Career planning

Selling doesn’t have to be pushy.

Tomorrow became a little distant from today in 2008. With the challenges facing businesses today–versus even six months ago–emerging leaders find little solace in the best practices that have worked so far. So what can help us cope with the challenges ahead? I have put together 10 mantras that might guide us ahead: 1. Listen […]

Three reasons why you shouldn’t go back.

Leadership transitions go awry with alarming frequency, often the result of an emotionally charged power struggle between the CEO and his would-be heir. Four practices, however, can help successors defuse the crisis—and make it to the top.

Questions to ask before you take the job.

Are you the seven-foot superhero, the conniving villain, the strong-willed woman, or the family-man cop? You'd better be one of them, or risk being cut...

Hobbies count.

Work is a financial necessity for almost everyone, along with the sacrifices work sometimes demands. It can be drudgery. But work also can be fun and exciting. The competition can be energizing. Work can be an important and positive part of our lives. I learned a lot about this from Amy Wrzesniewski and her work […]

Five strategies for weathering the ups and downs.

Open-ended mentoring can be intimidatingly time-consuming.

You shouldn't be in touch only when you need something.

It’s time to formalize a “deceleration” career phase — one that lets us ease up and step down, without the angst that comes from doing something outside the norm. I know the concerns: What about the loss of prestige? Can we really reduce people’s salaries? How will it affect pensions? All important issues — and […]

One corporate drama playing out in the news is the fate of Saab — a now-orphan division of General Motors that appears will narrowly escape extinction by last-minute buyer Spyker. For owners, employees, dealers, and suppliers of Saab, the potential death of such an iconic brand was probably hard to fathom. After all, the Swedish […]

It’s OK to build your own relationships with senior leaders.

Melissa, a talented Gen X'er, is given a promotion that puts her in direct contention for a key senior spot. Although her Boomer colleagues are offering...

It's a big decision, both professionally and personally.

Five strategies to buy yourself time — without losing the opportunity.

No, we don’t mean come work for us. (Though we are hiring). For the next 30 days, we’ll be rolling out a special series on the new rules for getting a job. The last few years have been tough on job-seekers. Unemployment has been a globe– and demographic-spanning problem now for years. At the same […]

Find ways to work with influential people in your organization.

“Where do you see yourself in five years?” Despite the tendency to slip in some of the questions Google asks when interviewing people (such as, what is the next number in this sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66..?), this remains a fairly popular question when you are looking a job. It’s usually an extremely […]