Category: Jobs and professional relationships

  • Don’t ask why! Negotiate with someone else.

    Those of us who work in organizations—by which, I mean most of us—at least occasionally get responses we don’t like. That expense is not reimbursable; that laptop is not available; that TPS report is not acceptable without its cover sheet. It’s a fact: our organizations’ policies don’t always agree with our priorities. Although we probably…

  • Learning to love deadlines

    Oh, deadlines…even the word stresses us out. Whether it’s the last minute to submit the meeting minutes or the last day to sign up for daycare, the prospect of an approaching cliff challenges even the calmest to remain calm. Yet, wisely imposed deadlines can make life substantially more negotiable. To illustrate, consider three big benefits…

  • A silver lining in other people’s failures?

    Most of us spend most of our lives in organizations. And, whether we intend to or not, many of us start to identify with our organizations—they become a part of who we are. “I’m a professor at Johns Hopkins,” I might say. “I’m a manager at General Electric,” might you. Having identified with our organization,…