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 ...

On his blog, Seth Godin responded to a reader who believes luck and randomness is just as critical to success as hard work and effort. Seth says: “Without a doubt, luck is involved. I don't think anyone would tell you otherwise. The choice one needs to make, though is this: either you believe that luck is dominant, in which case, why ...

Have you ever noticed that when you spend too much time dwelling on the past, you get depressed about how certain situations played out and what you could have done differently?  And when you are always looking ahead to the future, you get anxious about the unknown? Although I find it hard to do, I am going to try and ...

I love the show Jon and Kate Plus 8.  For those of you who might not be familiar with it, it’s a reality program on TLC that follows thirtysomething Pennsylvania parents Jon and Kate as they raise seven year-old twins and four year-old sextuplets.  I like watching it because it provides harmless entertainment while I’m feeding the ...

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 ...

Over at Employment Digest, Kit Samuels talks about how you can turn a rejection from a job into a second chance at a future opportunity.  Bill suggests that you let go of your anger as soon as possible and e-mail a simple, clean, professional response to the rejection.  Don’t let spite or even a shred of sarcasm creep into your ...

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 ...

Anita Bruzzese has an interesting post on mothers’ influence on career success.  Anita cites the work of a psychologist, Stephan Poulter, who has written a new book, The Mother Factor: How Your Mother's Emotional Legacy Impacts Your Life. The book’s thesis is that whether we acknowledge it or not, our mothers leave an indelible impression on ...

One of my friends has been complaining that her team is running wild.    Much as I love her, I know that this is happening because when my friend took over the group a few months ago, she really wanted her new reports to like her, so she put up with a lot from them.  They would tell her they weren’t going to do an assignment ...

I’ve been spending a lot of time in doctors’ offices lately.  No, I’m not sick – just 36 weeks pregnant.  And having a doctor’s appointment at least once a week inevitably means that my productivity goes way down.  This is because one waits longer for a doctor than for any other professional, and even if you only see the doctor for ...