Category: Management Insights

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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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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What do college graduates want from employers? A four-day week is a good start

RESEARCH CAN BE GOOD or bad, but when it is good AND useful, it can help guide us to better insights that improve our decision-making moving ahead. Here’s some research from earlier this summer that caught my attention — a survey that shows what new college graduates really want from their would-be employers. It comes

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Only in California: You’ll Never Guess Who Belongs to a Labor Union Now

I’M NOT SURE ABOUT the rest of the world, but here in the U.S. there has been an ongoing battle over just what an independent contractor is. It’s become a bigger issue over the last few years because of businesses like ride-sharing giant Uber, a company built on the premise that its drivers are simply

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Good People Get Fired, But a “Failure Résumé” Won’t Help You Land a New Job

Here’s a basic workplace truth: Good people frequently get fired. Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, eventually returning to build it into the high-flying, trend-setting company that it is today. Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, and Harry Potter author JK Rowling all got fired, too. Listing all the famous people who once were “involuntarily terminated” is

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What Does It Take to Be a Great Leader? The Same Things It Takes to Be a Great Person

HERE’S SOMETHING I’VE LEARNED from years of managing people: Great leadership wisdom is really hard to find. For all of the many leadership books that have been written — and there are more than 60,000 listed on Amazon — the really great V-8 moments, the “Blinding Flashes of the Obvious” where a truly great leadership

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Do Your Workplace Policies Encourage Employees to Do Their Duty and Vote?

IT’S A TOPIC that only comes around every few years, but it comes down to this: What are your workplace policies for allowing employees to vote? A recent survey uncovered a new wrinkle about this issue that I had never thought about. It’s this: A company’s voting policies can also have a huge impact on the

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Good Leaders Give Bad News, While Bad Leaders Avoid Doing the Tough Stuff

I’M ALWAYS AMAZED at how so many leaders can get so far without learning one of the very basic tenants of management. It’s this: Good leaders have to give bad news. Patty Azzarello learned this back when she became the youngest general manager in Hewlett-Packard (HP) at the tender age of 33, and she reminded me

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You Can Learn a Lot About Your Culture If You Look Closely at HOW Employees Quit

DESPITE THE FOCUS on improving how we recruit and hire new employees, we also know that we should spend as much, if not more, time on how we can better retain the people who are already on our staff. That’s a great thought, but there’s something to consider: No matter how good a job we do

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The Big Thing I Learned From LinkedIn’s Most Popular Job Posts

HERE’S THE ONE BIG THING I learned from LinkedIn’s latest list of their most popular (they call it most viewed) job posts: When it comes to job seekers, it’s all about the brand. You should remember this when you hear somebody pooh-pooh’s the notion that a company’s brand really isn’t all that important to job

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