Ten Career-Damaging Habits You'll Never Know You've Got

When my middle son was in tenth grade, I saw him pull a paperback book out of his backpack. “What are you reading?” I asked him. He told me. “My Language Arts teacher recommended this book,” he said, “and it’s awesome.” “Why don’t you tell her that you took her recommendation?” I asked him. “I’ll...

How do you always deal with top performers who resign

Image Credit: ShutterStock It’s understandable that a leader feels unhappy when a top performer resigns. The employee is intentionally ending the relationship, so there is an element of personal rejection involved. In addition the leader now needs to replace that person, which could be a daunting...

The Secret to Job Security

Not that long ago when somebody had a job, they kept the job for five or seven years or more. If your friend changed jobs more often than every few years, you'd say "Dude! Why do you keep changing jobs?" Now we don't ask our friends why they change jobs often, because everybody changes jobs all...

Your personal brand is more than your job

A decade ago it was easy to manage your personal brand. Back then, a personal brand was no more complicated than “I’m an Inventory Analyst for Sears.” When LinkedIn was launched in 2003, I’d use that as my job title on the site without thinking twice about it. Nowadays, personal branding is more...

The truth about wasting time at work

If you look at the standard organizational model, the first thing you notice is that it’s a pyramid. It is narrower at the top than at the bottom. There are a lot of worker bees at the bottom of the pyramid — that’s why the base of the pyramid is broader than the top of the pyramid is. There are...