Monthly Archives: January 2017

Watching for the Off Ramps

Calling customers to stay in touch

I served in Iraq with the US military during 2004-2005 and had the opportunity to be there during their first election and participate in the planning to make sure it went off as safely as possible. That planning went pretty slowly, as it was hard to get the Iraqis to make decisions; instead, they wanted […]

Read More

Blanket Parties

Far be it from me to advocate violence in the workplace. But… There was a time when it was not uncommon in the US military (in fact, it probably was not uncommon in the Roman legions 2000 years ago) to have a blanket party. Generally speaking, it was employed when a member of a unit […]

Read More

Do Ask, Don’t Tell

When you are trying to help your employees resolve an issue, it’s often better to ask questions instead of just telling them what they should do. You are more likely to help them reach a solution that is good for them and for you. If you have an employee who is having problems, whether it’s […]

Read More

Book Review: The 2020 Workplace

Calling customers to stay in touch

Back in 2010, when I was teaching at Georgetown University, a student loaned me her copy of Jeanne Meister’s and Karie Willyerd’s The 2020 Workplace, and I found it to be a very useful and engaging book. In the years since then I have been following demographic changes in the labor market, especially after I […]

Read More

Age is Just a Number

I went into a store this weekend to exchange something I bought a couple days earlier. I had paid for one thing, but the clerk had given me the wrong item. When I explained it to a different clerk today he went back to get the right item, then stopped to explain to his manager […]

Read More