Tag: Leadership

It’s sad but true: Nobody gets a great idea when they’re being chased by a lion

Editor’s Note: I’ve been reposting some of my popular articles from the past. This one was published here back in August 2017. THE OLD ADAGE is true — there’s nothing new under the sun. But once in awhile even I get surprised by a new insight that makes up for the crap that passes for management

Continue reading

As the meltdown at the LA Times shows, it’s a miserable time for American media

FOR ALL THE CLATTER about how well the American economy is doing, there sure do seem to be a lot of layoffs going on. The latest — and some out here in SoCal would say the noisiest — was the recent layoff of more than 20% of the Los Angeles Times newsroom staff. Los Angeles

Continue reading

The One Really Important Question that the Best Leaders Always Seem to Ask

Editor’s note: From time to time I’ve been reposting some of my most popular articles from the past. This one was published here and on LinkedIn back in September 2017. I’VE WORKED WITH a lot of leaders during my career, and I could go on all day about the qualities that separate the good from

Continue reading

A Very Public Firing That Shows the Really Terrible State of Management Today

Editor’s note: Technical issues delayed this post, and my apologies for that …  WANT TO GRAB a big audience on social media? Just record yourself getting fired, post the recording on TikTok, watch others post it on X (aka Twitter), and create so much buzz that even The Wall Street Journal writes a story about

Continue reading

Wherever You May Work, Meetings are a Pain in the Ass for Just About Everyone

SOME WORKPLACE ISSUES seem to pop up over and over again, and if you stick around long enough you’ll get another round of suggestions on how to handle them. Last week, I found an article at Chief Executive on a workplace topic I’ve written about a lot over the years, and you may have dealt

Continue reading

Something to Remember on King Day: His Famous Letter From the Birmingham Jail

ONE OF THE GREAT THINGS about holidays are that they give us a chance to relax and take a break. But sometimes, I think we take that break without thinking about the important reason why we’re getting a day off in the first place. It’s easy to do that with the mid-January holiday we get

Continue reading

The Christmas Bonus Problem: Sometimes You End Up With a Lambskin Fanny Pack

Editor’s Note: This is my last blog post of the year. It’s a Skeptical Guy holiday classic from back in December 2018. See you in the New Year! I’VE WORKED THROUGH so many holiday seasons that I feel a little like Clark Griswold. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, the character should. It’s the role

Continue reading

The End of the Year Job Market? It’s a Pretty Odd Way to Close the Door on 2023

Editor’s Note: This is the final Workplace Week That Was for 2023. We’ll return next year. HERE’S A FINAL THOUGHT on the year-end job market — it’s an odd and frustrating time to try to find a new job. One of the indicators of just how odd an employment market we have is a story

Continue reading

It’s Time to Finally Face It — All the Crazy Hype Over AI is Greatly Overblown

mesh cube/istockphoto.com

FOR ALL THE HULLABALOO we keep hearing about Artificial Intelligence and all the advancements that will flow from it, there’s another school of thought to keep in mind. You may be hearing it more these days, and it’s this: Perhaps the AI hype was a little overblown. Case in point: A timely story from Computerworld

Continue reading

The FIVE Big Things I’ve Learned About Becoming a Better Manager

Editor’s Note: I’ve been republishing some classic Skeptical Guy posts while preparing a new project. This one is from December 2018. HERE’S A GOOD QUESTION I almost never, ever hear anyone ask much less answer: How can I be a better manager? That may be because most of the advice on being a better manager only

Continue reading