Missions Category
“Common sense is a little man in a gray suit who never makes a mistake at addition, but it’s always someone else’s money he’s adding up.” – Raymond Chandler
Let’s hear it for uncommon sense: that inner itch that inspires you to stray from the herd, ditch the training wheels, and leap into the fast lane. As we all know, it’s the risk takers who get their faces on magazine covers and their interviews on news radio. No one ever remembers who won “honorable mention.”
So in this section you’ll find uncommon sense — and our 2 cents — about careers, management, and the economy at large.
by Pat Palleschi, Ph.D., President of the Executive Agency… Employees often tell me that the culture of an organization can encourage them to be productive or be so soul-sucking that they’re dying (figuratively, I hope) to leave. Culture is one powerful aspect of your organization… and it doesn’t take a penny to improve. Here’s how. What is “Organization Culture,” anyway? If it were a game of hide and seek, culture is hard to hide and easy to find. Sociologists describe culture as a “social identity built on group membership” (adaptedRead More
by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Self-Marketing Advocate; photo by Sereja Ris on Unsplash… Thanks to this Internet thing, job hunters worldwide can now apply to dozens of gigs simultaneously with a few keystrokes. No more typing one resume at a time on 99%-cotton-and-cashmere paper, licking stamps (an actual behavior in the 20th century), and snailmailing. It’s now all search, click, send. Ironically, by making job applications easier and less expensive than downloading a “Game of Thrones” episode, the Internet also made getting a job harder thanRead More
by Patricia Palleschi, Ph.D., President of The Executive Agency; featured photo by Ben White on Unsplash… A wise person once revealed that there are only four reasons why a person gets hired. (And you are most likely to get hired if you have all four going for you!) Someone in a hiring position likes you. You have some key people on your speed dial. You have credential(s) that the hiring manager feels are important or prestigious. Most important, you will make the company (and, therefore, the hiring manager) money. TopRead More
by Patricia Palleschi, Ph.D., President of The Executive Agency… Appropriating the words of Aretha Franklin — and the sentiments of many of you — all we need is a bit more RESPECT to make the recruiting process a lot more effective.Read More
by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Sees Value In Brilliant Jerks; image credit: internet meme featuring photo by Scott Grummett for Wired Magazine… LinkedIn’s wall is degenerating fast. It used to focus on careers and business discussions. Now it’s becoming Facebook, complete with inspirational quotes. For example, my LinkedIn wall frequently features this popular meme about Neflix CEO Reed Hastings, who has built a mighty empire. As a Netflix customer, I respect a lot of what Hastings has accomplished — but I don’t necessarily thinkRead More
by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Fellow Aspiring Mogul; illustration by Barzak… “In this very real world, good doesn’t drive out evil. Evil doesn’t drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.” — Bill Bernbach, advertising legend I recently spoke about media careers to college students at the National Broadcasting Society AERho Convention. We gathered in the heart of the Disneyland Resort, amidst thousands of tourists wearing Mickey Mouse ears and celebrating America’s greatest media brand. It served as the perfect stage for discussing the futureRead More
by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who’s Happy He’s Not On The Job Market… I keep my eyes open for job openings that I can pass on to my students, but too often I encounter ads that get my eyes rolling. The job requirements are so excessive and irrational, not even a combo of Chuck Norris and the Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man In The World could fulfill them. So I’ve started a new feature on my blog called “Stupid Job Ad.” For now, I’ve decidedRead More
by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Will Not Work for Food… or Coffee; featured illustration by Shane Clester… I once made the mistake of having lunch with a fellow Harvard alumnus who owned an IT firm with $17 million in annual sales. He had asked for my help to market to his current customers, so one of my recommendations was to create an email newsletter. He loved the idea, so I gave him a few details on how it would work. He asked how muchRead More
by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Differentiation Advocate; image by Williamwiki via Wikimedia Commons… Thanks to the jury in the Apple-Samsung case, product differentiation is now mandated in the marketplace (at least in the smartphone industry). Unfortunately, differentiation — and creativity and daring — are harder to find despite every company’s claim of “leadership”…Read More
by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Devastated Jobs Fan; photo is a screengrab of the Apple website homepage… “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – SteveRead More
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