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March 27, 2007

Coffee Potlatch

Where you work, do you have a shared coffee pot for the entire office? Do you have one of those newfangled single-cup brewing machines? Or do people stop off somewhere on their way to work -- and after lunch?

In today's Financial Times, Stefan Stern suggests that how you serve coffee at work carries a message about your corporate culture.

It strikes me that the single-cup brewers, rather than be more efficient and economical, might be wasteful and overly focusing on individualism. Likewise, making people leave the office for their joe also seems isolating, rather than collaborative.

Perhaps the coffee pot is akin to the proverbial water cooler. Do you help your employees and team members gather and collaborate, or do you separate them?

Posted by Heath Row at 8:14 PM | 5 Comments

March 20, 2007

Fast Food for Thought

Stefan Stern's Business Life piece in today's Financial Times makes me shake my head. An SVP at McDonald's in Europe is circulating a petition to nix the term "McJob" from the dictionary. That senior executive, and the writer, contend that fast food restaurants are quality employers, offer progressive training programs, and support diverse teams. Stern holds up customer service training as a prime example and suggests that it's behind McDonald's 44 consecutive months of sales growths.

That's all well and good. I can understand people coming to the defense of their industry. But looking at the promise and potential -- much less the practices -- of an industry solely by looking at the numbers on the books (gender equity, economic growth) doesn't always show you the full story. Stern would be well served to spend some time behind the counter. So it's to his credit that he title drops Jerry Newman's new book My Secret Life on the McJob.

I've yet to read the book, but I read a review on the way to work this morning that suggested the book is worth reading for two reasons. One, it highlights some of the challenges facing fast food restaurants: low pay, poor management practices, inadequate training, and racial tensions. And two, it doesn't just dwell on the plethora of front-line experiences on which the book is drawn -- Newman, a professor at SUNY-Buffalo, worked at a number of fast food joints for two years while researching the book -- it spins the stories to suss out some solid leadership lessons and ideas.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:19 AM | 3 Comments

January 25, 2007

Colleague, Come Hither...

When you need a team member's help, how do you get their attention? Do you email them? Call them? IM them? Get up and walk over to their desk? When you're based in a central workplace, the options are relatively clear. But when was the last time you sent a colleague a text message via cell phone?

The possibilities are obvious in an office environment: People may have Blackberries and other smart phones, but even a text on an older flip phone could get them the information they need during a meeting -- or find them while they're "managing by walking around." And in Australia, a service called BangItUp helps people find -- and hire -- tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians, and building contractors... via SMS.

This month, BangItUp celebrates its 17,000th success story. Just imagine: You can text the service and connect with a "tradie" -- regardless of whether they're in the office or on the job -- in about three minutes.

If only getting an appointment with the cable guy were so simple.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:32 AM

January 15, 2007

Does Your Team Swing?

USA Today today has an interesting interview with Wynton Marsalis. Recently named one of America's best leaders by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and US News & World Report, Marsalis shares his ideas about improvisation at work -- and what leaders can learn from jazz.

He touches on the concepts of respect, integrity, and trust -- as well as meritocracy. About 10 years ago, the Fast Company touched base with Gary Burton about similar topics and themes. The two pieces might make useful parallel reads.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:19 AM

November 22, 2006

The Butterfly Effect Hits Vending Machines

Earlier this week, the U.S. Mint announced plans to roll out new $1 coins, featuring each deceased president, at a rate of four per year. Mint officials hope this will a.) reacquaint Americans with some of our lesser-known presidents and b.) get people to use those doggone coins.

But it was one of those end-of-the-story factoids in this Reuters article that got me thinking.

According to U.S. Mint Director Edmund Moy, the U.S. vending machine industry stands to save $1 billion if consumers ditch their flimsy paper bills for $1 coins. The switch would eliminate maintenance on bill acceptance slots.

This was one of those moments that made me realize just how interconnected the business world is, and just how rarely I stop to think about that. What other examples of interconnectedness can you think of?

Posted by Josie Swindler at 12:42 PM | 10 Comments

August 25, 2006

Diversity's Positive Impact in the Workplace

A recent research article from Stanford Graduate School of Business's knowledgebase discusses the impact of diversity on work-group performance.

"In a recent article disentangling what researchers have learned over the past 50 years, Margaret A. Neale finds that diversity across dimensions, such as functional expertise, education, or personality, can increase performance by enhancing creativity or group problem-solving. In contrast, more visible diversity, such as race, gender, or age, can have negative effects on a group—at least initially."

