One of the more challenging tasks of leadership in a rocky economy is making sure that your best people stick around. There are all kinds of reasons why valued staff members decide to move on. And those reasons may have nothing to do with their level of satisfaction with their job, or your company or […]
One of the keys to keeping turnover low is creating and maintaining an environment where your employees love (or at least like) to come to work every day. And the best way to find out how much they like working for you is to ask them. But many leaders are afraid to solicit feedback more […]
One of the most challenging problems employers face is trying to “cure” chronic lateness. They often come to me seeking a magic solution to this seemingly intractable problem. The reason it’s so difficult to solve is that people who are chronically late to work tend to be late to everything else in their lives as […]
As the economy turns around (yes, that’s the noise you’re hearing), companies who are hiring are experiencing something they’ve never had to contend with before: HUGE numbers of applicants for open positions. One reason for the large numbers of applicants is simply the sheer number of people looking for work right now. But another reason […]
I love eBay. It has connected me with many types of businesses. And it’s a well-managed marketplace. I typically only buy from sellers who have a positive feedback rating of 99% or higher. So I was surprised the other day when I had a truly bad experience with a seller who had tens of thousands […]
Happy New Year!It has been an interesting, challenging, frustrating, rewarding, and memorable 2009! Here are some “sudden thoughts on second thoughts” — reflections about my own experiences in 2009. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, by the way, and the title “Sudden Thoughts and Second Thoughts” belongs to legendary Philadelphia Inquirer sports […]
If you haven’t seen or read anything about Jersey Shore — MTV’s new unscripted program about summer living in Seaside Height’s, New Jersey — you’ve missed plenty of buzz. The program has adherents and critics for exactly the same reason: The somewhat over-the-top, self-proclaimed “guidos” (Mike “The Situaion,” DJ Pauly D., Ronnie and Vinny) and […]
About half a lifetime ago, I was the VP of Marketing for a consumer magazine publisher. It was a specialized job in a specialized field, and I realized I had no real “peer” at work with whom I could discuss various issues and problems that kept popping up. On a whim, I called someone I […]
Not too long ago, a vendor that I have used for years tripled the price of something that I buy regularly. Confused and admittedly a little upset, I called the vendor thinking there had been some kind of mistake. The mistake was probably choosing him in the first place. He said, angrily, “I’m running a […]
