I heard with the new stimulus bill, that anyone who has to quit work to care for an elderly parent can draw up to 20 weeks unemployment. I know that usually if you voluntarily quit your job you cannot draw unemployment. Not only am I having to quit my job, I’m having to relocate from Virginia to Florida. No regrets though, it’s my mama. Just wondering if anyone else heard… Read the rest

The Walden 2.010 Project (Week 3 & 4) Employees need to monitor and receive daily engagement data. We cannot withhold employee engagement data from employees if we expect data to become a measure and a motivator of engagement. Daily employee engagement . This is a weekly reporting of a one year project monitoring, measuring, and assessing daily employee engagement. You can see the original project plan, intention, measures and… Read the rest

“Welcome monsters,” says Lady Gaga to a room full of anxious corporate women who all feel their vaginas restrict them from climbing the ladder of success. “I want your ugly. I want your disease,” she continues. “Work it. Move that bitch crazy.” This is how I envision a talk by Lady Gaga would go if she were a featured speaker at the endless women’s conferences that go on in… Read the rest

I've been walking around with the July/August 2007 issue of the Harvard Business Review constantly, for close to three years. Sometimes, if I’m getting on a plane, I’ll put it with the other heavy stuff into my luggage, and then get it out later. When my last car broke down in the middle of an intersection, I got the magazine out of the trunk before I abandoned the car.… Read the rest

How many times a day do you say to yourself, “I like what I do, but not where I work?” Or the opposite, “I like where I work, but not what I do?” The current economy has kept many employees stationed for the past couple of years, not because they love what they do — but because they are too scared to pursue other opportunities. But, according to a… Read the rest

10 Principles of Employee Engagement Employee engagement is specific. We cannot sustain engagement all the time and everywhere. When we talk about engagement we need to ask: Who is engaged, with what, for how long, and for what purpose? Employee engagement is connection. Connection is the key. When we disconnect we disengage. Employee engagement is the art and science of engaging people in authentic and recognized connections to strategy,… Read the rest

Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet? As a career columnist I’m asked a lot of questions, but this one I just received ranks up there with the most difficult to answer: If you have the time, I would be ecstatic and honored to hear your opinion on whether you think that changing my name would be advantageous toward my career. The writer, Sunni Monson, asked… Read the rest

Most job seekers know that, whenever possible, it’s best to address your cover letter to the person who has the power to hire you — or at least the person who can bring you in for an interview. But, all too often, if a name isn’t listed on a job posting, the job seeker resorts to an old-fashioned salutation like, “To Whom It May Concern.” What they don’t know,… Read the rest

When I was in high school I landed my first holiday job working at a small J.C. Penney’s. Most of the time I was scheduled to work after school until about 9 p.m. I soon dubbed it as “The Dead Zone.” There usually weren’t a lot of customers during those hours, and all the stocking had been done during the day. This left me with long hours to be… Read the rest

People talk about leadership like it’s a business crisis , and  the exit of the baby boomers leaves a huge gap , and there are no aspiring leaders in the younger workforce. But what we have is actually a semantic problem rather than a leadership problem. The issue is that in the age of the Internet, what it means to be a leader is changing. And we need a… Read the rest