Stop Striving for Perfection!
In Debora Spar’s book, Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection, the Barnard college President writes that striving for perfection is a futile goal and it will only lead to frustration and unhappiness. Debora Spar never thought of herself as a feminist. Raised after the tumult of the 1960s, she presumed the gender …
6 Steps to Scoring a Promotion in the Next 30 Days
Asking for a promotion is one of the best things you can do for your career.
As the summer months begin to heat up, this is a great time to accomplish some of your career goals. Research shows June is one of the best months to land a promotion, so now is the time to …
Traditional Affirmations Don’t Work – Do This Instead
Before Minnesota Senator Al Franken stepped into politics he was a comedian and regular on Saturday Night Live back in the 80s.
Franken had a character named, “Stuart Smalley,” who hosted a regular segment called, “Daily Affirmations.”
Smalley’s foundational affirmation for himself was, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggone it people like me!”…
What Can Baseball Teach Us About Business
Last week I had the privilege and pleasure of watching my son’s baseball team play and win the Washington State 3A Championship. More than a few times during the championship game I was reminded that baseball is a lot like business. There are a lot of moving parts to monitor, evaluate and respond to… in …
Does College Make Financial Sense? Part 2
In my first installment on this topic, I introduced three methods for comparing the financial paybacks of college education…. payback of a specific degree from a specific college, average payback of college for typical professions, and average payback of all students based upon the college attended. Virtually no one considers these factors in deciding whether …
Lead Positive: An Interview with Dr. Kathryn Cramer
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Kathryn D. Cramer, a licensed psychologist, executive consultant, and author of the book Change the Way You See Everything, which was a New York Times bestseller and landed her two spots on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In her latest book Lead Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders …
How to Avoid Becoming a Workaholic
If you feel like you have no time for yourself and constantly think about work, then, most probably you are a workaholic. Although culture encourages workaholism, it is actually a very dangerous situation for you. Working too much decreases your productivity and burn you out as well as may ruin your relationships with family and …
SnapChat CEO Reveals Secret Behind Disappearing Function
It’s no surprise where the idea for instantly erasing texts came from. SnapChat CEO Evan Spiegel had a secret buried in his past that explains the whole concept.
Last week Stanford University Provost John Etchemendy cast a much wider net around the filthy email trail left by Spiegel from his college days. It’s not just …
What’s Irritating About E-mail?
In recent years I’ve polled hundreds of people about their work in the digital age. This week, it’s what’s irritating about e-mail?
When people:
Give no greeting or sign-off Provide incomplete information Send messages that have typos and poor punctuation and sentence structures Put quotes or sayings in their signatures Expect a reply in five…5 Factors That Make a Great Boss
The best bosses are the ones who can turn a good organization into a great company. They are the individuals who consistently push their employees to become better, more engaged and enable them to adapt to oncoming changes in the corporate landscape.
Instead of suppressing employees, top-tier bosses encourage smart ideas, open conversation and creativity. …