Author: murika

Dan*, a partner at a major Boston law firm, was due at the office, but instead, he was curled on his bathroom floor, unshaven and in his pajamas, crying into a towel. It began slowly, in a meeting with a particularly pushy client when a thought bubbled up in his mind: “Why the hell am I even here?” From that moment, he noticed that his impatience, unhappiness, and frustration with his job grew deeper, until all at once, he realized: he didn’t find happiness or fulfillment in his work — and maybe he never had. or someone who had built his entire idea of himself around his career, this thought sent Dan into an existential crisis. Who was he, if not a high-powered lawyer? Had he wasted so many years working for nothing? Would he have had more friends and a happier family if he hadn’t spent all those nights at the office? Dan’s story is not uncommon. Many people with high-pressure jobs...

The transition from individual contributor to manager is not an easy one. In many cases, the skills that got you the promotion will not be the same ones that make you effective as a manager. Luckily, we have organizations like Google that have spent years researching this transition, to help us demystify the secrets to new managers' success. Using Project Oxygen, an internal study that analyzed more than 10,000 manager impressions including performance reviews, surveys, and nominations for top-manager awards and recognition, Google identified eight habits of highly effective managers. Google also designed a management training workshop to share its newfound knowledge with its bosses and now the world. Through the company's Re:Work website, a resource that shares Google's perspective on people operations, Google posted this training presentation in hopes that it could benefit all. Read more ...

Let's talk about Steve Jobs and leadership. Nearly a decade after his death, Jobs remains one of the most fascinating and iconic business leaders of the past century--and perhaps in all of history. Recently, I asked readers of my daily newsletter to share stories about the best and worst bosses they'd ever had. A reader named Philippe Bouissou had an unusual experience to share: working for Jobs on an intense project in the late 1990s. It was "very hard," Bouissou told me when we talked afterward. "Steve, like Napoleon, had two faces. On one side he was a brilliant genius and a true misfit. And the other side, his lack of care and sensitivity for people, his disrespect and dictatorial behavior, were all real." Here's the context, plus what it was like to work for Jobs, and how Bouissou learned firsthand the unique way that Jobs could inspire and motivate employees. Read More ...

What employers want to know about you You walk into an interview room and find 3 people waiting for you. For a moment, you are tensed. You do not know what to expect. Once you settle down and the real interview begins, questions start coming from all sides and for a moment, you are not sure of what exactly the recruiters want to hear. Currently, all those common interview questions and answers you had rehearsed have evaporated from your head due to the confusion. Well, panicking is a very valid response in such a situation but, you can manage to keep calm and ace the interview. Recruiters often have a few things they want to hear from a candidate and they are always keen to filter what they consider valuable to them from the candidate’s responses. It has nothing to do with rehearsed responses or a very deep research about the company, even though covering these two areas does set you apart from the crowd....

Most people live in fear of making career mistakes and ruining their chances to a great career. This is completely understandable. However, you should know that mistakes are normal and part of learning and most mistakes rarely leave a permanent mark anyway. The career mistakes that should worry you are the seemingly subtle and hard-to-notice ones that burrow into your character and ultimately affect your employability. Here are 12 of the worst career pitfalls you should avoid. Complacency The greatest disservice you could ever do to yourself is thinking and feeling that you have achieved all you need to achieve and are now just basking in the glory of your achievements forever. It doesn’t matter where you are in your career journey, never settle and feel like you don’t need more growth. Strive to learn something new each day and grow. Stay hungry, stay foolish. Over-promising and Under-delivering The opposite of complacency is over-promising and under-delivering. You might set your goals and aspirations extremely high and...

What employers want to know about you You walk into an interview room and find 3 people waiting for you. For a moment, you are tensed. You do not know what to expect. Once you settle down and the real interview begins, questions start coming from all sides and for a moment, you are not sure of what exactly the recruiters want to hear. Currently, all those common interview questions and answers you had rehearsed have evaporated from your head due to the confusion. Well, panicking is a very valid response in such a situation but, you can manage to keep calm and ace the interview. Recruiters often have a few things they want to hear from a candidate and they are always keen to filter what they consider valuable to them from the candidate’s responses. It has nothing to do with rehearsed responses or a very deep research about the company, even though covering these two areas does set you apart from the crowd. In...

While Covid-19 has immensely disrupted the world, everyone still has to identify new ways to beat the unemployment crisis post-Covid if they are to stay afloat. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, an estimated 1.7 million people were made redundant during the crisis, a figure the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), had said to be conservative. This has created an unemployment crisis in Kenya, which continues to baffle stakeholders and policymakers as they look for the elusive solutions to the unemployment scourge. So, how can you ease the jobs crisis impact on yourself? 1. Focus on your Talents Everyone is born with a special set of skills that can be a source of income; and employment for yourself and others. However, there are only a handful of available jobs in the market, all of which are being chased by a huge number of competent job seekers. You can focus on your talents and have a fulfilling career. You can also use your talent to sell yourself...

It's a truism that Millennials, as a generation, were raised differently from their older cohorts. Their parents were more likely to helicopter, less likely to be authoritarian. Their schools were all about "everyone gets a trophy" and less about "winners and losers." As a result, Millennials often seem to have problems understanding the boss/employee relationship, which--let's face it--is pretty much stuck in the traditional, hierarchical model that characterized parenting and schooling prior to the 1980s. (The Zoomers will doubtless experience an even worse disconnect.) Most people (especially those relatively new to the business world) think that success in the workplace rests upon your ability to do your job well. That's only partly true. You can be doing a fantastic job without your boss knowing anything about it. ...