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How to Overcome the Voice of Judgment
Tweet Share on Facebook September 25, 2008 Comment (1)When you think about pursuing your dreams, do you ever hear the "voice of judgment"? It's that snide little voice saying, "yeah, right," and giving a negative spin to whatever you're looking at.
That voice is far too common, and it can be a huge obstacle to creating our dreams. Most of us have it hanging over our heads in some way, limiting what's possible.
Maybe it's a constant feeling that what we do is never quite good enough (shades of perfectionism). Maybe it's a judgment about the path we'd like to take but won't let ourselves even consider (what would people think?). We're constantly judging ourselves, others, and the world around us, and often it's completely counterproductive.
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Is Telecommuting Risky?
Tweet Share on Facebook September 24, 2008 CommentIt's a dicey economy. And if you are a telecommuter, you may be at special risk.
Fact 1: In these days of economic uncertainty, everybody is looking for ways to cut back. That everybody may include your employer.
Fact 2: Employers are only human. Humans tend to take the easy way out. And it's easier to lay off someone you only see rarely than to lay off someone you see every day and who has become an integral part of your work life.
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How You Can Support Entrepreneurs
Tweet Share on Facebook September 23, 2008 CommentMuch has been said lately about how entrepreneurship is one of the strengths of our economy. I agree.
In every community, small and large, entrepreneurs are creating new products and services. The process of doing this is dirty, hard work.
The public sees the resulting success or failure much later, after the entrepreneur has adjusted and allowed market forces to refine and correct his original ideas. Some fail. For those who succeed, it is easy to look at such success and say, "Well, that was obvious." No, it wasn't.
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What to Do About a Bad Reference
Tweet Share on Facebook September 22, 2008 Comment (57)One of the most common questions I receive over at Ask a Manager is what to do about a previous boss who is likely to give you a bad reference.
First, yes, it's legal for an employer to give a negative reference as long as it's factually accurate. It's true that some companies have policies that they will only confirm dates of employment and job duties and will not comment on the employee's performance—but (a) these policies are simply policies, not the law, and (b) good reference-checkers know how to get around them, by asking the candidate to arrange a direct call with the candidate's former manager.
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Seduced by Job Title Glitz
Tweet Share on Facebook September 19, 2008 Comment (1)It has been said that much more pleasure can be found in being the one who tells the lawyer to prepare the necessary papers than in being the one who has to prepare them. That hard truth is acquired, often too late, by many a young attorney who entered law school with visions of being the next Atticus Finch or Clarence Darrow.
The image doesn't match the substance of many a job. The romantic view of the cowboy masks low pay, hard work, and the questionable pleasure of dealing with cattle, storms, and barbed wire. Another celebrity job group—writers—soon discover they have to hold down a regular job to pay the bills and that their leverage with publishing firms possesses echoes of the farm workers in The Grapes of Wrath.
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How to Write Performance Appraisals
Tweet Share on Facebook September 18, 2008 Comment (7)I hate performance appraisals with a burning passion. I hate giving them—I hate receiving them. I just hate them. When they involve me, that is. For everyone else, I think they are fabulous and should be done more often.
I think I'm not alone in my feelings. Many people face performance appraisal season with dread and fear. This is largely because managers haven't been preparing for this all year. They just go along hoping that they'll find new jobs before performance appraisal time. But, alas, year end is creeping up, and you haven't gotten yourself fired, so you have to write and give the darn things. If you've been a slacker throughout the year in tracking your direct reports' actions, here are some tips for writing your appraisals:
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The Enormous Upside of Risk
Tweet Share on Facebook September 18, 2008 Comment (1)If there's one way to make sure the energy in your life seeps away in ever-downward spiral, it's to always play it safe.
When you play it safe, you stick with what's known. You don't venture outside your current comfort bubble, because "out there" lurks uncertainty and doubt. You don't want to risk trying something and stumbling, or worse yet, failing completely. And so you coast along on autopilot.
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How to Destroy a Job Interview
Tweet Share on Facebook September 17, 2008 Comment (9)You arrive on time, dressed to fit in, thoroughly informed about the company and armed with answers to questions such as, "What are your greatest weaknesses?"
However, there is still one big thing you can do to destroy your job interview.
You can talk too much.
It's a real interview killer. Babbling turns off hiring managers! It gives them less time to get through their lists of questions. It makes them wonder what it would be like to work with you all day. It dilutes your message. Worse, you risk boring your interviewer.
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Letter to Employees on What Lehman Means for Us
Tweet Share on Facebook September 16, 2008 Comment (3)Dear Employee,
If you are like me, last night you watched the bad news from Wall Street. It was sad seeing all those people lose their jobs.
After the news shows ended, and after we heard how the Lehman-Merrill Lynch-AIG problem would no doubt lead to all sorts of future financial problems for the U.S.A.—and indeed the whole world, don'tcha know?—you probably started to think about how this mess would affect our company.
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How to Play the Post-Interview Waiting Game
Tweet Share on Facebook September 15, 2008 Comment (7)So you had the job interview, things seemed to go well, and you left expecting that you would hear back soon. But now...silence. And you're left waiting around with no idea of when or if you'll hear from them.
It's not at all unusual for the hiring process to take longer than a candidate would like, for all sorts of reasons: Decision makers are out of town, scheduling conflicts are delaying a final interview, the bureaucracy necessary to finalize an offer takes weeks to work through (not necessarily a great sign about the work environment, but that's a different topic), and so forth.
