On Time

The flop sweat caught me off guard. Driving to a doctor’s appointment, I was running just a couple minutes late. Yet I was filled with panic and driving like a jerk, darting from lane to lane and cursing people for driving too slowly. This for an appointment I was paying [...]

A Real Resolution

People often make New Year’s Resolutions — personal goals to remake themselves. Most often these involve quitting smoking (as I did 30+ years ago) or losing weight (as I need to) or other self-improvement goals. But they almost never involve their work life. I’m here to beseech you otherwise. This [...]

Never Expect Change, You Won’t Be Disappointed

It’s an ancient theme of comedians, as old as comedy itself. It goes something like: A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t. A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, and she does. It’s told many different ways, but the essence is that [...]

How do I get in the door?

In the world of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to me, one of the most frequent is “how do I get a job at Microsoft?”. If I had a dime for every time I’ve been asked it, at parties, on the street, and especially when I post comments on the internet, [...]

How important is a résumé?

I get asked this question frequently. Why is my résumé so important? Why can’t I just impress the hiring person in the interview? Why can’t people see past my rough résumé, and see me for who I really am? In this internet day and age, does a silly old, outdated [...]

How do I get a raise?

This is by far the most common question I get asked by employees. In my experience, there are only three ways to get a raise (in decreasing order of success): Excel at what you do, and don’t look like you want/need/care about a raise. Have a very carefully orchestrated conversation [...]