I understand the home-of-the-free-and-land-of-the-brave. I get bring-me-your-tired-huddled-masses-yearning-to-breathe-free. I can even relate to hot dogs-apple pie-and-baseball. What I don’t understand is how passive Americans have been in the face of the economic challenges brought on by the recession. I thought we were a feisty country, tough and ready to stand up for what’s right. Case in …
Efficiency. If today’s workplace has a holy grail, chances are that it is summed up by the “E” word. Okay, I know what some of you are thinking, what about profitability? The days of being “inefficiently” profitable are over. If there is a “location, location, location” like mantra for being successful today, efficiency is undoubtedly …
Efficient At Your Job, Inefficient With Your People Read More »
This week I was in two accidents in 48 hours. My car got hit in the rear and in the front and probably won’t emerge from the shop for days. And it didn’t ruin my week. Let me tell you why and what this has to do with the workplace. On Monday I was driving …
This week in a Pensacola, FL courtroom, lawyers representing the Attorney Generals of at least 19 states will argue about the recently passed national health insurance plan that requires all citizens to have health insurance. [BTW, this is a Workplace911 topic because the majority of funding of health care continues to come from the workplace] …
If health care shouldn’t be mandatory, let’s go after car insurance next Read More »
At a friend’s urging, I recently bought a bike to commute to the new job. I can’t believe how having the wind in my face takes me back to being nine years old. Okay, I can hear what many of the women reading this are thinking. Jeez, that’s the last thing we need, something to …
A friend that I went to high school is an accomplished writer on ethical issues. He’s written a couple of books and columns for the NY Times and Fortune. He once called me the biggest BS artist he’s ever met, because I write about the workplace but don’t work in one. Of course I just …
Bloggers Confession: I am wrapped around the little finger of the Apple marketing department. I’m writing this blog on my MacBook, while I listen to tunes on my iPod, my iPhone is nearby and so is my iPad. Wow, I knew I was a junkie, but just writing that sentence made me feel like Steve …
Last week a friend stopped by who’d just been riffed by Microsoft (reduction in force, for the luckily uninitiated). She spoke angrily about the HR woman who answered most of her questions wrong concerning her severance and departure from the company. Initially my friend was told there was no severance beyond six weeks and her …
When Kobe Bryant was recently asked what his fifth championship meant to him he replied, “One more than Shaq.” Which got me thinking, why does it appear that so many successful people are jerks? Or worse. Do good guys really finish last? When it comes to success and the jerk factor, you quickly discover that …
Can You Succeed in Business Without Being a Jerk? Read More »
In 1989 I gave my first Commencement Speech at the University of Puget Sound. Even though I wasn’t asked to speak to graduates this year, I decided to not let that hold me back. Actually the speech below is much less for the graduates and really directed at the corporations that seem to value these …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
