel like they’re all inefficient? Is there a line every night out your office door and a long queue of email from your team awaiting your reply? If so, I have news for...
View ArticleManagement styles: chutes, shields, and shows
I’m becoming convinced that there are three basic types of managers: chutes, shields, and shows. Each of these types should be preceded by a certain word that I won’t say on my blog, so let’s call it...
View ArticleActually solving problems
I get it. We’re all stressed. Most of us are working ridiculous numbers of hours and maybe only about 40% of it is in our primary skill set (or at least that’s where I am right now). But after reading...
View ArticleJumping on the “WTF Yahoo!” bandwagon (re: working remotely)
I realize that pretty much everyone is writing about the Yahoo! work from home debacle (hi Jim!). Just in case you’re living under a rock, here’s the salient part of the memo: Image via CrunchBase To...
View ArticleMaking effective business arguments
I know, lame title. But I recently had an experience that reminded me that it’s not easy to make an effective informal business argument, and I wanted to record some of my take-aways. Note that I’m...
View ArticleWorking stupid(ly)
burning a candle at both ends (Photo credit: Mayaevening) I have a confession to make: I’ve been working stupidly. For a while now, I’ve been working all hours. Sometimes I start at 5am and end at 7pm....
View ArticleManaging stupid(ly)
Astronomical Clock (Photo credit: simpologist) A few years back, I realized I was killing my staff. I thought I had found the ultimate in productivity. In order to manage my completely ridiculous...
View ArticleDoes your staff feel safe?
CSF-Safety Vest & Triangle Kit (Photo credit: redi-medic) I was recently reading an article about why Agile implementations are failing (yes, I’m a total geek), and it got me thinking about safety....
View ArticleAre you in love with your company?
Photo credit: Wikipedia I have a confession to make: I fall in love with companies. And when I do, I obsess about them. I read back blog posts. I stalk employees and founders. I gather as much...
View ArticleNext Stop: California!
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, one of California’s most famous landmarks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Confession: this is going to be an annoying blog post. It’s really a teaser, where I tell...
View ArticleMy new job.
winding road (Photo credit: infraredhorsebite)“I’m looking for a company that I can live and breathe.” That’s what I was thinking when I started looking around for a job. As you know, I want to fall in...
View ArticleValuing employees
When RecruitLoop and I were in our final stages of negotiating, we started talking about value. About how my primary concern was feeling valued by a company. Talking about value on both sides honestly...
View ArticleMy thirty-five cents on tech and sexism
Chromosome X (Photo credit: Wikipedia) If you read any common tech blogs, you’ve noticed a bit of an explosion over sexism. There was the stuff at TechCrunch Disrupt, the brouhaha over the Business...
View ArticleTelling Stories – Even in Technology
Recently, I got to have a blast telling a story. We put together a story about our company’s two-year history and posted it to SlideShare. In fact, I had so much fun that I’m going to show it, and then...
View ArticleThat is NOT hacking!
Dear world: Hacker inside (Photo credit: Wikipedia) You keep using the words, “hack”, “hacking”, and “hacker” in, frankly, bat-poo crazy ways. And I’ve just about had it. I went to a “sales hacker”...
View ArticleAre you killing your managers?
Psycho (Photo credit: dpratstur_IBZ) It’s easier than you may think to ‘kill’ your managers. I’m personally not the greatest middle manager in the world, but I’m grateful for my time as one, since it...
View ArticleYou’re all irresponsible yutzes.
Well, maybe not YOU per se. But the total mushrooms that I’m reading today. Stupid IV (Photo credit: LauraLewis23) <rant> For those of you who don’t have an IV drip of social media like I do,...
View Article