I wanted to revisit the topic of loyalty in the workplace. A few days ago, I posted an extended discussion of how loyalty between a company and its employees is fiction. While I stand behind everything I said, I think I gave the impression that I was taking companies to task for not […]

A friend of ours came in to town this weekend to see those of us who still live in DC. As we sat around talking about what’s been happening in our lives over the last year, he remarked on how far we’ve all come- just a few years ago, we were this bunch of […]

My manager and I were remarking recently that I’m a bit of an odd duck- I have no problem with, and even enjoy, getting up in front of a roomful of strangers and giving a speech or presentation. And yet, I would rather hang myself with the phone cord than actually talk on the […]

I have returned from a couple of days off due to a nasty cold. I know there are people out there who are thinking, “Pfah! A cold? Get up and go to work anyway, you sissy twit!” In fact, I used to be one of those people. But then […]

When I was a kid, the agent who handled my parents’ (and my grandparents’, and my neighbors’) life insurance policies was the type of agent who still came around once every couple of months to pick up the premium payments from his customers. I remember one visit very distinctly, when he pulled out a […]

The topic came up in the office today about people who transition from working for very small companies to working to very large companies and how happy they’ll be in the new environment. Before coming to the MISF, I worked for a series of very small companies, and there are definite advantages and disadvantages.
In a […]

Welcome back from the holiday weekend (at least for us in the US), MagicPotHeads. I hope it was relaxing for all of you- I had a lovely time destroying all hopes of future off-hours productivity by getting myself good and addicted to World of Warcraft. I’ll be tearing myself away from it for […]

You know why I love the Canadian Headhunter? Because he’s so good at reminding me that employment law here in the US is significantly more difficult to navigate than it is north of the border.
Take, for example, his bemusement that I caution people about coaching employees on body odor.
Maybe Canadians are less litigious […]

Because I was on the road, I missed these when they first posted- the Washington Post has a blog called “On Balance” that I read pretty regularly- it’s work-life balance issues for mothers. I don’t tend to post a lot about that topic due to my complete lack of experience with it- but as […]