When Words of Wisdom are not so wise, and the very best things go unappreciated

I’M ALWAYS HUNGRY for good advice no matter where it comes from. And advice from a former boss or mentor is usually the best. That’s why a recent Wall Street Journal article titled ‘The Best Advice a Boss Ever Gave Me‘ grabbed my attention. But it was the subhead that really pulled me in, because

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Social Media’s saving grace: Preserving people you knew long after they’re gone

Editor’s Note: I’ve been republishing some classic Skeptical Guy posts throughout the summer. This one is my original Skeptical Guy post from July 2017. SOMETIMES WHEN I’M ON social media, I see dead people. Just yesterday, when I was scrolling through my LinkedIn contacts, I was struck by two things: one, that these contacts represent the

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Dave Ulrich on Smart Strategies to help businesses thrive in ambiguous times 

BACK AT THE PEAK of the Covid lockdown in April 2021, New Zealand technology firm Fuel50 held a virtual FuelX Talent Mobility conference because it just wasn’t possible to stage a live event as they had done in the past. There were a number of great speakers — like Josh Bersin — but one had a very different presentation from everyone else. That speaker was Dave

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A lesson from Jimmy Buffett: What would I say today if I knew I was dying tomorrow?

THE PASSING OF JIMMY BUFFETT, the famous singer of “Margaritaville” Sept. 1 at age 76, got me to thinking: what would I say today if I knew I was going to die tomorrow? I wonder about that because Jimmy Buffett’s death seemed to come suddenly, although some media reports say that he had “a lengthy

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Even if you know this famous author, his best book is one very few have heard of

Editor’s Note: I’m occasionally republishing some classic Skeptical Guy posts throughout the summer. This one is from August 2018. EVERYBODY SEEMS TO HAVE their favorite book by the late, great Dr. Seuss.  But picking the “best” Dr. Seuss book isn’t easy. According to The Washington Post, Dr. Seuss’s books have been translated into 17 languages

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When it comes to hiring, savvy recruiters really need to give as much info as they get

FIRST, AN APOLOGY: I’ve been writing a lot about recruiting and hiring recently. I’m really sorry for that. My intent was NOT to make this a talent management blog, and that’s easy for me since I worked and wrote about it for so damn long at so many places. But, I still see many things

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Need a Job? Prepare for the Good, Bad, and the Ugly of the Candidate Experience

IF THERE IS A SINGLE piece of advice that’s critically important for every recruiter and hiring manager, it’s this: Always remember what it’s like to be on the other side of the table. Everyone who recruits or hires should have to step outside the job and actually take a turn as a job candidate sometime.

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Be thankful more recruiters are saying this: Requiring 4-5 interviews is simply abusive

LEAVE IT TO THE GREAT Adam Karpiak to have a very inventive take on the state of the recruiting and hiring today. Don’t know Adam Karpiak? He’s a recruiter with more than a half million followers on LinkedIn, where he’s well known for his humor and common-sense advice. He says this about his work —

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Attending the wedding? Make sure you make time to dodge all the protests

Editor’s Note: I’m occasionally republishing some classic Skeptical Guy posts throughout the summer. This one is from September 2017. I WAS IN OUR NATION’S CAPITAL this past weekend to attend the wedding of a good friend and former colleague who got married for the first time at the ripe old age of 48. Just that one

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Writing a Goodbye Note: Sometimes, it can take a lifetime to learn how to do it right

Copyright: artursz

I’VE WRITTEN MANY goodbye notes over the course of my career. That happens when you have worked a long time. But what I’ve found is that  writing a goodbye note can be challenging and difficult to get just right. I have had a lot of practice writing them, and much of what I believe about

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