Leadership faux pas, management mistakes, computer literacy issues... we are archiving it all, and giving you the tips you need to succeed.
Whether you are on the receiving end and just want to revel in our communal frustration, or perhaps you are an up-and-coming middle manager who wishes to avoid these all-too-common mistakes... well, everyone is welcome, we suppose.
I'm not a company. There's no hidden shell organization running this as a lame content-farm/clickbait site. This website is just one endlessly-frustrated individual's own personal place to brain-dump some of this nonsense. Hopefully someone โ anyone โ will find it useful, and perhaps a little comforting, knowing that we have all probably experienced similar things.
So read on, please advice when your done, and let me know if you got my email.
You are in charge of a meeting, you have stuck to your agenda, and you are even wrapping up early due to such wonderful self-organization. Don’t ruin it right at the end. There’s something undeniably patronizing and belittling about saying, “Let me give you your time back.” It’s not “their” time. It’s still on the… Continue reading “Let Me Give You Your Time Back”
This post — unbelievable in so many ways — is making the rounds on Twitter: The president of a lawyer recruiting firm accidentally emailed me ABOUT me ๐ญ pic.twitter.com/cIGQisdhr0 — Diversity ๐๐๐งกโฅ๏ธ๐๐ (@GummiPie) April 26, 2021 Diversity candidate. Would you like to call her? Saul? Too senior for stated reqs for Kleinbard although she is… Continue reading Email Is Not Private
Our First Book Recommendation I don’t know how often I’ll recommend books here (most of what I want to share is common sense and genuine experience/lessons learned), but this is a bit out there compared to what you might see commonly recommended, and I think it’s worth getting in front of more eyeballs. Satoru Iwata… Continue reading Book Recommendation: Ask Iwata (Also: Interview Your Employees)
When was the last time one of your employees or reports was recognized? By you? By another colleague? In front of other people? Make it a habit to share “kudos” at whatever your appropriate time and place may be. Depending on the size of your organization, that could be board meetings, it could be administrative… Continue reading Kudos: Recognizing Your Employees, Direct Reports, & Colleagues
Sometimes it seems silly that we pass out an 8.5 x 11-inch sheet of paper with nothing more than the date and a few numbered items on it. Well, it is silly, but keep doing it. More importantly: stick to what you write on it. Ah yes, the legendary meeting agenda. For most organizations, it… Continue reading Sticking to a Meeting Agenda
Here’s the Situation There’s an image on a web page. You just asked someone to email you that image. The one that’s on a web page. A public web page. With an image on it. The image that’s on a public web page. The JPG that is displaying on a publicly accessible World Wide Web… Continue reading “Can You Send Me This Image?”
This has to be one of the most common and frustrating experiences in digital office culture (totally independent of whether or not it’s your supervisor writing you back): You provided the item in question and asked one very simple question. What did you get back? “Looks great!” We all get too much email, are all… Continue reading “Looks great!” – the email response that misses important questions
It’s weekly meeting time. You have a group together. You’re reviewing what’s working, and everyone’s cool. You’re reviewing what’s not working, and you let this doozy out: “It’s nobody’s fault.” Of course it’s someone’s fault. It’s ultimately your fault, since you’re ostensibly in charge, right? It’s completely transparent that you’re trying to walk that line… Continue reading “It’s Nobody’s Fault”
How many times have you seen (or even worse, sent) something like this? Subject line: simply the word “update”. Woof. This email could be — and at times, actually has been — any of these different things: “I’m leaving to spend more time with my family”* “The business is shutting down” “We received budget allocation… Continue reading Bad Email Subject Lines
It’s Tuesday afternoon. You had a couple meetings, knocked a couple items off your to-do list, and added a couple new ones. It was a pretty regular day. You’re walking out the door, and your boss says, “Thanks for all your help today.” … What “help”…? If you’re in a leadership position speaking to a… Continue reading “Thanks For All Your Help Today”