Question: “I’m not sure whether to trust one of my co-workers. ‘Amy’ is helpful and considerate to me. She provides useful information and makes friendly, encouraging comments. However, some co-workers say Amy stabs people in the back because she wants to climb the corporate ladder. If Amy really is a skillful manipulator, how do I avoid being hurt by her tactics, especially when management thinks so highly of her?”
Heard about the “tipping point” or the “long tail”? If you want to know what ideas shape the minds of your company’s leaders, pick up the following books. And the next time someone talks about a tipping point, you’ll know exactly what she means.
Help a boss avoid “death by PowerPoint” by stealing presentation tips from the famously charismatic CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs. Jobs is a gifted speaker, not necessarily because he was born with talent, but because he sticks to several strategies. Jobs uses presentation software as a tool to visually complement his stories.
We’ve offered advice before about keeping your professional and personal networks from overlapping too much. Now a new survey from OfficeTeam reveals that people are still uncertain about the rules of online social networking. Here are tips for blending personal and professional friends on Facebook:
According to a study by the International Association of Administrative Professionals and OfficeTeam, managers rank promotions and cash bonuses as the most effective ways of recognizing employee accomplishments. But administrative pros put two other appreciation tactics at the top of their list:
If the thought of mingling with a crowd of strangers makes you break out in a cold sweat, you’re not alone. But Sacha Chua, an enterprise 2.0 consultant, believes you don’t have to be an extrovert to network well. She even created a presentation geared toward “shy connectors” that’s spreading virally on the web.
What does it take to reach the top of your game professionally? Women, at least, can learn much from a new book, How Remarkable Women Lead, by Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston. The authors spent five years on research and 100 in-depth interviews with women leaders from around the world. They discovered that women who excel share these five qualities:
As the year draws to a close, think about what you’d like to accomplish in the first 90 days of the new year. What goals will you set, and what specific actions will you put in place to achieve those goals? What’s more, whom will you sit down with every 90 days to review your progress?