Category: Leadership

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Should You Take the Interim Role? The Other Shoe Drops

English: Diagram showing the parts of a shoe.

Interim roles frequently have hair on them. They are imperfect jobs where you toil in a state of “pretend”  for those who hope temporary will become the “real” job.

Last week’s post Career Quandry: Should You Take the “Interim” Job surveyed the landscape of people taking interim roles when their boss vacates his/her role. Inspiration for the piece came from Yahoo’s appointment of Marissa Mayer as their new CEO coming on the heels of the expectation that interim CEO Ross Levinsohn would be tapped for the permanent role.… Read the rest

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[Life Back West] July 2012 – “Misfit Toys”

If you live in a certain City by the bay, sooner or later little surprises you.

Avengers (comics)

Annoy you? Yes. Delight you? Often. Alarm, disappoint, thrill, and endear? Always.

It’s those differences that make the place so special. Take away those difference and ultimately it leads to one destination; the land of boring, common, even mediocre.

Some workplaces are just like that City.… Read the rest

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Yahoo CEO’s Resume Blame Game: Is It the Headhunter’s Fault?

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson – he of the phantom computer science degree that found its way on his official resume filed with

the SEC – was either fired or resigned.

The question remains; whose fault was it that the resume mistake wasn’t caught earlier?

The now-departed Thompson said that exec search firm Heidrick & Struggles was to blame; somebody on the search firm interviewed him for a role with eBay years ago when the error originally occurred, took incorrect information, and that’s how it got in the system and on to his Yahoo resume.… Read the rest

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When Do You Fire Someone for a Resume Error?

This month’s Yahoo kerfluffle – a company that desperately needs this type of stuff least – involves the misstated resume of new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson.

You’ll recall that Thompson replaced Carol Bartz several months ago. Bartz was fired via a phone call from Yahoo’s chairman. Candor and accuracy was and is never an issue with Bartz, something that probably did not advance her career with the Yahoo board.

… Read the rest
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How to Say “No” – and Leave the Door Open for a Down-the-Road “Yes”

Open Doors

It happens all the time with work; the job offer, the investment opportunity, or the candidate you surfaced are great but the timing is wrong. So how do you say “no” and leave the door open to return?

Here’s one thought on how to keep the door open rather than permanently shut when you reject someone.

It starts, by the way, by having a clear bead on where you are, and what you’re looking for.  … Read the rest

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How Do You Keep Life From Passing You By?

It’s a common refrain; one that even ended up as a question for the digerati at Quora.

Just how do you keep life, like a river, from passing you by?

There are signals everywhere that you must do more to keep your head above water; even more if you want to “pull ahead.”

A recent Fortune magazine article chronicled the life of a young exec who had her “home” in San Francisco, lived mostly in an apartment near her work in Menlo Park when she wasn’t spending her considerable time on the road.… Read the rest