Author Archives: Jay Robb

30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers: What Your People May Be Thinking And What You Can Do About It By Bruce Katcher Amacom, $27.95 Let me guess. You’re thinking why only 30 reasons? Did the author run out of time or pages in his book? Is he holding back for a sequel? Why, you couldContinue reading “Book review: 30 reasons to hate your boss”

Bono’s the guest editor in the latest issue of Vanity Fair. Whole mag is focused on Africa. The U2 frontman says that an African mother doesn’t care if the drugs keeping her child alive are thanks to an iPod or a church plate. So when will these drugs be bought and paid for with royaltyContinue reading “Ti(RED) of Bono”

Great article in the May edition of Harvard Business Review. "Inner work life: understanding the subtext of business performance" by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer. What makes for a great day or a lousy day at the office? "We found that the single most important differentiator was a sense of being able to make progessContinue reading “Good days. Bad days.”

Great article in yesterday’s Globe and Mail Careers section on mavericks at work. "Organizations love them and hire them because they are self-starting, creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, productive and passionate. Organizations also hate them and fire them because they get restless or don’t toe the line." Sound familiar? Career mavericks are typically rule-breakers, free spirits andContinue reading “Marching to your own drummer”

I’m in the persuasion / engagement business and I hear this over and over again. We need to get people motivated. Fired up. On side and on board. Rowing in the same direction. Singing from the same song sheet. Well, you can’t motivate other people. Not going to happen. Not with carrots. Not with sticks.Continue reading “Motivation is a DIY”

Fun Works. Creating Places Where People Love to Work By Leslie Yerkes Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc $23.95 A stranger stops me in the frozen food aisle. "You know who you look like," says the stranger. "That golfer Phil Mickelson." I hear that a lot. And some folks ask if I’m really Phil, apparently taking a breakContinue reading “Book review: Fun at Work”

I was comparing notes with a colleague on our family vacations to the Magic Kingdom (two thumbs up). We then started talking about the Disney Institute. At one of Institute’s stop-overs in Toronto, a Disney HR type asked the crowd to guess who was Disney’s most important employee. The brave souls who played Mickey andContinue reading “Disney’s MVPs”

Got the chance to be on a six-member selection committee last week. We interviewed six candidates in four-a-half hours. 10-minute presentations and a lightning round of Q and As. Great learning experience. Biggest lesson learned?  If you’ve landed on the shortlist for interviews, your prospective future employer is really doing one thing and one thingContinue reading “Kicking the tires”

Public speaking is one of those skills that can make or break a career — so keep it simple The Elements of Great Public Speaking. How to be Calm, Confident and Compelling By J. Lyman MacInnis Ten Speed Press, $14.95 I wrote the worst speech I ever heard. I penned the remarks for the incomingContinue reading “Book review: Make that speech brief, and give it passion”

Hot Spots: why some teams, workplaces and organizations buzz with energy — and others don’t By Lynda Gratton Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. $31.95 Consider yourself warned. Slam the Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty Reduction and I’m going to pull a Bob. Yes, I will throw my pen at all cynics and critics. And I have better aimContinue reading “Book review: Hot Spots at work”