One look at an email can rob you of 15 minutes of focus. One call on your cell phone, one tweet, one instant message can destroy your schedule, forcing you to move meetings, or blow off really important things, like love, and friendship. ~ Jacqueline Leo A newish word has crept into our social media … Continue reading “Phubbing” Can Lead to “Phlubbing”
Category: Workplace Empathy
A Sense of Humor is Good For Your Health and Good For Business
Do the best you can, and don't take life too serious." ~ Will Rogers Will Rogers (1879-1935) was considered one of the wisest men of his time and one of the greatest wits. He once said, "I never met a man I didn't like." That might seem like a bit of a stretch for most humans, but a twist on … Continue reading A Sense of Humor is Good For Your Health and Good For Business
Where Is the Good Old Gals Club?
"When you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back." ~ Michelle Obama "It's not what you know, it's who you know," so goes the old adage that might well have originated with the "good old boys club" that grew out … Continue reading Where Is the Good Old Gals Club?
The Art of Compromise
"Let no one think that flexibility and a predisposition to compromise is a sign of weakness or a sell-out." ~ Paul Kagame One of my favorite examples of compromise is a story told by many conflict resolution experts. It goes like this: Two sisters were arguing over who should take the last orange in the … Continue reading The Art of Compromise
Coping With The Workplace Bully – Part 2
Bullies want to abuse you.
Instead of allowing that, you can use them as your personal motivators.
Power up and let the bully eat your dust. ~ Nick Vujicic
The last two entries, Scoping Out the Political Landscape and Coping With The Workplace Bully - Part 1 of 2, addressed the related topics of workplace politics and bullying and focused on background and statistics on bullying as well as current efforts to eliminate bullying. According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, here are a few more insights:
Coping With The Workplace Bully – Part 1
"Come, we'll have him in a dark room and bound. My
niece is already in the belief that he's mad: we
may carry it thus, for our pleasure and his penance,
till our very pastime, tired out of breath, prompt
us to have mercy on him: at which time we will
bring the device to the bar and crown thee for a
finder of madmen. But see, but see."
~ Sir Toby Belch (speaking about Malvolio),
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4
(Note: This two-part entry on bullying concludes my year-long series on job search skills and beginning a new job.)
Scoping Out the Political Landscape
"Chess, insanity and politics have always been inextricably
connected." ~ Sarah Hurst
Political dynamics begin in infancy and continue to pre-school. They intensify in elementary, middle and high school (for students and faculty/staff), and flourish on the college campus (for students as well as faculty and staff), and in the workplace. Politics are an integral part of our civilization. Thus, it's the wise person who recognizes and deals with the various political landscapes of his or her life. And very often navigating political situations can resemble a Chess game. To be clear, I am not an expert Chess player, having only tried my hand at it once or twice in my youth; but I am an expert on office politics, having played that game for several decades! And, having watched a few Chess games in my time I do see the similarities between it and the game of politics.
Pregnant Women in Business
"The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) forbids discrimination
based on pregnancy when it comes to any aspect of employment...
~ EEOC
In the early 1950s, Betty Friedan was fired from her job because she was pregnant. A decade later her book, The Feminine Mystique, launched the second wave of feminism and the Women’s Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, which resulted in many advances for women on the home front and in the workplace, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978. (The first wave of feminism culminated in the 1920 landmark passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote.)
But despite women's advancements in the workplace over the past half-century discrimination persists, especially against pregnant women.
Work-Appropriate Halloween Costumes
Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble…
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
~ Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1
If you work at a company and in an industry where Halloween is observed with an office costume party, charity masquerade ball or client entertainment event, you don’t want to get yourself or your company into a bubbling cauldron of hot water or cause double trouble by committing a fatal faux pas because of your costume choice.
Spreading Germs At Work Is Nothing To Sneeze At
Staying home when you’re ill can be a bummer.
But, going to work is a whole lot dumber!
With so much in the news about Ebola and other dangerous viruses and bacterial infections, we need to remind ourselves that most people are likelier to be catching the common cold or coming down with the current seasonal flu bug. Together, these viruses cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars each year in lost wages, business profits and healthcare costs. Even worse, they cause inconvenience, suffering and in rare cases the flu can result in life-threatening scenarios.
