Thoughts on people, teams, organizations, communities, effectiveness and success
“No, no, no” I thought to myself as the senior executives at the leadership team retreat I facilitated outlined their “objectives” for the year.
A goal is simply something you plan to do; it becomes more meaningful when you have a time frame attached to it.
Goals are not, as I saw at the retreat, a rostering of things that people might do, might consider, or might explore with no time frame attached.… Read the rest
Is there a perfect first “real” job?
Probably not. But there are some real stinkers to avoid if you have the choice.
And I’m not talking about summer jobs, volunteer work, and or that paid – or unpaid internship – that might be out there. All of them, IMHO, are important.
But for serious importance it’s hard to match that first fulltime real job.… Read the rest
Life’s choices and chances come to you in so many ways that if you’re not looking you most likely miss more than you catch.
More often than not you focus on what you’re losing or lost, not what you could have gained.
The passing of a year, and meetings with some former colleagues this week reminded me of one simple fact; we regret more what we think we’ve lost than what we’ve likely gained.… Read the rest
It’s the end of the year, and common wisdom says that people have packed up shop and that it’s a lousy week for job hunting.
Maybe.
But as John Greathouse notes on his blog, “Conventional wisdom isn’t.”
The next two weeks will be a time when people’s schedules – if they’re not in company shutdown mode – will be unpacked, thoughts will be directed to things apart from work, and folks will be relaxed.… Read the rest
Most of the times a “no” means “no” and a “yes” means “yes.”
Then there are times though when that “yes” can mean “no.”
As I discovered recently, I should learn how to use that yes when I mean no more often.
If you haven’t, you might do well to learn it too.… Read the rest
I had coffee with a colleague I’ll call Andy; he’s got a problem.
You might have the same problem too.
Subject? How to (finally) get an offer from a firm that’s been courting him for 10 months. Position scope change, multiple lunches and interviews, headcount freezes and freeze liftings have all come and gone without “the offer we’ll be giving you” actually happening.… Read the rest