NonsenseAtWork

You can be both thermostat and thermometer. At work, at home, and out and about. You can raise the temperature through how you behave. And you can lower it through how you react. And vice versa.

"Thank you" and "well done" were almost unheard of. But when you did hear one or the other, it meant a lot. You took it seriously, because it was genuine. And it felt like you just got a bonus.

The surest way to build trust has little to do with over promise or under promise. The surest way has to do with never . Never promise in the first place.

That’s the difference between satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfaction keeps you happy, but passive. Loyalty makes you passionate and talkative. That’s a big difference.

What happens when you have power over others? It boosts your confidence. Yes, it does. And it boosts your ego as well. Even when you wield your power with a light and humane touch.

Meetings, meetings, bl... boring meetings. Are you also tired of unproductive meetings? If you are, then it probably is your fault. No, not the being tired bit. The being unproductive bit.

It's your job, as a manager, to help the under-performers by giving them feedback, training, guidance, coaching, whatever. Up to a point.

Apparently, the link between creativity and dishonesty is a flexible attitude to rules. This implies that creative people ignore rules. Or that if you want to be creative, then ignore rules.

The people who make up our important relationships become so familiar to us we take them for granted. We presume their presence and depreciate their value.

Both spotlight and lantern illuminate, but differently.

The trick to knowing when to listen, and when to brush off.

Doing a premortem is very simple. Assume that your draft plan (or project) *has* failed. You and your team now brainstorm reasons to explain why it bombed.

The road to profit is not the road to full employment, which is why technology is rapidly doing away with the need for workers. And dumping them onto the streets.

A little postmortem can make many a future plan more robust.

If you act like a torch, you will see too many options. But you will see no option clearly. To see the right option, you need to focus your light. You need to give your goals the laser treatment.

A wise manager will always look at both sides of behavior. Did they trip by themselves or were they pushed by the situation?

I have met many managers who habitually work late because they routinely help others who should already know how to breathe on their own. Not only does the hero manager risk burnout, she also risks becoming the bottleneck to corporate success.

The poor boss at the top must make decisions of great import based on a steady stream of . . . good news.

Imagine your colleagues around the table nod in collective agreement. Makes you happy, doesn’t it?

I have seen people become angry when they realize they wasted their time at work. So angry, in fact, that not even financial rewards could sweeten the bitterness they felt toward those they held responsible.

If you have more than a few years of boss knowledge, then I am sure you can classify those you have known as either just-in-time teacher-managers or just-in-case micro-managers.

Catch-22 ensures that citizens cannot be against their government. Even if they say they are.

There's a divide between feeling the pain and finding a remedy. And there is a divide between knowing the remedy and implementing the remedy.

I had not always liked my colleagues at the various places I worked. But I often loved what we achieved as a team.

Merely being alive creates situations where an understanding you thought was clear, or a belief you held dear, clashes with your direct experience.