Skip to content

Year: 2013

Asked to lie? Try diplomacy, but draw a line

Q: “Recently, my supervisor abruptly terminated one of my co-workers in front of me and another employee. She then asked the two of us to give her written summaries of what we had witnessed. After reading our reports, she told us to rewrite them based on her version of events, which is basically a lie. Lying is against my principles, so this is totally stressing me out.”  Honest Abe

Make Office Politics Work for You

Every office comes with politics. It can be messy, especially when it involves the boss playing favorites, or the person in the cube next to you that’s out for your job and pay grade. Even the water cooler gossip that seems innocuous can bite. You most likely can’t avoid office politics, but don’t despair. Here are a few ways that you can still thrive in a politically charged environment.

Get a global view of things

It’s easy to forget that when it comes to what’s really going on in the world, we tend to see things from only an Americanized perspective. With a couple of clicks, assignmenteditor.com will show you newspapers from all over the globe so you can get a better sense of how people living beyond our borders […]

Handle a manipulator with cool detachment

Q: “My assistant, ‘Amy,’ is a brilliant manipulator. She claims to get along with everyone, but with me she is disrespectful, arrogant, and intimidating. To make matters worse, Amy has become friendly with my boss, so he thinks I’m exaggerating when I describe her behavior. What can I do?”  Hopeless

Secret to writing a good bio

Often in the world of work, you will be called on to write a short, professional biography to post online or in print. It’s easy to fall into the trap of maximizing every accomplishment and qualification in an attempt to make yourself look as good as possible. But if that’s the route you take, you’re sure to fail, writes Jonathan Rick.

The Zip Code Conundrum

In Excel, when you have a 0-first digit zip code, it usually shows up as only the last four digits. So, take a Massachusetts zip code like 02201. If you just type that into an Excel cell it comes up 2201. You could type an apostrophe in front of it, but then it would appear left justified like all other text. There are several alternatives.