How many times have you had a bad feeling about a situation or a person, only to have your concerns confirmed?
Top executives tend to be very decisive, and a lot of that certainty comes from their instincts, not their processes.

You gut instinct isn’t perfect, however. It can steer you away from situations that may not be comfortable for you, but that are necessary for your company’s success.
For example, cross-cultural hiring may take a deliberate effort to ignore some of the warning signals going off in your head.
The rest of the time, learn to trust your gut.
My favorite trick is …read more

If Microsoft doesn’t want to buy Yahoo, why do executives keep talking about the acquisition-gone-wrong?
The continued dribble of comments about potential side-deals and semi-deals must be distracting to Microsoft employees, who are in the middle of the company’s transformation from Bill Gates’ company to an entity that embraces open architectures and web-based apps interconnecting in a cloud.
Does MSFT even know what messages it wants to be sending investors, regulators, the public and customers?
Microsoft Says Chances of Yahoo Takeover Negligible (Reuters)
Shocker: Yahoo Shoots Carl Icahn as Microsoft Messenger (Kara Swisher)
For a mega-corporation, Microsoft is acting like a teenage boy at a …read more

This tip works for executives, employees and just regular folks.
If you can see yourself years from now talking about what a waste of time and energy your job (or relationship, or business venture) was, stop complaining and start getting out of your current situation.
In some cases, I’ve been able to renegotiate my role. Other times, the smartest thing to do was bail quickly and not look back.
I’m not advocating infidelity or corporate backstabbing. But there are some situations where you just can’t win, so stop trying.
Other Quick Tips.
Technorati Tags: business,communications,advice,jobs,relationships,life,decisions,wasted lives,crappy jobs,toxic environments

Remembering birthdays and anniversaries seems like such a predictable thing, but it’s a sign that you respect the people you deal with.
Whether it’s a client, a co-worker, or someone else in your life, it helps to keep track of the little details that matter to them.

Professional milestones, personal red letter days, religious holidays or national holidays in countries other than your own — knowing and remembering them is a handy excuse to connect.
I am awful at remembering dates and names, so you’re going to have to do like I say and not like I do on this one.
As a …read more

I’m good at analyzing patterns.
I’m not so good at negotiating.
So you can guess where the average boss would put the emphasis for my development: negotiation skills!
My daughter’s a superb writer.
She has time management issues.
For every time I nag her about not getting something done, I should notice the great work she does in her fiction and non-fiction 10 times.
Do you build on your strengths often enough, or are you constantly trying to shore up your weak spots?
David Zinger conducted a survey recently about how much time managers spend on their strengths. He reports that only three out of 10 …read more

Everyone appreciates praise from a client, a supervisor or a co-worker.But vague compliments leave the (often correct) impression that you don’t really understand what that person does.
When you spot someone doing something right, provide immediate positive feedback that’s specific to the task.  If you aren’t sure about someone’s role, spend a few minutes finding out more before lavishing praise on them.

“You saved me from embarrassment this morning when you spotted that typo before I sent that document out,” communicates not just your appreciation, but also your understanding of what was done and how it helped.
“You do a great job! …read more

Having children is something that changes you. Priorities that seem crucial before you have kids don’t loom as large after.
The further I got into parenting (and supervising people) the more I recognized that I needed to adjust my attitude about work and negotiations. Being in charge didn’t mean I got to make unilateral decisions all the time. Nor was every single decision negotiable and democratic.
In our house, we developed some principles for family rules:

Establish principles and values, then negotiate rules that embody them.
Avoid inequity, threats or coercion.
Everyone has a right to express their feelings and argue for a rule …read more

What a schmozzle.
The recent uproar after the firing of an employee over her decision to give a free bite-sized snack to the young child of a customer lead the Tim Horton’s chain to unfire her.
The optics of firing a single mother for an act of kindness put the fast food chain in a bind.
Is this likely to set off a chain reaction of protests when some high school student has their hours cut to almost none for not agreeing to take on more shifts while studying for their mid-terms? Will others in McJobs lead a lobbying  campaign to raise …read more

There are some rules of engagement in online games. Learn them and you can play Call of Duty 4 and World of Warcraft without becoming a pariah.
Apply them to business, and you will have some back-up when the going gets rough. (Business implications in parentheses.)
1)  Learn the game offline before joining group play. That way, your dumb mistakes won’t sabotage an ally’s their epic battle to retake their headquarters. It’s okay to learn the finer points while you play online, but learn the basics first.  (practice your skills)
2)  Keep your head down when you’re a newbie.  Look and listen when …read more

Whether you’re a social director on a cruise ship, a union organizer, or a catalyst for online action, the role of organizer requires patience.
A certain streak of zealotry seems to be a requirement, if you’re going to make it through the endless work of encouraging and prodding people to support whatever cause you’re working for.
Jess Kutch highlights a few truisms written by California farmworkers’ organizer Fred Ross Sr. (who inspired Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to launch the United Farm Workers Union):

An organizer is a leader who does not lead but gets behind the people and pushes.
Don’t …read more