May 2016

the demise of WTF Wednesday, reporting problems, and more

A few housekeeping items — 1. I signed with a literary agent to do an Ask a Manager book, y’all. I’ve spent the last few days saying “you’ll need to talk to my agent” in response to everything my husband asked me, which was very fun (for one of us). 2. There’s now a link right above […]

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how to get people to take more ownership over their work … so that you’re not in charge of every damn thing

Managers often complain that they wish their staff members would take more ownership over their realms so that the burden of thinking and planning and spotting potential problems didn’t all fall to them, the managers … while simultaneously doing things that pretty much guarantee that will never happen. If you want people to take more ownership over their […]

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how bad is it to misrepresent your major and your GPA?

A reader writes: I’m a long-time reader and have learned so much from your site! However, I am now dealing with a situation for which I’m not sure where the ethical lines lie. I recently noticed that a friend of mine has been misrepresenting the major with which she graduated on her LinkedIn profile and […]

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what’s the ideal personality type for a manager?

A reader writes: I consistently test as an INTJ on the Myers-Briggs personality test (I went down that rabbit hole after reading one of your older posts). I am great at planning and developing long-term, big idea strategies for my organization, but I really struggle making personal connections with staff. It kills me when hourly […]

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10 things you should know about work by the time you’re 30

During your first years in the workforce, you can expect to have a huge learning curve – not just about the details of your job, but about broader issues of how to manage your career and operate successfully in an office. How do you deal with difficult coworkers? Figure out if you’re paid fairly? Understand […]

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