ArcaMax

What do you do when a new assignment comes around?

If you immediately raise your hand, you're making a big mistake. What you should do is duck your head. And if that new assignment does land in your lap, you certainly shouldn't put your nose to the grindstone and start working. What you should do is hold your nose, and start dragging your ...Read more

It's artificial intelligence to be sure, but let's be honest here. Putting even a smidgen of computer-generated brainpower in a part of your company famous for empty-headed decision making has to be an improvement.

Or does it?

It shouldn't be a surprise that HR has lagged in the technology adoption that has affected every other department in...Read more

Ever feel you're working with a bunch of dumbbells? You don't know the half of it.

According to "The Hottest New Office is the Gym," a recent article by Anne Marie Chaker in The Wall Street Journal, posh gyms are adding cubicles and privacy booths to their Nautilus Ab Crunchers and Stairmaster StepMills, making the hottest office space in town ...Read more

Cheer up, ye ancient ones, 40 and above.

The life sentence that is your first career has been commuted.

Says who? Says career coach Octavia Goredema, author of "4 Strategies to Prepare for a Late-Career Shift" in the Harvard Business Review.

Happy with your current career? OK, but let's be honest: Who has not paused on the way to the top of...Read more

Hooray! You've decided to quit your job.

Now all you have to do is march into your manager's office and let them have it -- the insults you've suffered, the unfair criticisms you've endured, the total lack of direction, encouragement and -- most of all -- appreciation when you've done something right. (Not that you've done a lot of things ...Read more

Really, I don't know what's wrong with young people today.

Give a 20- or 30-something a horrible job with a terrible boss and a miserable salary and a zero-point-zero chance for promotion, and what will they do? They will quit!

That's right! They will pack up their backpacks and back out the door, smiling.

It's outrageous, really. When you ...Read more

Let's face it: Working in an office is unnatural.

Our prehistoric ancestors didn't spend their days in cubicles. No, Nancy and Nick Neanderthal didn't punch in or sign in or strive to survive with windows that don't open and an air-conditioning system so stingy you have to put in a requisition to get oxygen.

And this is unfortunate. As human...Read more

Remember the you you used to be? When it came to your career, you were hardworking. Dedicated. Ambitious to the max.

Yes, that was then. This is now, and now, things have changed.

Now, you are part of the two-thirds of workers who, according to a recent Gallup report, are feeling a "desire to scale back their professional ambitions." You no ...Read more

Ever wonder what's holding you back at work? It could be something you do when you're not at work. Thinking. Thinking about how you're falling behind in your projects. Thinking about how a wave of layoffs could be on the horizon. Thinking about whether your co-workers are acting more suspicious than usual. Thinking about why Jackie in HR is ...Read more

I know. You're afraid of AI. If you're only mildly paranoid, you're afraid artificial intelligence will take your job. If you're majorly paranoid, like the rest of us, you're afraid it will take your life. And you're right! Any technology that is so much smarter, faster and cheaper is a threat, even if it doesn't turn snarky and decide to unplug...Read more

It was Elvis who did it.

You remember, I'm sure, the lyrics to "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

"Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare?

Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?

Is your heart filled with pain? Shall I come back again?

Tell me, dear, are you lonesome tonight?"

A few simple substitutions helped me see the ...Read more

Do you want to be a CEO? Before you answer, wait a minute. Think about the pressures. Think about the responsibilities. When Harry Truman was president, he had a sign on his desk that read, "The buck stops here." The buck also stops at the desk of a company's CEO, which is not all bad news.

Consider Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google. The bucks ...Read more