You do not deserve a raise just because you have been doing your job well for x amount of months. It is your job to do your job well. That's why you were hired.
Also, do not complain about your salary not being at market rate six months after you take your job. Because if you [...]

I am doing research about women in sports, and one of the most memorable statistics I have come across is that nearly four out of five women executives played sports growing up. So I called Jennifer Crispen, to talk about her work in this field. She said that there has been a lot of research [...]

People with good social skills can get along with almost anyone, and if you want to be successful in your career, you have to make people like you: Figure out what matters to them, what makes them tick, and then speak to that when you interact.
The key to being likeable is to be able to [...]

Just about every major business publication has run something about how diversity improves business performance. If you are on a diverse team, you'll probably have more success than if you're on a homogenous team. And, to some extent, we can each control the teams we're on.
For one thing, you should pick companies to work for [...]

Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.
Ben Day blogged his way into a career as a high-earning software consultant while maintaining the freedom to schedule frequent jam sessions and performances as a keyboard player. Blogging gave him the opportunity to stand out enough to [...]

Ever since I bought a pair of MBT shoes I have been waiting for the media to jump all over them.
I have been waiting for five months, and finally, there is one little tidbit in People magazine: In Grey's Anatomy "Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl have been wearing sneakers by MBT — whose unusual sole [...]

Here's a piece in the Boston Globe about learning how to react constructively when someone makes offensive comments at work. In fact, the majority of people, it appears, will say nothing, even though a comment offends their sensibilities.
Decades of research into bystander apathy shows that people freeze when they are in a group. "In one [...]

The best advice anyone will give you as a manager is to be kind and caring and make the world a better place. This does not mean that you should be a pushover or a flower child. You still need to get your work done, be a star performer, etc. But serious kindness gets you [...]

I realized that managing Genertion Y requires a huge shift in thinking when I was giving career advice to my twenty-three year-old brother, Erik. He is a top recruit at a top investment-banking firm and he just got a promotion ahead of everyone else in his year.
And he's looking for a job. He fought very [...]

Don't use jargon. I know you've heard this rule before, but maybe no one has ever told you the real reason for the rule. Your choice of jargon reveals your weakness.
A lot of jargon is specific to an industry and if you use it outside the industry no one will understand you. This jargon will [...]

I went on a business trip and I took my mom. When I got there it was apparent that I was underdressed, so we went shopping. I planned on getting rid of my ratty sneakers, but my mom said I needed a suit. Somehow a civilized disagreement turned into an all-out fight with me and [...]

My brother Erik told me, "When I read one of your headlines that isn't about me, I don't read the column."
I usually think of Erik as a good example of my target audience: He loves the details of business, he's excited about his career, and he wants to be a billionaire. So for one, stupidity-filled [...]

First-time managers are generally nightmares to work for. They are people who got promoted by doing a non-management job well, and in fact they probably have little experience in management. Here are four of the mistakes that will undermine a new manager the fastest.
1. Focusing on tasks instead of people.
Before you were a manger, your [...]

All managers have one, shared goal: Get a promotion. But many times, the job of a manger is so multifaceted and detail-laden that the manager loses site of that big picture. Here are five jobs of a manager that are often lost in the muddle of managing smaller, day-to-day issues.
1. Manage conflict
Avoiding conflict is for [...]

Want to deal with a bad boss? First, stop complaining. Unless your boss breaks the law, you don’t have a bad boss, you have a boss you are managing poorly. Pick on your boss all you want, but if you were a top employee you wouldn’t let your boss’s problems bring you down.
Everyone has something [...]

My cousin had a karaoke party. I had to go because he's my cousin, but I refused to sing because this would have pained the audience even more than it would have pained me. A woman at the party, however, impressed me by engaging the crowd even though she had no apparent singing talent. It [...]

A meeting is a like a party. If you don’t plan it carefully you'll look incompetent and end up embarrassed. Forethought is necessary. You wouldn’t invite three ex-boyfriends to a game of Twister with your mom, and you wouldn’t plan a costume party without letting people know the theme in advance. While you might not [...]

Feeling stuck? Uninspired? As though your New Year’s resolutions have no spark? Maybe it’s time to start your own business. It's likely you intuitively know if you’re actually an entrepreneur stuffed in a corporate cubicle. The entrepreneurship bug isn't something that hits in middle age. It's something that’s inside you from day one – a [...]

Each month my husband selects a concert for us to go to. I used to pick, but I would select music I knew, like Beethoven or Mozart, and my husband, the over-educated music student, would scoff at my pedestrian tastes. Now I am at his mercy, and I endure the type of music that requires [...]