Change. It’s that big scary monster looming on the horizon, and when it comes around things are strange and different. Too often people fight change, whether it be in their personal lives, work lives, their country, or the world. Changes in thought or procedure run into resistance more often than not. When change comes around, people are tempted to fight it. Many people deny change, claiming they know the old way; it’s familiar and safe. But oftentimes fighting is what makes change hard. ... [more]
You probably have heard that eight hours is the optimal amount of sleep in order to be well-rested, productive, and alert the next day. A recent Gallup poll found 45% of employed adults believe they don’t get enough sleep, many only averaging 6.8 hours a night. Sleep deprivation can affect your motivation, focus, and overall work ethic. A lack of sleep affects your productivity, can disrupt your relationships with coworkers, affects your ability to finish projects or simple tasks, and can cause problems in the workplace. ... [more]
It’s 2014. Every company worth its salt has a LinkedIn, Facebook page, Twitter account, and maybe a Pinterest or Instagram if they’re especially trendy. However, there are still social networks with hundreds of millions of users that are fairly untapped by web marketers. Reddit, an online bulletin board-esque website, is one of these networks. ... [more]
Pinterest, one of the newer social media networks, has been hugely successful with its users. Rated as 2014’s number one social network in customer satisfaction, Pinterest is quickly becoming the social media site. But before Pinterest can get there, it needs to overcome a few obstacles, such as the impression that Pinterest is all about online scrapbooking and that you can’t be productive. ... [more]
This past summer, I had the opportunity to interview Katie Hurst, the Marketing Manager at OpenSesame. Katie has worked with numerous startups over her long and rewarding career, both as the former executive director or a nonprofit collaborative workspace and as a facilitator for Startup Weekend. She provided a variety of enlightening answers about the life of a marketing manager at a startup. ... [more]
If you start every day convinced you won’t get your work done, won’t be able to get that promotion, or your boss will be disappointed in you, what do you think is going to happen? You probably won’t be very successful. Self-fulfilling prophecy is the idea that a prediction can indirectly or directly cause itself to be true. Any positive or negative expectations about circumstances or events can affect a person’s behavior, thus leading those predicted events to take place. ... [more]
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In nature, competition is everywhere. Organisms must compete to pass along their genes and succeed at “survival of the fittest.” Many industries and work environments mimic the animal kingdom; employees fight for promotions, awards, recognition, and they may even stomp on fellow employees' feet in order to succeed. ... [more]
As a manager, it is important that you are prepared to take on leadership and control the chaos that is busy nights and impatient customers. As the highest power on the floor, responsibility for success or failure falls to you and it is your job to be prepared for anything. Whether you are a restaurant, hotel, retail, or any establishment manager these 8 skills will give you the edge you need for success. ... [more]
Many companies have a policy to promote from within, and they usually establish a goal for how many leadership positions will be filled by internal candidates. That is great for employee engagement and retention—until the new leader stumbles and does not perform at the expected level. Consider this fact: 40% of new managers fail within the first 18 months of their promotions. In other words, they get promoted because they were good at their job—not because they can actually manage people. Why? Because they don’t get the training and support they need to deal with difficult situations, conflict, negotiations, HR issues, hiring and firing, and many other new situations they’ll have to face for the first time. ... [more]
Who’s that young college student standing on the sidewalk of New York sporting a Columbia University t-shirt? He is obviously intelligent and clean cut; he could be a classmate from back in elementary school or maybe someone you played with on the soccer team growing up. Not quite. When interviewed by Humans of New York, this young man explained that he was born in Egypt with no access to education. Though he dabbled in elementary school after moving to America, he also juggled working to support his family while living in the projects. However, he still made it to one of the top universities in the world because he had unlimited access to hundreds of courses that taught him basically everything he missed during the nine years he was supposed to be in school. ... [more]
