What To Do With Good Employees, Part 3
“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.” – Albert Einstein (Out of My Later Years, 1950) On Wednesday, we talked about money — how much good employees should be paid. Yesterday, we talked about benefits — both standard and fringe.…
READ MOREWhy Do New Managers Fail?
According to a report I read somewhere, four out of 10 new managers fail in their first year. The primary reason, the report said, is that they are not able to build a good support system. That corresponds to my own experience. When you take over a new job, you…
READ MORELiving Rich: Fake It Till You Make It, Your Handy Wine-Grape Glossary
We’re midway through a long holiday weekend — and you don’t want to do any work today, do you? Instead, let’s take a few minutes to round off your growing knowledge of wines. Here’s a quick-reference chart of the 10 most important wine-grape varieties. If you learn these, you will…
READ MOREWhat To Do With Good Employees, Part 2
“Enough is as good as a feast.” – John Heywood (Proverbs, 1546) Yesterday, we talked about how to compensate good employees. I argued that you should pay them more slightly more than the fair market rate. Today, Id like to talk about what else you have to do to keep…
READ MOREHow To Work From Anywhere In The World, Part 2
“Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most.” – Samuel Johnson (quoted in Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, July 20, 1763) If you have the kind of job that allows you to do most of…
READ MOREHow To Work From Anywhere In The World, Part I
Yesterday, we talked about the possibility of working — at least for part of the year — in a place you’d normally go only for vacation. I said I believed that if you played it right, you could have your cake and eat it too — live in a paradise…
READ MOREHow Long Should You Observe A New Employee?
“From now on, time will pass without artificial academic measure. It will go by like the wind. Whatever you do, do it now. For life is time, and time is all there is.” – Gloria Steinem (Commencement address, Tufts University, May 17, 1987) You hire someone new. You have every…
READ MOREGetting Juvenile Employees To Grow Up
“The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.” – Charles Du Bos (Approximations, 1922-37) What do you do with a chronic complainer, an employee who is always dumping his problems on you? Please note: I’m not talking…
READ MORESometimes Success Is A Matter Of Numbers
“The thing I am most aware of is my limits. And this is natural; for I never, or almost never, occupy the middle of my cage; my whole being surges toward the bars.” – Andre Gide (Journals, August 4, 1930) For some very good reasons, there are optimal numbers for…
READ MOREHey…I’m Just Saying…
There was a skit on Seinfeld — I don’t know if I actually saw it or just heard about it — but it was about what you could say to someone so long as you appended your statement with, “Hey, I’m just saying.” “Don’t you think those pants make your…
READ MOREWhy Reductions Must Be Mandatory
“Responsibility, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck, or one’s neighbor. In the days of astrology, it was customary to unload it upon a star.” – Ambrose Bierce (The Devil’s Dictionary, 1881-1911) Last week, we spoke about the need to fire weak…
READ MOREHow To Defend Yourself And Eventually Defeat A Business Bully
“Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck Sooner or later, we all end up working/dealing with someone who is not just pushy, but an emotional or intellectual bully. These people are…
READ MORE