SuccessfulWorkplace

I’m just going to say it: the smartest person in the company often isn’t the best leader and the hardest working person won’t inspire others by putting out enormous effort. Smart and hard-working people get promoted (for a while) because their personal traits are admired. But their rise won’t create a better place to work […]

Big Data, analytics and automation of work is changing the makeup of the office. More of our decisions are made by non-humans. Less and less of our processes require people. More and more our coworkers aren’t human, either. That doesn’t mean they’re zombies or aliens, though a few of our office mates seem to be […]

I read Seth Godin every chance I get — highly recommend reading just about everything he writes. There has been a lot written and discussed regarding bullies recently, and Seth had a great take on the subject, as usual. Read it here. As I read his post on bullying, something stuck in the back of […]

Culture change is a bear. The conventional wisdom is that it takes years to change a culture, defined as the assumed beliefs and norms that govern “the way we do things around here.” And few organizations explicitly use culture as a way to drive business performance, or even believe it could make sense to do […]

TIBCO kicked off TUCON 2013 this morning with CEO Vivek Ranadive starting the conversation. He spoke about how the 21st Century is a time of unprecedented change. And much like the 20th Century,which started in 1908 with the automobile and then brought highways and the century of the auto, the 21st Century started late: I […]

Have you ever had to explain your job to your parents? That’s the ultimate acid test to see whether anyone understands what you do and I faced that last week when I announced to them my new role as Chief Evangelist of a leading enterprise software company. But as I explained what the title meant it began […]

I just completed one of the most inspiring runs of my life. Not fast. Not far. But it left me with a lesson I’ll carry forever. So how does this relate to business? We’ll get there. Just stick with me… Running with a purpose This morning I shared a pre-dawn jog with Kathy DeFrancisco on […]

Everyone enjoys a good movie, play, concert or any public performance and work is simply no different. I recently saw Prince for the second time, knowing that he gives a nonstop, thrilling performance that gets the crowd dancing in their seats. When the curtain comes down, people are left screaming for more and demanding multiple […]

I’ve long maintained that the business world can learn a lot from the arts community. Here’s another example. Great Big Sea is a band from St. John’s, Newfoundland, that blends traditional Newfoundland folk music with pop/rock. This year, they’re celebrating their 20th year in the music business. In that time, they’ve grown from playing the […]

Management is a tough job, done well. There is an enormous difference between an employee and a manager, besides the obvious difference in pay grade and power. An employee is someone who works to provide value to the company and has the company’s interest in mind, first and foremost. A manager has to innovate and […]

Respect. The word gets used a great deal but do people ‘get’ it? It’s not just an Aretha Franklin song or a hot topic issue now because of “donglegate” – I mean, who cares about forking repos? Respect is a must in any company, social situation, or everyday interaction. I haven’t given it much thought […]

The following is a guest post by Lilian Sohn. With Content Marketing being the buzz word in 2013, online marketers are struggling more and more to come up with innovative and impressive ideas to promote their clients’ businesses online. Not only should the content be an original and interesting read to their audience, it should […]

I’m a bit of a comic book geek; I read them, collect them and chase the writer and artists to sign them. Everyone has a vice, that’s one of mine. But it got me thinking about how many lessons from comics could be translated into business life. Technology can be your superpower Look at how […]

There are two metrics of success that most people acknowledge readily: money and power. The further you are up on the food chain, the more responsibility you naturally have, but also the more a company must trust you with this responsibility. Compensation is supposed to be proportional to your output of work and responsibility. However, […]