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 ...

Real Simple Magazine has just featured one user manual that’s worth reading – how to be plugged in without being impolite.  Hap tip to Yahoo! Shine for the highlights, which contain advice from some of the business in the tech-etiquette business: 1. You’re walking down the street and listening to your iPod when you run into someone you know. ...

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 ...

Most people have to check references in some shape or form, whether it’s for a candidate or a babysitter.  I don’t know about you, but until I wrote Success for Hire I never really knew how to do it. Here's what I learned:While you can e-mail a reference initially, connect either in person or by phone with at least one reference for ...

Following up on last week’s interview post based on my new book Success for Hire, here’s what not to do if you want your interviewing exercises to result in strong and lasting hires! DON’T let first impressions get the better of you.  Sometimes, you might meet a candidate whom you decide you want to hire immediately, and will ...

There are a lot of books out there on how to achieve job satisfaction and get ahead in the business world, but few are from the viewpoint of someone with a front row seat in the always-elusive entertainment industry.  That’s what I found interesting about Danielle Weinstock’s Can This Elephant Curtsy on Cue?. A Hollywood producer, ...

My friend Pam Slim over at Escape from Cubicle Nation has a great post on how to tread the fine line between expressing admiration for someone and fan worship.  Straight from the ECN blog are 4 “fan traps” to avoid.  I’ve been known to do some of these things in my interactions with bestselling authors, and people who haven’t yet ...

Last week, I gave a talk on twenty-first century recruitment and retention at the American Society of Training and Development’s annual conference in San Diego.  While I was there, I attended a few “train the trainer” sessions on improving your technique for delivering educational content in the workplace.  The guys (they were ...

Here’s a disclaimer before you start reading this post.  I’m not writing it to brag or leave you thinking that I’m the greatest colleague or employee of all time.  I’m trying to make a point, so I hope you will look at it in that light.  Now that said, I’ve often been told that I am really great to work with.  Some people ...

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 ...