Overall, studies reveal that teams with group conflict based on diversity tend to perform better than those with more similarities. What have your experiences with diveristy in your workgroups been like? Have you found this research to be true?

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 11:22 AM | 10 Comments

August 1, 2006

Thoughts on Women and Collaboration

There's something I observed at BlogHer '06 about women and collaboration that I didn't see mentioned in author and tech geek blogger Robert Scoble's post "What I Learned from BlogHer," where he sums up his experience there and highlights comparisons to the mostly male tech conferences he's used to attending.

What I observed was best summed up in a statement that Arianna Huffington, syndicated columnist and founder of The Huffington Post, made during the closing keynote, where she shared the stage with Hurricane Katrina Direct Relief founder and professional blogger Grace Davis, WashingtonPost.com/Newsweek Interactive CEO and Publisher Caroline Little, and SixApart founder and President Mena Trott in a discussion lead by Chris Nolan of Spot-on.

Huffington made the statement after announcing that she'd soon launch a new section on her site called "Politics Aside" that would feature topics that were not politics, such as mothering, sex, relationships, and cooking. She said, (and I'm paraphrasing here):

If anyone wants to cross post with us, it’s all about linking and cross posting — it’s all about supporting each other. It's not about if you're buying Newsweek you're not buying Time.

In my experience such a call for sharing of content is not common practice at male conferences — at least not in this context or without some sort of business deal being discussed. Well, unless of course the conversation has anything to do with open source. Don't get me wrong, BlogHer is not based upon an us .vs them philosophy, it's an opportunity for all kinds of women bloggers to pursue exposure, education and community. In that vein, session topics ran the gamut from Search Engine Optimization, Writing for the Web, CSS, Podcasting, and Video to Business Blogging, Community Activism Blogging, and Political Blogging. And besides, men were not excluded from the event. Scoble was there, as was Guy Kawasaki, John Battelle and George Kelly, among others. (Read Christine Herron's post on the estimated ratio.)

Back to my original thought though — am I wrong in thinking that collaboration means something entirely different to women than it does to men?

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 1:25 AM | 7 Comments

April 27, 2006

Support Teamwork

While it was nice to see Jonathan Schwartz's blog entry sharing his appreciation for outgoing Sun chief Scott McNealy earlier this week, it was even nicer to see the first-person piece by Tom Hanks in the New York Times Styles section.

In the essay, Hanks celebrates his long-time makeup man, Dan Striepeke. And the article is notable for several reasons:

• It's awesome to see someone who's so high profile thank a member of their support staff so publicly
• Hanks' comments on the importance of developing a posse -- not an entourage -- that follows you from project to project
• If you can, choose to work with only the best
• It's OK to make fun of flop projects

Who consistently helps you succeed? When was the last time you thanked them?

(For the record, I liked "That Thing You Do.")

Posted by Heath Row at 3:27 PM | 2 Comments

April 21, 2006

In Gear

File under Friday Fun, but these floppy disk notebooks could make you the life of the conference room.

Posted by Heath Row at 4:04 PM | 1 Comment

April 18, 2006

Persuasive Presentations

Josh Gordon, author of the new book Presentations That Change Minds has identified 14 core practices used by persuasive speakers in conference and meeting settings. Additional research shows that the top five practices are used by only half of business leaders surveyed.

The top five persuasive strategies:

• Sharing facts: 73.5%
• Offering a solution: 62.1%
• Sharing a new idea: 52.8%
• Telling a story: 51.6%
• Changing a perception: 50.9%

The remaining practices include humor, creating excitement, audience involvement, building trust, inspiration, building a financial case, creating an emotional appeal, getting competitive, and overcoming hostility.

How many do you try to use when leading a meeting or making a presentation?

Posted by Heath Row at 1:04 PM | 3 Comments

December 20, 2005

Positive Peer Pressure

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal included an interesting article on peer-recognition programs. While not a new idea, they've experienced a resurgence given the economic downturn, and the feature offers several useful examples of successful programs:

• Yum Brands offers Customer Mania peer recognition cards that colleagues can use to indicate how someone exceeds in hospitality, accuracy, and speed -- by giving them to a peer on the spot.
• Symantec holds quarterly conference calls to name and recognize recipients of the Serendipity award. The award doesn't include a gift, but the public recognition is important and powerful.
• And Boeing provides an online form employees can use to nominate colleagues, print out certificates, and even send email alerts that someone's efforts are appreciated.

