Mar 1, 2014
Innovators don’t accept things as they are. For them, there’s always a better way of doing something. They’re not afraid to reject traditional approaches to work. When they know something isn’t a good fit, they may reinvent themselves a few times, as they home in on what they really want to be doing. Take Letitia...
Feb 15, 2014
One month into the new year might be time to revisit those new year’s resolutions. How are they working for you? If, like me, you’re not thrilled with your performance so far, it could be you’re pushing yourself too hard, trying to do too much at once. I recently watched an interesting talk on will...
Jan 4, 2014
Compromises can make great work possible. I know that sounds counterintuitive. But it seems to have worked for Johann Sebastian Bach, who could not rely solely on composing to keep himself afloat. At one point, he had to choose between a court appointment and a post as a church organist and music master. Each had...
Dec 11, 2013
An energy within each of us is looking for a way to express itself. So says John Murphy, author of Zentrepreneur and a business consultant based in Grand Rapids, Mich. Yet some people think that Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison or their favorite change agents are real entrepreneurs, but that they are...
Nov 26, 2013
The times. . . they are a changin’. So many invested in corporate America. They figured if they just put in a good 30 years, they would be safe, solid, and vested. They would have all they needed. But then the layoffs struck. And broken promises fluttered to the ground. People realized that there is...
Nov 17, 2013
You can never overestimate the power of books to help you find your calling. Books helped Walter “Skoog” Fordham find the work he loves. Diversity is his passion. His niche is an unusual one. He facilitates diversity training, team building, groups, and employee relations interventions for nonprofits. Some highlights of his work in diversity training...
Nov 10, 2013
Someone got canned at work. Or at least, I think that’s what happened. It was choreographed better than the Bolshoi. The person sent an email to her staff at the end of a day. But seriously, who really would rather quit work to spend time with their kids? That surely is more harrowing and exhausting...
Oct 26, 2013
People are increasingly questioning their life choices. Workers wonder whether they’re killing themselves doing work they don’t really want. Shouldn’t they be doing something more meaningful? Priya Parker, founder and researcher at Thrive Labs, a company that helps millennials identify their real purpose in life, has noticed that many of her clients let fear guide...
Oct 12, 2013
Call it serendipity. Sometimes a new business emerges by accident. When Ryan McMunn moved to Shanghai in 2004 to do quality control for a manufacturing company, one of his goals was to learn to speak Chinese. He never dreamed where that goal would take him. Now the founder and CEO of BRIC Language Systems, which...
Sep 23, 2013
The paths people take to find the work they love always interest me. Sometimes what may not have been all that much fun early in a career turns out in retrospect to be valuable training for what comes later. Jon Klassen, an animator who is best known as the author and illustrator of the picture...
Sep 7, 2013
I knew that would catch your attention. Of course, it takes on new meaning if we’re talking about entrepreneurs who work for a company of one. If you’re a freelancer, one big problem you face is keeping your morale up, says Diana Schneidman, a freelance marketing writer based in Illinois. She should know. Schneidman started...
Jul 16, 2013
It’s time for a wake-up call. More than half (55 percent) of working adults want to change careers. Nearly 1 in 4 of them say they are extremely or very interested in switching careers. Just 14 percent of American workers are happily ensconced in their dream careers. These findings come from a recent University of...
