Have You Read a Book Recently?

Posted on by
Reply

“Have you read a book recently?”   “And, let’s talk about it?”

This may be the most important question that you may have in a job interview.  Interviewers want to know that you can add real and immediate value to their organization.  They want to know that you’ve kept current with what’s going on in your profession and with technology

For example, you may have gotten an engineering degree 8 years ago.  But, the amount of knowledge in your engineering discipline may have doubled and even tripled over the last 8 years.  Did you keep current in your discipline?  How did you keep current?  School?  Certifications?

Maybe, that’s why I’m seeing a lot more folks at Barnes & Noble

Omar Kayyam on Social Networks

Posted on by
Reply

“The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on:

nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.”                                                                                       Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

What are we getting with all of these free networking and social networking sites? When someone wants to “friend” you or join your network, how do you know they are who they say they are? Do you really need, or have time for, 100 or 1000 friends? When your children are grown and thinking about running for political office, or apply for a job, is there a foolish posting or two that will come back to haunt them, or you? Are your thoughts so profound or urgent that “tweeting” them is a good thing? What are you going to do when a prospective employer asks to see your Facebook page?

A Wakeup Call for Phrases to throw out of Your Wheel House and Under the Bus

Posted on by
Reply

While you are busy messaging your game changing ideas so that your organization will get it right when it comes to risk management, here is a wakeup call for over-leveraged phrases you should avoid at the end of the day.

From http://www.thecommroom.com/2012/03/tcrs-list-of-ten-obligatory-phrases.html:

TCR’s List of Ten Overused Phrases
Master the use of these phrases and begin your career as a pundit —

I would argue
That said
Moving forward
Quite frankly
Game changer
At the end of the day
Crunch time
Wake up call
Red flags
Get it right

To put it another way — “Quite frankly, I would argue, this is a wake up call. The red flags were ignored. It’s crunch time. That said, moving forward, this will be a game changer and at the end of the day, we’ve got to get it right.”

From http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/09/most-overused-lingo-at-the-office/:
By Susanna Kim, Sep 1, 2011 3:22pm
Most Overused Lingo at the Office

Biz-speak. Buzz words. Overused lingo. Call it what you will, we all have our lingua pet-peeves. Why do employees overuse words that, oftentimes, aren’t even real words?
Among some popular “officespeak” terms: net-net, ping, touch base, deliverable, incentivize, impactful, learnings, synergy, influencer. Or what about those TPS reports?
“Words get ingrained at work but it shows you are speaking the office vernacular,” Michelle Goodman, career and workplace columnist, said. “On the one hand, we’re trying to speak the language at work and fit in. But the downside is it bothers some people and creeps into your social life.”
Goodman said every industry has its own idioms, and the tech industry often has the most new phrases. Her least-favorite terms?
“Circle back and take this offline are two that drive me crazy. It’s just a wonky way to talk,” she said.
Another “weird” one, she said, tech companies use to describe using their own products: eat your own dog food.
“They also call it dog-fooding which is ridiculous. It’s software jargon,” she said. “That’s one I thought was so weird. It’s not really a great analogy either because dog foods to humans is a gross concept.”
Tell us what phrases you think should be taken offline.
Other words and phrases that can be overused:

  • low-hanging fruit
  • think outside the box
  • not in my wheelhouse
  • leverage
  • metrics
  • paradigm shift
  • Chinese firewall
  • value-add
  • build the deck
  • shoot me an email
  • hold the fort
  • synergies/synergistic
  • key insights
  • key drivers
  • key takeaways
  • high level overview
  • best practice
  • action items
  • next steps
  • value proposition
  • table this
  • hard stop
  • boil the ocean
  • circle the wagons
  • throw it against the wall and see what sticks
  • parachute in
  • low-cost country sourcing
  • efforting