How do you recognize the efforts of your co-workers? How does your organization help you do so?

Posted by Heath Row at 11:15 AM | 21 Comments

September 23, 2005

Feedback and Forth

FC Now reader Marcial Losada emailed us yesterday afternoon about a study he'd done on positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. Basically, the ratio of positive to negative feedback can make a major difference in improving performance. In the resulting report, "the authors predict that a ratio of positive to negative affect at or above 2.9 will characterize individuals in flourishing mental health."

How often do you praise colleagues? Employees? How often do you criticize them? Three to one is the best balance you could strike.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:50 AM | 10 Comments

September 15, 2005

In the Company of Curmudgeons

David Spade's new TV show, which debuts tonight, raises some interesting questions about the role of industry spokespeople and commentators. Some speculate that Spade's no-holds-barred criticism of Hollywood figures and foibles may be a risky career move.

Being lively and outspoken -- and speaking truth to power -- can elevate your standing in an industry or profession -- think Christopher Locke in the marketing world or Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff. Being colorful can also attract criticism of its own -- and perhaps career calamity.

We saw some of that in a response to the recent Why We Hate HR feature. What sacred cows do you think exist in the world of work? Is it worth the risk of career suicide to debunk them?

Posted by Heath Row at 2:03 PM | 2 Comments

September 7, 2005

Share Your Hero Stories

One of the saddest parts about the whole horrendous Katrina saga is the, well, hopelessness of it all. As one of the millions who lived through 9/11 in New York, what struck me the most in a time of unspeakable evil were the small, yet totally heroic efforts of regular people, and some big names too. In a crisis, poeple cling to any shred of hope they can find. And this time, it's been hard to find amidst the government inaction, the overt betrayal of the infirm and elderly, and the looting. But the heroes are most certainly out there, and they deserve our thanks. Anyone have any nominations or inspirational stories? (By the way, earlier we had also launched a call-out to all those with business hero stories.)

Posted by Jennifer Reingold at 2:12 PM | 8 Comments

September 6, 2005

Gleaming the Cube

Do you work in a cube farm? Today's Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune offers some tips on how to remain cool in your cube. Among the advice:

• Don't hold meetings in your cube
• Don't talk loudly on the phone in your cube.
• Don't eat at your desk.
• Don't yell over the wall at someone.
• Don't talk loudly in your cube with co-workers.
• Don't talk about your personal life in your cube.

Are you guilty of any of these? What pet peeves do you have about where you work?

Posted by Heath Row at 10:25 AM | 1 Comment

August 31, 2005

Out of Pocket

Last night, I watched the documentary Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In an interview segment filmed at the 2000 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, which included a 30th anniversary Smothers Brothers show reunion, one of the panelist's comments struck me as important and insightful.

Steve Martin, one of the program's early writers, was discussing his early pay: $300 a week. Then the interesting bit: "Mason [Williams] was paying me out of his own pocket."

Think about the people on your team. Who would you be willing to pay out of your own pocket?

Posted by Heath Row at 10:10 AM | 2 Comments

August 23, 2005

Offbeat Offsites

The New York Times reports today on new approaches to corporate team building. No longer will rope courses and trust games suffice. Today's corporate trainers are turning to cooking contests, drum circles, and dinner party-like mystery games.

Despite an occasionally sketchy reputation -- Toobers and Zots, anyone? -- extreme offsites can do a lot in terms of improving communication and collaboration.

What's the most effective offsite activity you've ever participated in?

Posted by Heath Row at 4:53 PM | 5 Comments

August 22, 2005

Communication (Turn) Style

Dave Gray, founder and CEO of Xplane, recently started a new blog entitled Communication Nation. To date, he's addressed such business communication challenges as information overload, dimensions of quality, project management, email templates, and how to leverage new ideas. The blog is young, but there are several interesting ideas here already -- fingers crossed Gray can keep it up!

[via Evhead]

Posted by Heath Row at 1:05 PM | 4 Comments

August 9, 2005

How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience: Part 2

This may sound like the beginning of a bad joke: What do you get when you combine:

• A nuclear engineer
• A rap artist
• An FBI agent
• An AOL / Time Warner executive
• A professional stand-up comedian

How about a church leadership team? As an experience architect, I've been exploring ways that innovative leadership is imprinted on customer experience. New Life Christian Church is a great case study. It's one of those unique places where the customer experience definitely reflects the drive and innovation of its leaders... and there's something to be learned for all.

