Well, the gymnastics competitions that are my favorite part of the Olympic Games are over.   As usual, the events were dogged with controversy.  This year, it had mainly to do with the ages and scores of the Chinese gymnasts. In 1997, to counter the increasing trend towards younger and younger gymnasts, the International ...

According to USA Today, this summer Utah will become what experts say is the first state to institute a mandatory four-day work week for most state employees.  Gov. Jon Huntsman, a first-term Republican, says he's making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide ...

I was recently interviewed for Yahoo! Hot Jobs for a story on how the continuing upward pressure on gas prices is forcing many workers to change how they get to their jobs and to seek added benefits that offset commuting costs.  In a recent survey by the staffing firm Robert Half International (RHI), almost half of ...

At the gym, I was thumbing through a new issue of Time Magazine.  One of the articles was about college wait-listing.  According to Time, the high school class of 2008, 3.4 million strong, is the largest in American history.  As such, getting into a first choice college is a heck of a lot tougher if you had the misfortune of being ...

The Washington Post reports that most diversity training efforts at American companies are ineffective and even counterproductive in increasing the number of women and minorities in managerial positions.   A comprehensive review of 31 years of data from 830 mid-size to large U.S. workplaces by the University of Arizona found that the kind ...

With Iowa behind us and the New Hampshire primary tomorrow, everyone I know who’s remotely interested in politics was tuned in for the Republican and Democratic candidate debates, sponsored by ABC News and Facebook, that took place this weekend.   Myself included.   A huge issue was likeability.  After Iowa voters said that ...

Everyone has been buzzing about the different careers featured in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Careers of 2008 piece.  Since I’m going to be doing my fair share of talking about cool jobs come the spring, I thought I would highlight some of the more interesting observations that writer Marty Nemko makes about forthcoming career ...

It’s interesting.  You always hear about supermoms trying to do it all, but what about superdads?  Here’s what Stephanie Armour at USA Today has to say about this issue: Todd Scott, 32, has two children under age 5.  Each workday, he leaves his job at Himmelrich Public Relations in Baltimore at 5 p.m. to be with his family, and ...

Every year, I get asked by one media outlet or another how to handle the office holiday party.  This year, I decided to share the advice I and others provided to the Wall Street Journal last weekend:   “We spend so much time communicating on Blackberries and e-mail, the office party is a rare opportunity to really meet the people who ...

Okay, I confess.  I’ve been hooked on Dancing with the Stars.  I started watching this season because over the summer, while on a Southwest Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago, I met one of the professional contestants, Mark Ballas.    It was especially interesting that I met Mark, because he and his celebrity ...