Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Remember the Idea

At times of strife in business, in those moments when crisis looms, it is critical to step back and remember the idea that began it all. Then, view the strife or the crisis for how it affects that idea and the legacy of the people who began it and built it.
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Monday, October 23, 2006

Book Review: New Rules @ Work

New Rules@Work:79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead
By Barbara Pachter with Ellen Schneid Coleman. 272 pages. $13.95

The more things change, the more they stay the same – and, sometimes an easy-to-read reminder is all it takes for us to resolve ourselves to good manners. Barbara Pachter’s latest business book, New Rules@Work, blends unbelievable (yet true, according to her introduction) etiquette missteps with quick analysis, tips and points to help business professionals of all generations navigate the do’s and don’ts of successful business behaviors.

Easy enough to read in one sitting, and designed so you can jump in at any section, the content is common sense and current. The book even provides some basics about international sensitivities along with specific insights about when to fight the urge to clean your plate and how to get around drinking too much in Romania – or at the local lounge.

Pachter also takes care to give both sides of many etiquette stories: for instance, not only tips for entertaining at home but also guidelines for how to respond when the boss asks you to his or her house.

New Rules@Work offers an excellent business etiquette introduction or refresher, though it is important to note that the rules aren’t necessarily new and if you read between the lines from cover to cover, you’ll find more than 79 pieces of advice.
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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Does Productive Dreaming Really Stop at 29?

I was just told that we are facing a crisis in Wisconsin because people aged 20-29 years are leaving the state and taking their dreams with them. I was told that because these young people were leaving, I need to work hard to get them back or prevent them from leaving so that I can have a brighter future. I need their dreams. I was told, yet somehow I don't believe. I don't buy it that people 30 and older no longer have helpful or productive dreams about how to make this a better place? Rather, I believe that whether we stay or we go, our experiences give us a greater appreciation for our communities, a greater understanding of what can be applied to improve them and a greater zeal for improving that which once was left. Let us celebrate people who leave and return, let us also celebrate people 30 and over who still know how to dream. And, let us appeal to 'boomers' not to discount the 'Xers' -- for we are the ones who know how to make things happen, we possess that independent spirit that pushes the boundaries of what might be and still knows when to proclaim that the emperor has no clothes.
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