Continue reading "How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience: Part 2"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 7:39 PM

The ROI on Doing a Favor, Part II

Today's Workforce Week says:

They get less credit for it, but women help co-workers more than men do, according to Columbia University professor Frank Flynn. He did two studies, one of engineers and one of IT employees. Employees were more likely to request and receive favors from female colleagues than from male colleagues, but the same employees didn't feel like they owed more or were more indebted to the women.

Consider that Dr. Flynn's other work shows that the most productive employees are not those most generous with their favors, but those who strike a balance between giving and receiving.

Assuming increased productivity is a worthy goal, how can women in this situation receive favors more in proportion to those they give? By asking for more... giving less... or something in between?

Posted by Jennifer Warwick at 12:03 PM | 1 Comment

The ROI on Doing a Favor

We've all heard that favors are a social lubricant and workplace currency. You do something nice for someone, and they'll return the favor. Everybody wins.

It's a bit more complicated than that, according to Columbia University management professor Frank Flynn. His research indicates that when a recipient believes that a colleague did them a favor because they genuinely like or care about them, they're more inclined to return the favor. The favor is much less likely to be returned if the recipient believes the action was calculated one, based on roles or an expected "payback." Additionally, his team discovered that consistent, smaller favors have a proportionally greater impact on ongoing interactions than occasional flashy ones.

Continue reading "The ROI on Doing a Favor"

Posted by Jennifer Warwick at 11:10 AM | 2 Comments

August 8, 2005

Innovative Leadership - A Definition and Roll Call

Thanks for inviting me to BlogJam, heath. As I geared up for the main topic: innovative leadership, I began to think about the nature of leadership and innovation. I thought thought it'd be interesting to start a collaborative roll call of innovative leaders. We've all got our own definitions, so to start on a level field, I started my exploration by looking up two definitions on Dictionary.com (shortened and reformatted for display purposes):

Innovate (Word Net definition: n 1: to create (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation [syn: invention] 2: to create something in the mind [syn: invention, excogitation, conception, design] 3: the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new...

Lead: 1: To show the way to by going in advance; 2: To guide or direct in a course [syn: guide]; 3: a) To serve as a route for; b) To be a channel or conduit for; 4: To guide the behavior or opinion of; to induce; 5: a) To direct the performance or activities of; b) To inspire the conduct of; 6: To play a principal or guiding role in; 7: a) To go or be at the head of...

By definition Innovation is a creative act that has implicit leadership characteristics. Leadership itself does not necessarily require innovation.

Continue reading "Innovative Leadership - A Definition and Roll Call"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 4:19 PM | 4 Comments

On Collaboration

Jeffrey Cufaude makes a great point when he points out that collaboration is now de riguer for success, both at an organizational level as well at a personal level.

The problem seems to be in our mindset that we still view dealing with others as a place where we have to "win" over them. This "them" could refer to anyone outside the group, from competitors, to suppliers, to customers and even (gasp!) shareholders.

This "them" also manifests itself within organizations, between teams, between departments, between business units, branches.

Continue reading "On Collaboration"

Posted by Gautam Ghosh at 11:42 AM | 2 Comments

July 27, 2005

Preferred Coworkers

Fancy this: "An overwhelming majority of people would rather work with a less-skilled but likeable person than a more-competent jerk."

Talent & Careers Resource Center contributors Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans recently considered what it means to be a jerk at work. And Alan Deutschman took a look at psychopathic leaders.

Who would you rather work with? Take the Fast Company poll.

[via Techdirt]

Posted by Heath Row at 9:20 AM | 1 Comment

July 14, 2005

Trust Is Not Enough

It used to be that whether you trusted someone depended on how trusting you are in general and what you know about the other person. New research from two Wharton academics indicates that that's no longer the case. Incidental emotions -- how you feel in the moment because of something that just happened -- can also encourage or discourage trust.

The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, indicates that this has two applications in the business world. One, situations can be subtly manipulated by using "non-task communication." Think of the sales call that kicks off with small talk about the big game, the upcoming holiday, or something else uplifting. And two, if people are aware of their emotions, they impact decision making -- and trust -- less.

Networking Resource Center columnist Keith Ferrazzi has written about instant intimacy. Martin Seligman concentrates on learned optimism, which entails being aware of your emotions. But how far do we take this? Would being late to work because of a slow train affect whether I trust you?

