New Office Etiquette: Ear Buds (and the greater meaning)

Every day I go into the office I learn something new. Today was an office etiquette lesson.

Our admin manager is under 30, and I’m not sure if she’s a very young Gen Xer or an old Gen Y (aka Millennial, Gen “We”); while her assistant is definitely a Y. Two very nice young women, and both adding value to our company.

Like most other offices they sit right at the front and greet any guests who come in, but in our case there are few visitors and the bulk of their work is a mixture of tasks that the rest of the team requires. Much of this is database work and both like to plug ear buds into iTunes, and do the job with…

What Does Leadership Look Like?

What does leadership look like?

Susan Mazza recently asked that question in her blog, Random Acts of Leadership. In seeking the best definition of leadership, she concluded that “it does not exist.”

For me, leadership is a …

Do We Really Know How Our Workers Interpret Us?

Would you talk to your work team differently if you knew that each point you deliver was instantly placed in one of two categories: Acceptance or disbelief?

According to research that Google has done in how people process advertising, this seems to be exactly what we face when trying to motivate our team.

I recently viewed a video of an interview with Dr. Vinton Cerf, Google VP and Chief Internet Evangelist, where he discussed how people make the distinction between valuable information and advertising…

You Can’t Scare Workers Into Long Term High Performance

Woe is Bill. You see, he’s a manager who is stuck in the 1960s and who believes that you can get workers to perform at a high level if they’re fearful of losing their jobs.

While Bill has worked for several companies in his career as a hotel food and beverage manager, he still buys in to the 1960s employment scenario. He still thinks he can strongarm workers and scare them into performing up to expectations. Bill suffers from …

Is It “Kissing Up” to the Boss or Just Common Sense?

During a training late last year the topic turned to our precarious economic times and job worries, and a couple of “Generation We” (aka Gen Y or Millennial) workers disagreed with one of my positions, that we have to take an active role in influencing our employers so that we’re not an easy target for layoff if that becomes necessary.

I had suggested that now was a good time to make a bigger effort to forge a warmer relationship with the boss. In more colorful terms than I use here, one young man…

Confidence is Contagious — On the Court and in the Workplace

Nikki Caldwell must love a challenge.

She knows that confidence is contagious on the basketball court. Workplace leaders understand the need to harness it, too.

Caldwell took the job of coach of the UCLA women’s basketball team last April, a place where confidence…