People are busy and our most important task is to tell a story in a way that people remember. A few, easy numbers make that task a lot easier. … In days of old, we used to have to rely on reporters to find those people, although it’s certainly within our power to help them…. Read more »
It’s a seemingly innocuous question: “So, what do you do?” It’s generally meant well, and asked by people who are genuinely interested in learning more about you – but if you’re unemployed this can be the question you dread most in casual conversation. As a culture, we put a lot of emphasis on what peopleRead… Read more »
There’s been a lot of attention paid lately to the 13 percent statistic: the portion of chief administrative officers in local governments that are women stands at 13 percent, roughly the same figure it was in the 1980s. It’s an important issue, and a complicated one, and I asked my colleague Jan Perkins for someRead… Read more »
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program had a problem: it was paying out way too much in unearned benefits to program participants. This was happening because participants weren’t reporting their income often enough. As participants’ incomes went up, their SSI eligibility went down – but they continued receiving SSI benefits basedRead… Read more »
Database guru and 2014 Turing Award winner Dr. Michael Stonebraker is not a big fan of MapReduce. Or so we can readily surmise, based on some of the comments he made (together with co-author David DeWitt, another highly acclaimed database researcher) in a blog post in early 2008. He and DeWitt called Mapreduce a “giantRead… Read more »
Knowing what gets in your way names it. Then you can work around, or through it. Agreeing to disagree when it’s not possible or unnecessary to agree preserves the relationship. Preparing your points with potential objections and probing questions in mind makes you look unfazed by road blocks. Multi-tasking when distractions win out keeps up… Read more »
Although social media can no longer be considered a novelty, many organizations (especially small- and mid-sized groups) are still trying to figure out whether and how to leverage it as part of their marketing, branding, public relations, customer service, and revenue-generating efforts. In conjunction with those determinations, they must also figure out the best approachesRead… Read more »
Virtual trainings are an easy way to up your game in just about any skill. They are often recorded so you can listen to them at your convenience, whenever and wherever you can give them your full attention, whether that’s at home or in the office, on your smartphone or computer. Many trainings are available for freeRead… Read more »
“At meetings, we try to sit as far apart from each other as possible,” Jim, who is married to one of my other colleagues, Sue, told me. “In the office, people assume when they are talking to one of us they’re talking to both of us, but we make a point to act like anyRead… Read more »
We all know that spending our vacations checking work email and fielding “emergency” phone calls isn’t actually relaxing, but a stunning number of us still do it anyway. The truth is that for those of us who spend our days wrapped up in social networks and work, the act of plugging in is second nature.Read… Read more »