Posted by Heath Row at 11:44 AM | 4 Comments

June 20, 2005

Quality Time

The results of the Microsoft Office Personal Productivity Challenge are in -- and they're not pretty.

• Employees spend an average of 5.6 hours in meetings each week
• 17 out of 45 hours in an average week are considered unproductive
• 66% of employees deny having work-life balance
• 69% believe meetings are ineffective

Where do you stand on the productivity tip?

Posted by Heath Row at 3:09 PM | 4 Comments

June 10, 2005

Comments and Criticism

It seems one comment can completely hijack a discussion. The first comment on my recent post about Dunkin' Donuts blasted middle-class Americans who voted for George Bush. That triggered a flame-fest between Bush haters and Bush supporters.

I don't think FC is the place for such pointed attacks against specific politicians. Criticism on specific policies would be fine, in my opinion, but not pointless name-calling. Criticism should be constructive and informative. It should breed dialogue and not shouting matches.

Continue reading "Comments and Criticism"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 10:37 AM | 5 Comments

June 3, 2005

Yankee Holler

What do you do when you've assembled the best talent in your industry and you still can't make it happen?

When everything looks good on paper there is still no guarantee. The Yankees are facing this question this season. They were swept by the Kansas City Royals, a team everyone agrees is the worst team in baseball.

Organizations will always try different tactics to turn things around: hiring, firing, bringing back old employees (I'm talking about you, Tino Martinez). Announcer Michael Kay mentioned that General Manager Joe Torre has called a record five meetings this week.

Will any of these things work for the Yankees? What tactics have you used to turn things around?

Posted by Kerry-Ann Austin at 2:11 PM | 5 Comments

May 26, 2005

Science Fiction Project Management

I'm reading Bruce Sterling's 2004 novel The Zenith Angle, and just less than 75 pages in last night, I was hit by some surprisingly sensible project management and leadership advice -- coming from the pages of a skiffy book! Without further ado, "How to Run a Skunk Works":

Continue reading "Science Fiction Project Management"

Posted by Heath Row at 10:08 AM | 5 Comments

May 23, 2005

Untangling the Email Maze

This Sunday's New York Times snuck a wonderful article into the Week in Review section -- "Enron Offers an Unlikely Boost to Email Surveillance" addresses a Johns Hopkins University study of about a half million email messages sent within the organization. While the security and surveillance is the least interesting aspect as far as I'm concerned, two other angles do intrigue.

One, the image of how the email transmissions clustered. What leaders sent the most? The least? Separating executives into roughly three tiers, researchers could easily identify who the communication nodes were, and where notable changes in email behavior occurred. The knowledge mapping aspect is fascinating. I'd love to see Fast Company's staff represented thusly. Who works with whom? Who answers the most questions? Who askes the most?

That leads to the second angle of interest... the research team has yet to do a content study of the messages -- what keywords are used the most, and how -- but the implications of being able to analyze such data raises some fascinating questions. What challenges arise most often? How do people frame debate? How do the words we use reflect how we feel about our work?

Posted by Heath Row at 12:10 PM | 2 Comments

May 19, 2005

Open Source To-Do Lists?

The Web team at Fast Company uses a Wiki and a project management tool called Basecamp to collaborate on the site and related work. (We also have a wall we pin 3-by-5 cards to, so don't start thinking we're totally high tech.)

But how widely can you open your project work to colleagues and partners? In his blog today, Joi Ito announced that he was opening his to-do list to the public.

If you're waiting for me to do something or would like to suggest that I do something, please feel free to add it to my public To Do list on my wiki. This doesn't guarantee that I'll do it, but at least I won't forget it or lose the email.

Gutsy. Fun. And potentially more productive. How much do you share about what you're working on? How much do you let your colleagues direct your workflow?

Posted by Heath Row at 4:51 PM | 1 Comment

May 4, 2005

Getting Engaged

A new research report from Melcrum considering employee engagement indicates that true involvement inspires improvement. The full report runs $1,000, but the short form still offers some interesting insights.

More than 50% of respondents reported that engagement efforts increased employee retention and customer satisfaction. More than a third identified higher productivity and "discretionary behavior" (personal initiative?). Other respondents claimed improvements in employee advocacy, status as a "Great Place to Work," profitability, and absenteeism.

Additionally, more than a third of respondents have an in-house program dedicated to engagement where they work. How does your organization gauge -- and nurture -- engagement? How engaged are you?

