It seems hard to believe now, but there was a time when broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer was stuck. Shortly after college graduation (where she majored in “Identity Crisis and Self-Absorption, with a minor in Poetry and Daydreaming”1) she returned home, feeling aimless and unsettled. Her father asked her these three questions to help her get…
Personal Effectiveness
Why You Should Care About the Office A$$hole
You may suspect that the arrogant, hyper-critical jerk guy in the office next to you is overcompensating for a lack of something, but what? Turns out it’s not a lack of basic human decency, but instead it’s most likely a self-esteem deficit. According to research cited on the I/O at Work site (I/O = Industrial…
Keeping the Buck: Fighting the Urge to Blame Others by Taking Responsibility in the Workplace
A guest post by Melissa Crossman It’s only natural for people to not want to admit their failures, but at a certain point “passing the buck” becomes a deterrent to productivity in the workplace. On top of being a fruitless discussion, determining who’s to blame for setbacks at work creates unnecessary animosity among coworkers and…
Is Office Politics Decreasing Your Productivity at Work?
According to an infographic offered up by Tempo blog, 47% of people say office politics is a work-related distraction that takes time away from their productivity. Interesting. Nearly half of office workers see office politics as a “distraction” that keeps them from being optimally productive? How very convenient. Someone didn’t get a…
How to Tell If Your Boss is a Psycho or Jerk
Overhead at my favorite coffee shop the other day: “My boss is a total psycho!” I wanted to turn around and say, “Oh, really? And just how exactly do you know this? Are you clinically trained to diagnose mental illness?” But of course, someone’s medical credentials aren’t the point. The point is, humans crave linguistic shortcuts—a…