We all pay lip service to honesty as a virtue, but because of conflicting or unclear objectives and agendas, some people hit the truthfulness mute button and instead mouth insincerities or even lies. How honest should we be at work with our colleagues, senior management and clients? Even though there are many times when bluntness […]
Author at SmartCompany
Maybe your attitudes, not your skills, are holding you back. Enthusiasm for work can take you leaps and bounds – from an intern one day to a top job the next. Sitting around saying things like this – are bound to keep you stuck: I wouldn’t dream of interning. I did that 10 years ago […]
Sometimes businesses fall down in one or more service areas and lose their way on the path to being a service champion. When it comes to service we must always look at the importance of: Minimum and exceptional service standards Shared behaviours and values Regular training and reinforcement of standards Monthly or regular awards for […]
When someone says, writes or publishes something that is wrong, tainted, stupid, exaggerated, or an outright lie and you directly are involved in the team, topic or task – it can make you so angry you lose focus on the work you should be doing. You can become obsessed with wanting the world to know […]
On Friday, a former Silicon Valley junior investing partner, Ellen Pao, lost a sex discrimination case against her employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byer. She’d taken Kleiner to court alleging a culture of endemic misogynistic behaviour. During her time there, despite her credentials, she was not promoted as promised and was expected to conform to behaviour […]
Decades after the first rumblings of women’s discontent, the built-in bias against equal pay remains real and endemic. Some people speciously assert that women are paid less because they don’t believe they’re worth more – maybe so, in a few cases. I can honestly say that what you’re “worth” when you run your own business […]
We spend our working hours narrowly observing our managers, no wonder their very positive and especially negative points stand out so vividly! Who liked the movie Horrible Bosses? Who fantasises about the things you could do with a trussed-up superior at your mercy? Particularly if you are enduring miseries at their hands? I get told about the […]
Are we overdoing positivity and strategies for success? Are we making life too simple and righteous? So many books that are dispensing help, inspiration or affirmation might simply be the business equivalent of selfies. There are going to be days and periods in one’s life where very little goes right, and sometimes things get worse. Why pretend […]
Gender inequality behaviours continue to flourish in the workplace. A great recent piece by Facebook honcho Sheryl Sandberg and academic Adam Grant in the New York Times (‘Madame CEO, get me a coffee?’) reminded me how much. Face it, Sheryl and Adam said, women do far more office “housework” than do men. The “housework” is the sometimes unseen […]
