My Brook and Me
I remember the brook
streaming though the woods;
spending hours around it,
building forts, wiping the mud off me with skunk cabbage.
I remember the brook on sunny days;
Water babbling over stones and rocks, pieces of wood;
making the water ripple the way it did.
I wondered what happened to the brook
traveling away from my yard.
I had a goal for my brook
to flow to the ocean…but then what?
I see goals ...
Continue Reading →These are the questions that Clayton M. Christensen discusses in his 2010 article describing his lecture to the Harvard Business School’s Class of 2010.
Christensen mentions organizational behavior guru Frederick Herzberg who theorizes ...
Continue Reading →Large companies face challenges when it comes to keeping their best performing employees, says Eric Jackson in an article in Forbes.
He lists ten reasons why this happens:
1. Big Company Bureaucracy. Talented people often have no choice in policies and procedures. Giving them a voice in how things are done could keep them on board.
2. Failing to Find an Exciting Project for the Talent. Top talent is not motivated by power and money, but to be a part of something that will “change the world.” Bosses ...
Continue Reading →Michael Porter has recently revised his strategic management theory in an article in the Harvard Business Review.
Below is a presentation of the interplay of these five forces.
There is much discussion in HR circles regarding Chief Marissa Mayer’s recent decision to rescind telecommuting as an option at Yahoo. This begs the question, are office employees more engaged and productive?
I work from home when I do not have scheduled meetings in the office or out of the office at client sites. For me a home office day means no time commuting and no time getting spiffed-up to go to the office. In that saved time I can go ...
Continue Reading →Do you work frantically all day long before immersing yourself in back-to-back afternoon meetings, after eating lunch at your desk? Are you always behind on emails and find yourself responding in the evenings and weekends? Do you always feel harried and exhausted?
In a recent article in the NY Times, Tony Schwartz cites research that indicates how strategic renewal – daytime workouts, afternoon naps, longer sleeping hours, more time away from the office, and longer and more frequent vacations, can lead to greater productivity, job ...
Continue Reading →On the radio this morning I listened to a program that talked about how we measure happiness. The reporter suggested that perhaps researchers will come up with a happiness measure, and we will hear it in the same conversation that we hear the unemployment rate – now 7.8 %. Here in the US it seems to me that how happy we are in our jobs dramatically affects how happy we are with our lives in general.
So I ask you today, how happy are you with what ...
Continue Reading →American employers added 157,000 jobs in January compared with a revised 196,000 jobs in December, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent.
The industries adding jobs were the retail, construction, health care and the wholesale trade sector. Decreases in government spending, including that for defense, resulted in more loss of jobs in the government sector.
Economists are forecasting job growth of around 170,000 a month for the remainder 2013, comparable to what ...
Continue Reading →The recent movie “Lincoln” reminds us of his legacy and remarkable accomplishments. He saved the Union and abolished slavery. He kept to his vision despite innumerable setbacks, and much death and destruction. Lincoln has been the subject of much admiration and study in leadership circles, and is discussed in a recent article in the NY Times by Nancy Koehn.
1. Lincoln always looked forward and inspired Americans to a higher course and a purpose that is larger than themselves. He listened to a variety of ...
Continue Reading →I was recently interviewed by Jennifer Matilsky for her series on “Women on the Move.” The show will air on Saturday from 4:00-4:30 on Newstalk Radio 1160 in Atlanta. For those of you outside of Atlanta, you can watch on-line NewsTalk 1160 The Talk of the Town or by downloading the Newstalk 1160 app on your phone.
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