Posted by Heath Row at 3:11 PM

April 12, 2005

Every Second Counts

The Wall Street Journal today features an interesting article in the Marketplace section on how food retailers such as Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, and Wendy's are working to decrease how much time it takes to prepare orders and serve customers.

Something as simple as a larger ice scoop with a stronger handle can shave 14 seconds off the preparation time of a specialty drink. Fascinating! I'm always looking for ways to save time without cutting corners in terms of quality. What do you do to be more effective and efficient? What takes places where you work that makes things take more time and slows you down? How do you combat those influences?

Posted by Heath Row at 11:57 AM | 2 Comments

April 5, 2005

Tools You Can Use

Have any FC Now readers used Avery-Dennison's Write on Perforated Poly Static Cling Sheets? They're lightweight portable easel pads-meet-white boards that you can unroll, slap up on a wall, and peel away when you're done. Seems pretty slick.

[via Cool Tools]

Posted by Heath Row at 10:46 AM | 2 Comments

April 4, 2005

Creative Transparency

Last night, I watched the Japanese film "All About Lily Chou-Chou." It is a brutal tale about 14 year olds in Japan. More astonishing is that before the film was made, the director/writer Shunji Iwai started it as an online novel in the form of a public billboard devoted to this fictional singer Lily Chou-Chou. Soon, readers were posting messages to the BBS and the lines between reality and fiction were blurring.

Today, here at the Fast Company office, I was introduced to the magazine's editorial wiki developed by Socialtext. Here is another case of an open-ended, collaborative framework for creativity. I find writing in such a medium to be like jumping without a parachute. Iwai-san was quite daring to put his work out in front of everyone like that. Nevermind going the step further and letting his audience affect it.

Continue reading "Creative Transparency"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 5:58 PM | 2 Comments

March 22, 2005

Crunch Model

During my speech at SDA Bocconi in Milan last week, I cited Theresa Amabile's creativity research and the idea of a "time-pressure hangover" -- a decline in innovation because of strict deadlines.

Evan Robinson's essay Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work bolsters the argument that overtime and overly aggressive deadlines actually decrease the quality of work. Written primarily for people in the video game industry (and perhaps inspired by the uprising at Electronic Arts), the piece is still worth a read.

Robinson's argument is sound, as the math behind it seems to be, but I wonder. Some of the most fun I've had while working has been bumping up against an "impossible" deadline. How did the romanticized vision of the "all nighter" or "death march" arise?

[via Managing Product Development]

Update: France has gotten rid of its 35-hour work week, originally instituted just a few years ago.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:10 AM | 3 Comments

March 17, 2005

Glancing off Arrogance

Today's edition of the Dear Workforce newsletter includes an interesting item on how to best handle a situation in which long-time employees face difficulty working with a new hire who's perceived as arrogant -- and who feels "shunned." Offering advice from Mark Gorkin, the Stress Doc, the newsletter suggests the following:

Continue reading "Glancing off Arrogance"

Posted by Heath Row at 1:06 PM | 1 Comment

January 23, 2005

Job Hunting, eBay-Style

Move over, Monster. After a team of in-house creatives were displaced in the PeopleSoft/Oracle merger, the group turned to eBay to try and find work. Not as individual job seekers, however, but as a team. According to this post on AdFreak, AdWeek's blog, the team wanted to continue working together, and so they decided to auction themselves off.

"Take advantage of recent merger and acquisition activity in the technology sector,” reads their post (eBay Item Number 3868319541.) "Their loss, your gain. An award-winning, clear-thinking, bottom-line-focused creative services organization is now immediately available to rock your bottom line. We are a creative team that's ready to plug and play. Today."

Is anyone taking them seriously? So far, not really. After more than five days up for auction, 17 bidders have driven the price up to, um, $41. (That's for access to their "contact information, resumes, portfolios"; negotiating hiring and salaries is done separately). Not so successful, maybe, but it's an interesting, if painful, way to find out what you're worth.

Posted by Jena McGregor at 6:40 PM | 5 Comments

January 10, 2005

How Not to Speak Like an Idiot

Michael's post today on business-speak (that's "BS" for short) is especially timely. The upcoming book, Why Business People Speak Like Idiots, made our December Fast Forward list of 101 ideas, people and trends that will shape the biz world this year. Part humor, part service, WBPSLI is brought to us by three former Deloitte Consulting execs and hits shelves in about six weeks. Here are four quick points on how to be a straight shooter, cribbed from Amazon.com's preview.

• The Obscurity Trap: "After extensive analysis of the economic factors facing our industry, we have concluded that a re