I don’t know how to hold a grudge.  I’ve never met anyone who has done something so terrible to me (killed or seriously hurt someone I love on purpose) that it warrants harboring an extremely negative opinion of them for months or years on end.  Even when a person does something that I consider rude, mean, or inconsiderate, my ...

My husband sent me this theory on friendships by the wife of a prominent ESPN blogger.  He doesn’t remember where he found it, so I’ll just have to quote rather than link:   “I have always said that female friends are ''pursuers'' or ''pursuees.'' I am a ''pursuee.'' You have to pursue me to be my friend. I don't like planning ...

An acquaintance of mine was looking for someone to clean her house once a month.  Because the safety of her home and her family is important to her, this woman held interviews in her home.  She asked the standard questions that one would think to ask a prospective housekeeper, but then she took it a step further.  Although this ...

A WCW reader writes:  “Dear Alexandra, I’ve read your advice about the right way to leave your job, and I think it’s good.  Only trouble is, the people I work with aren’t exactly helping me out.  I gave them six weeks notice so that I could find and train a replacement, but no one except me seems to feel this major urgency to hire ...

Bob Sutton’s book, the No A**hole Rule:  Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't,  has been generating buzz since it was published last year.    Sutton, a professor of management science at Stanford University, argues that a**holes—those who deliberately make co-workers feel bad about themselves and who ...

In their January/February issue, Details Magazine has a provocative article on how to break up with a boss who’s holding you back.  The article tells the story of Michael Rogers:   “Michael Rogers had lunch or cocktails a couple of times a week with the CEO of the New York public-relations firm where he worked. They’d split a plate of ...

We’ve spent some time on this blog discussing the warning signs that you may be in firing range at work, or that you’re unhappy in your current job situation.  This week, CNN.com has an interesting piece on ways we might unknowingly sabotage our own efforts at a successful career.  Among the highlights: Not keeping your skill set ...

A few days ago, I was scheduled to be on a local NPR radio show with one of my biggest and longstanding influencers, Bruce Tulgan.  For those of you who might not know, Bruce is internationally recognized as a leading expert on young people in the workplace and has his own consulting firm, Rainmaker Thinking, that has trained employees in ...

I still remember the day six months ago when a good friend of mine called me up to tell me about this new junior-level employee she wanted to hire.  I had never heard my friend, the director of the tourism division at a global advertising agency, sound this jazzed about a potential new employee.    Apparently, at twenty-four, the ...