"We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in. ~ Arianna Huffington "Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." ~ Albert Einstein “It's amazing how a little tomorrow … Continue reading SERIES ~ PANDEMIC LESSONS LEARNED – PART FIVE: THE WORLDWIDE WORKER WALKOUT FIRESTORM
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." ~ Theodore Roosevelt “Now that companies have built the framework – and experienced the cost and time savings associated with it – there’s no real reason to turn back.” – Mark Lobosco, VP of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn "In a two-parent home where both … Continue reading SERIES ~ PANDEMIC LESSONS LEARNED – PART THREE: WORKING / SCHOOLING FROM HOME
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard, Philosopher There is no doubt that America and the world have experienced an extraordinary two years. And we continue to battle the terrifying novel coronavirus --COVID-19 -- and its apparently even worse Delta variant, as well as the newest threat, … Continue reading SERIES ~ PANDEMIC LESSONS LEARNED – PART ONE: VACCINES, TESTING & TREATMENTS
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" ~ Anonymous I think we can agree that having a job you love is ideal. And, sure, even having a job you love can involve a lot of hard work -- just ask a writer! -- but it … Continue reading Workplace Thankfulness
"In 1938... the year's #1 newsmaker was not FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. Nor was it Lou Gehrig or Clark Gable. The subject of the most newspaper column inches in 1938 wasn't even a person. It was an undersized, crooked-legged racehorse named Seabiscuit." ~ Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend For some the term, "leadership" raises anxiety and for others it … Continue reading What Are Leadership Skills? And What Is a “Leader”?
"I do not demand equal pay for any women save those who do equal work in value. Scorn to be coddled by your employers; make them understand that you are in their service as workers, not as women." ~ Susan B. Anthony, ca 1868 We sought justice because equal pay for equal work is an … Continue reading Women’s History Month – The Long, Long Road to Equal Pay – in 2152
"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
"Confidentiality is an ancient and well-warranted social value."
~ Kay Redfield Jamison
Today's blog entry is a companion piece to last week's,
Be A Superhero Employee: Block Workplace Cyber Security Breaches
Workplace confidentiality is not just refraining from spreading the latest gossip, keeping a secret a coworker has asked you to keep or protecting the confidences of your boss. Those are certainly important, but I'd like to focus on those confidences that are required by law -- the ones that protect the privacy of students, patients, consumers, clients and customers. These regulations are meant to strengthen the protections of Americans' right to privacy that is implied in the U.S. Constitution. It is crucial that these privacy laws that protect all of us be enforced in every workplace that is affected. And because these laws are complex employees should check with their respective company's legal and compliance sources for answers to specific questions and solutions to complicated issues.
"A company can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on firewalls,
intrusion detection systems and encryption
and other security technologies,
but if an attacker can call one trusted person within the company,
and that person complies, and if the attacker gets in,
then all that money spent on technology is essentially wasted."
~ Kevin Mitnick
Before the birth of the Internet, security breaches involving social engineering were in full force via the telephone and fax machines.
One well-known ongoing scam has involved telephone con artists posing as company-approved vendors. They'll call various departments in organizations until they reach someone willing to cooperate by providing equipment serial numbers, allegedly for repair or supply-ordering purposes. The scammers will obtain the name of the person who provided them with the information and then send invoices to the company for phony supply or equipment repair orders with fingers crossed that no one will check and simply pay them. Another scam involves obtaining those serial numbers and employee's name again, shipping below-standard supplies "authorized" by the employee, and then sending an invoice, usually for a charge far above what the supplies are worth. These scams don't work in every case, but they work often enough to keep them going.
Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel. ~ Bella Abzug, 1977
"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily this is not difficult," said Charlotte Whitton in Canada Month, 1963.
I agree with Charlotte Whitton's famous statement except for the part that it is not difficult! And to phrase the late, great Congresswoman Abzug's statement more delicately, ordinary women should be able to compete with ordinary men for the same jobs without having to outperform at Einstein's level. Women have always been and continue to be held to a different standard than men when vying for the same opportunities. That's not only a lack of equality, it's a lack of fairness.
Jeanne Nelson 