Rants Raves Ramblings & Reflections

How Layoffs Have Evolved: From “Office Space” to “Up In The Air”

January 25, 2010

Tweet In the decade since its release, the movie Office Space has dramatized the corporate best of work-life dystopia. In Office Space, we’ve got the Lumberg, the red stapler, the TPS Reports, a bad case of the Mondays, a little flair, and of course, “the Bobs”. Oh, the Bobs, those clueless, bumbling, omniscient consultants from […]

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Authentic Twitter: Are exclamation points unprofessional?

January 20, 2010

Tweet Exclamation Points: An Authenticity Issue Last week, I got a bit of crap from I was chided by one of my colleagues for sending a 4-line email with three (three!!) exclamation points. This colleague also pointed out that I occasionally sprinkle my tweets with exclamation points. This is a problem. These exclamation points, s/he […]

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What’s going on at my favorite Starbucks?

January 13, 2010

Tweet There’s something going on at my favorite Starbucks. I’m not quite sure what it is. But there is new evidence today that this Starbucks is somehow special/better than the other 3 in my town. Before I tell you about that, I should probably explain that there are 4 Starbucks within a 2 mile radius […]

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When Will “Social Business” Become Social Change Business?

January 7, 2010

Tweet Why aren’t we be re-creating the worlds of work and commerce, as we implement and develop the social media tools that make it easier to work- together? Just a quick rant here, triggered by and not quite in response to Rachel Happe‘s post on The Social Organization & Womenomics. In her post, Rachel wonders […]

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Mockulation ®: Regulating Wall Street Using the Psychology of Public Mockery

December 31, 2009

Tweet What does it take to rein in the outrageous compensation of CEOs? The absurd bonuses of Investment Bankers? The “bail us out so we can award ourselves bonuses”-behavior characterizing Wall Street this year? Do we need more transparency? More shareholder oversight? More whistle-blowing? More government regulation? How about just a little bit more public […]

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Authentic Organizational Values at Smith & Nephew: The Greatest of these is …

November 20, 2009

Tweet Love. That was what I saw when I went to the home page of Smith & Nephew: UK & Ireland. I saw love, even thought that’s not what Smith & Nephew said was one of their organization’s core values. Smith & Nephew is a medical products company that makes, among many things, wound dressings. […]

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Amazon’s Pay Phrase: Behavioral Targeting or Identity Aspiration?

November 18, 2009

Tweet Has Amazon.com figured out something really personal about me? I’m wondering, because Amazon’s new Pay Phrase feature has me a bit disconcerted puzzled. Pay Phrase: Two words that mean….what, exactly? Amazon has this new feature, called “pay phrase”, where you pick out a unique phrase, attach it to a pin number, and then use […]

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The Phone Call That Changed My Life

November 16, 2009

Tweet Dared by GaryVee, inspired by Dr.Bret and Dave Rendall, and zen-ed out by Jonathan Fields, I’m posting my first vlog. As writers know, although “the first draft is always the worst” that’s no reason not to write. Or to vlog. Or to pick up the phone and call the Executive Vice President. Which was […]

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Twitter Lists: Coolness or Ease of Categorization?

October 30, 2009

Tweet Rethink the conventional ‘meaning’ of Twitter Lists. Now that Twitter lists have been rolled out more broadly, it’s possible for many/most of us using Twitter to create lists of those whom we follow (great– easier than Tweetdeck!). It is now also possible for us to see which Twitter lists how many Twitter lists we’ve […]

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Response to 9/11 Tragedy Revealed Business Schools’ Values

September 11, 2009

Tweet You will read many stories today recounting the heroism and the losses experienced eight years ago. We know now how many individuals and organizations rose up to help victims of the WTC & Pentagon attacks, and how individually and collectively  our responses to the 9/11 tragedy revealed important goodness deep within us. Every year […]

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