Tag: workplace

A nutty principle I never learned in biz school: Teams that swear more win more

IT’S BEEN A FEW YEARS since I went to business school, but I thought I had learned just about every basic principle of business that really mattered — until now. Yes, here’s one business basic that my grad school professors never spent much time on, and I’m sure I would have remembered it if they

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What a cartoon from 1962 got right — and wrong — about today’s workplace 

IF YOU’RE A BABY BOOMER, there’s a good chance you remember the animated TV show The Jetsons that was originally broadcast between September 1962 and March 1963. This popped up in a Fast Company story titled What The Jetsons got right, and very wrong, about the future of work. As Fast Company describes it, “The Jetsons was created by the Hanna-Barbera animation studio in Los Angeles as

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Silly surveys we could do without: Insights into improving employee “bio-breaks”

Copyright: wrightstudio

FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE IS NOT a publication I’ve spent much time with, but since they have a section on their website titled Work Life, it seemed like a periodical that might have some interesting articles worth sharing here. So far, I have not been disappointed. That doesn’t mean everything in Fast Company’s Work Life is great, because it’s not. There’s a definite Jekyll and Hyde quality

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Remote work has caused a lot of issues, but it never will stop office romances

ALTHOUGH THE RISE of remote and hybrid work has brought huge changes to the workplace, one thing hasn’t changed – when people work together, workplace romances usually follow. The Financial Post recently published a story that pointed out that, “Remote work hasn’t killed the office romance, but colleagues tempted to fall into each other’s arms might want to

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Are you an overbearing manager if you identify with The Devil Wears Prada?

I’VE MET A LOT of big-name media people over the years, but one I’ve missed is Anna Wintour, the famous (some would say infamous) and feared editor of Vogue magazine. The British-born Wintour is known for a lot of things – including being a terribly difficult person to work for – but she’s also the

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Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)? It’s Mostly Just a Workplace Fairly Tale

I CAN HARDLY contain myself when I hear people touting the wonders of “unlimited” PTO. That’s because “unlimited” paid time off is really just a big fairy tale. I know … that sounds pretty harsh because there are a number of companies that have gone to “unlimited” PTO, and they will defend it to the

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Is “Ghosting” a Big Problem? Well, I Was Ghosting Back When Ghosting Wasn’t Cool

WHO SAYS THERE’S no such thing as “fake” news? I’m reminded of this whenever I read about how the “ghosting” trend (people skipping job interviews, failing to show up when they get hired, or bailing from a new job with no warning) is disrupting recruiting and hiring, because the more I hear about it, the more

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My New Year’s Wish: That Recruiters Resolve to Hire Older Workers in 2019

I HAVE NEVER MET my fellow Fistful of Talent blogger Rachel Bitte, but her recent post on the big changes recruiters had to make (2018 Was the Tipping Point For Recruiting) to deal with “the current job market reality,” tells me she knows her way around a recruiting department. I’m also sure her insights are spot on

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The Christmas Bonus Dilemma: Sometimes, You End Up Feeling Like Clark Griswold

I’VE WORKED THROUGH so many holiday season that I’m starting to feel a little like Clark Griswold. If that name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, the character should. It’s the role Chevy Chase played numerous times, but most memorably, in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. One thread throughout movie was how Clark was anxiously waiting to

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The 5 Most Important Things I’ve Learned About Being a Better Manager

I’M A SUCKER for anything that tries to answer a question I almost never hear anyone ask much less answer: How can I be a better manager? Notice I say anything that “tries” to answer this question  because I have found that most advice on how to better manage people usually goes one of two

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