Make Adversity Work for You
There are two kinds of people in life. Those who make adversity work for them or those who work for adversity.
Posts Tagged: featured blogger
I’ve Been Teleworking Since 2001. Here’s How I Make it Work
At my job in the 1900s (you guess the decade), my supervisor told us that she wouldn’t approve our working from home anymore. That was too bad, because I always accomplished much more from my den than I did in the office. I didn’t have the distractions, and amazingly, I had the discipline to toRead… Read more »
3 Reasons to Care About Defense Budgets
Home security and personal security are subjects everyone can relate to, and safely assumed to share the same level of importance to most people. While we might not conscientiously put thought into foiling a burglary or assault, we do in fact take steps to enable successful prevention of crime…we take steps to protect ourselves. As… Read more »
Pay Fairness is Persistent Problem for Feds
In case you missed it, President Obama’s FY 2016 Budget of the U.S. Government recommends a scant 1.3 percent pay raise for the federal workforce next fiscal year. Well, as the old saying goes, something is better than nothing. However, when it comes to issues of fair pay, it appears that many feds are onceRead… Read more »
Engage your Team with Liberating Structures
Are your workplace interactions motivating and engaging? Or stiff and stale? Other than email, in which format do most of your professional interactions take place? Presentations? Status reports? Discussions? Brainstorming sessions? Whatever your answer, ask yourself if the primary formats are particularly engaging or effective. If not, consider the contributions of “liberating structures,” an innovation broughtRead… Read more »
You Got the Right Stuff: Email Design Best Practices Checklist
Use this checklist of email design best practices to deliver messages that are not only tailored to your audience, but also look professional, function properly, and capture the attention of increasingly-busy and multi-device-connected constituents to invite opens, attract clicks, and inspire action.
Be Careful What You Wish For
“Be careful what you wish for!” – Teachers and parents probably admonished you with that warning. But, here you are, all grown up. Working for your government and loving the whole concept of it! So, why would this vestige of days gone by be of any consequence for you? Well, because we forgot its meaning.Read… Read more »
How to Turn a Cyberattack into a Positive
A few weeks ago I wrote about my memorable December 2014, when I saw some original, founding historical documents. While I was busy time traveling, our City IT staff was spending the Christmas holidays struggling with a very nasty gift from a very bad Santa. It has passed into our lore as the “Christmas DDoSRead… Read more »
Maybe You Should Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth
Lately I’ve noticed that whenever I watch a game or reality show with a cash prize, I get a little more engaged in the outcome in a way others most likely don’t. At the end, rather than just enjoy watching contestants celebrate that they’ve won what could be a life-changing amount of money, I findRead… Read more »
Being an Adjunct Professor Made Me a Better Trainer
In addition to my Federal gig, I have a side job that I adore: I’m an adjunct professor at a local college. I don’t do it for the money (I often wonder if it costs more for them to prepare and print my W2 than to pay me for a semester). It’s a labor ofRead… Read more »