Emailing Crap Around

November 10, 2009

The other day a buddy of mine made this observation about business:”You know what my company is really good at?  Emailing crap around.”
He was talking about the unfortunate management habit of sending PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets around a company with the email message, “Please provide your comments.”  These managers believe that this pointless process [...]

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A Hiring Disaster

November 9, 2009

I visited the Boston Museum of Science yesterday, and was reminded of the time that I was fired from a volunteer job there when I was 13. Not that I’m bitter. This always raises the question, “How do you get fired from a volunteer job?”  The answer: bad hiring.
When I applied for the [...]

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On the Radio … On the Radio … You’re gonna hear me on your radio

November 6, 2009

Today I was on Barry Moltz’s Business Insanity radio show.  We talked about how email can destroy long distance business relationships by making it too easy to upset others in a way that they can reread forever.
Barry Moltz » Blog Archive » The Zappos Way: Clarity of Character and Fewer Boundaries.

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Meeting Tip: Remove the Chairs

November 2, 2009

I’ve been on a jag lately about that plague upon productivity—the meeting.  (This was  inspired by Scott Snairs excellent blog posts which got me all revved up again on the topic.)
I’ve already shared my opinion that all meetings should be optional, and it should be up to the meeting leader to create a meeting that [...]

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Zappos Exemplifies the Foundation of Great Management

October 31, 2009

Leading After a Layoff introduces a pyramid of management skills. The foundation skill is Collaboration–building an environment where everyone feels they contribute to the success of the group.
This video on Zappos.com shows what a collaborative environment looks like when it’s working well:

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A documentary about layoffs’ sweet side | csmonitor.com

October 30, 2009

A scene from my favorite movie: Bull Durham
.
THE DOOR OPENS — BOBBY ENTERS wearing only a towel.

BOBBY
You wanted to see me?

SKIP
Yeah, Bobby, shut the door.
(he does)
This is the toughest job a manager
has…
(beat)
But the organization has decided
to make a change–
Skip is right, letting someone go is the toughest job a manager has.  Simply put, you have [...]

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[Guest Post] How to escape meetings

October 29, 2009

If you are the person getting called into useless meetings, and you’d rather not attend, your remedies are a little tougher. After all, this is a tough economy—one that doesn’t lend itself well to telling the boss “no.” But there are a few ways, on any level, to contribute to [...]

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[Guest Post] How to avoid your next meeting

October 28, 2009

People hate workplace meetings for more than the boredom or torment. Meetings are a bona fide waste of time and a generally useless way of doing business.  And such revulsion isn’t simply a part of workplace griping or water cooler custom.
Disillusionment over meetings is evidenced by how much they have [...]

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Optional Meetings

October 27, 2009

Later this week, I’ll be posting a two part article from Scott Snair on avoiding meetings, both as a manager and as an individual contributor.
Before I do that, I’ll take a moment to share my favorite tip on meetings:
Make all meetings voluntary.
That’s right, you heard me.  You should never have a mandatory meeting.  If you [...]

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I’ll be answering questions on LibraryThing

October 26, 2009

I’ll be leading an author chat on LibraryThing for the next two weeks.  If you’d like to ask questions about leading after a layoff, or about management in general, just click below:
Ray Salemi, author of Leading After A Layoff (Oct 26-Nov 6) | Author Chat | LibraryThing.

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