More than a living

So Rick and I were talking about passion for your work. Do you love what you do? How badly would you want to change to actively go out and find a better alternative to the job the current have (and maybe hate)?
So here’s a quick straw poll - what percentages do you think define the […]

I feel as if I have already written this post—in a variety of different forms—at least a thousand times. So, one more time won’t hurt. And, honestly, it probably won’t be the last.
After all, it’s all about happiness, right?
And you are responsible for that. You are responsible for your own happiness.
Your employer is a jerk? […]

When you cast about your organization, who epitomizes your organization’s values? Do you see it just in the executive suite, or do you see it in the line (or in walking among the cubes)? How is your messaging reinforcing the definition of success at your company?
Who actively communicates what your organization stands for, inside and […]

Your ultimate goal–at any job–should be achieving your own obsolescence. When you achieve that, you’ve really succeeded.
You should be extinct.
Not only that, but you should plan to be extinct. You should strive to be extinct.
You should be gone. Remember that.
That, and that alone, should be your only goal as an employee.
“What cockamamie bull is he […]

I’m a big fan of sustainability.
I’m, admittedly, not as good at as I could be. But I’m constantly working to get better. I’ve been recycling for nearly 20 years (yes, kids, there was once a time when people didn’t recycle), I purchase clean energy, I shop for organic goods, I frequent Portland’s veritable plethora of […]

I had lunch today with a former co-worker that has effectively “retired” at 39 (Jealous, much?). She is very much a Top 1%’er and a rockstar teammate that I know is sorely missed at our past employer.
My central question to her was, “What are you doing with your time? Where have you turned your […]

We Gen-X types are a sandwich generation, stuck somewhere between the old and the new.

Too young to ignore technology, too old to truly understand its potential
Too young to have participated in the greed-rush of the ’80s, too old to have missed observing it
Too young to have acquired the respect of the previous generation, too old […]

There’s a great post over on Seth Godin’s blog, today, (shocker, I know) entitled, “Do you have to be anti-change to be pro-business?” In it, Seth talks about how companies tend to resist change, even though change is the one thing that tends to propel the business forward.
A strange dichotomy to be sure. Almost a […]

Hippity Hoppity, hippity hoppity… we know this song. But I’m wondering, what is the thinking that motivates job hopping?
I’m a mover, a shaker. Or easily distracted, whatever. I’m not the loyal 20-year man that many managers want. I get in and am ready to fire it up. And then move on when the speed of […]

For many of us, working from home holds a great deal more appeal than sitting in a noisy–or worse yet, deathly silent–cube farm, day-in, day-out.
I know that I’m more productive here than I ever was in the office. And I hear many folks echoing the same sentiment. And when you cut the commute down from […]