The Monster Blog

At Work, Bad Can Be Good

Why is it that bad behavior can be good for your career? Take the email flap my colleague Maya wrote about last week. Everybody may tut-tut the poor email etiquette displayed in the exchange, but in his weekly column the Wall Street Journal's Jared Sandberg identified an altogether different zeitgeist in today's workplace. The column includes this quote from a phone interview with email n'er-do-well Dianna Abdala: "I'm more worried about whether I've left my hair iron on than this little email exchange."

In fact, she's probably right. Who was it that said that there's no such thing as bad publicity? It seems that bad is all the rage, from executives on trial to companies that lie to our own Toxic Boss Contest. The anecdotal evidence is everywhere -- just read some of the contest postings -- that bad behavior in the workplace is often overlooked, ignored and, sometimes, even rewarded.

Sandberg's column contains a crucial nugget of modern-day career wisdom:

These days, resume building can be less about preserving a reputation than about acquiring one in the first place ..."I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this kind of behavior is naturally rewarded," cautions Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. "But it does lead to success in some realms." And those realms can include the legal profession, sales teams, trading floors, entrepreneurial endeavors -- in other words, the corners of the business world where unmitigated gall can be more marketable than galling.

While this may not be exactly what career relationships guru Keith Ferrazzi had in mind when he wrote "there is genius, even kindness, in being bold," the people at work who we notice -- and who get noticed by higher-ups -- are those who make themselves visible -- sometimes in not-so-nice ways.

At least the Internet is helping to make this issue visible. Check out these workplace misbehavior resources:

• Bad Behavior in the Office
• "Bad to the Bone: Dealing With a Bad Boss"
• Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Boss and author Marilyn Haight's blog.

And at one of the most entertaining sites on the Web, this offering from columnist James Lileks:

• Bad Publicity: Lesser-Known Moments in the Lives of the Stars

Career Lessons from the Olympics

The 2006 Winter Olympics have ended. Here are a few career lessons from the snow and ice games played in Turin:

Career Lesson:
Actions speak louder than words.
Teacher:
Bode Miller, skier
No American garnered more attention pre-Olympics than this swashbuckling, hard-partying, hard-charging downhiller. In the month leading up to the Turin Games, Miller was featured on “60 Minutes,” as well as the cover of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. In essence, he was the face and voice of the US Olympic Team -- which turned out to be quite unfortunate. Although thought to be a shoo-in for at least one gold medal, Miller didn’t win any medals in the five events in which he competed.

Career Lesson:
Don’t celebrate before you finish.
Teacher:
Lindsey Jacobellis, snowboarder
Well ahead of the pack in her race to finish the snowboard cross, Jacobellis grabbed her board as she launched into the air for a celebratory jump but then managed to botch her landing and lose out on the gold. While Jacobellis and many of her fellow snowboarders said she was just having fun -- an essential part of the sport -- critics pointed out that it was a display of unneeded showboating that cost her a coveted gold medal.

Career Lesson:
You can make big mistakes but still come out ahead.
Teacher:
Zhang Dan, pairs figure skater
The Chinese pairs skater got up after a frightening fall on a throw quadruple salchow and finished the program, capturing the silver with partner Hao Zhang.

Career Lesson:
Keep feuds private.
Teacher:
Barbara Fusar-Poli, ice dancer
Standing at center ice at the conclusion of their original dance, the Italian ice dancing star cast an icy, unsportsmanlike stare at partner Maurizio Margaglio for dropping her during their program. The mistake in effect dropped the former world champions, who had been leading after the first phase of the competition and had come out of retirement to compete on home ice, from medal contention.

Career Lesson:
Nobody wins when you air your dirty laundry in public.
Teacher:
Shani Davis, speed skater
The US speed skater pulled out of a team relay event to save his energy for an individual race, which he ended up winning. But the tension created between Davis and teammate Chad Hedrick seemed to get more attention than the gold medal Davis got to wear around his neck.

For more work lessons from the Olympics, check out this post.

How and Why Your Company Lies to You

As a general rule, it's usually important to tell the truth. However, sometimes it pays to keep certain facts under wraps.

And that idea doesn't apply to just individuals. This article, which reveals how companies lie to their employees in the interest of self-protection, exposes some common corporate untruths from Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn't Want You to Know by Cynthia Shapiro. "Her advice: view your actions through the eyes of your company, which is like a fearful giant that won't hesitate to swat you down if you tweak its fears," the article says.

Most of us can fathom why companies would be out for themselves. But seeing these concepts in black and white is still a bit jarring. For example, Shapiro reveals the real reasons for many layoffs and cautions workers to be wary of HR: "HR is not there to help employees anymore. HR is there to support management."

As harsh as these practices are, keep them in mind to protect yourself in the workplace. I know I will be giving this book a read. Sometimes we all need a wake-up call to remind us to keep our guard up at work.

Would You Quit Your Job If You Won the Lottery?

Last weekend I found myself driving through Rhode Island at 9 p.m., scouring the streets of Newport for an open convenience store to sell me a Powerball ticket. I don’t usually play the lottery, but when the jackpot got up to $365 million, the hype took over, and I had to get tickets.

As I joked with the liquor store clerk about how I would buy him a Lamborghini if I won, I started to think of what I would do with the money. Pictures of expensive clothes, cars and homes flashed through my mind, and I imagined what it would be like to go into work Monday and quit my job.

As you can guess, I am not a meatpacker in Nebraska, so I am still working. USA Today reports that out of the eight workers that won $22.1 million each, five are keeping their jobs at the meatpacking plant, and three worked the midnight shift after they knew about the winning ticket. Most of the winners work 60-70 hours a week at the plant, where they make about $10 an hour.

If that were me, I’m not sure I would have made it to the midnight shift. But who knows? It’s easy to say you would leave your boss hanging and just walk out the door, but in reality I think you end up so elated you don’t care what you do right away.

I love this kind of Cinderella story, when hardworking individuals get a chance at life without worrying about the next mortgage payment and putting their kids through college. Nebraska Lottery spokesman Tom Johnson put it best when he said: “The diversity of it -- all US citizens, ethnic cultures, all working together in the plant for the American dream. And then they got it. You couldn't have asked for anything better."

Count to 10 Before You Hit Send

Sure, we’re human. We get angry -- sometimes even in writing. But with email, that can be tricky. Just ask Boston lawyers William A. Korman and Dianna L. Abdala.

According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, Korman was annoyed that Abdala notified him by email that she changed her mind about accepting his job offer. Here’s the now-notorious email exchange (according to the Globe article):

Abdala: ''The pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living."

Korman told Abdala that her decision not to have told him in person ''smacks of immaturity and is quite unprofessional," and noted that in anticipation of her arrival, he had ordered stationery and business cards for her, reformatted a computer, and set up an email account. Nevertheless, he wrote, ''I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors."

Abdala: ''A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing and not exercised any such reliance until he did so."

Korman: ''Thank you for the refresher course on contracts. This is not a bar exam question. You need to realize that this is a very small legal community, especially the criminal defense bar. Do you really want to start pissing off more experienced lawyers at this early stage of your career?"

Abdala's final three-word response: ''bla bla bla."

It wasn’t long before this exchange made it “around the city and country, and, eventually, across the Atlantic.” Yes, even seemingly over-self-protective lawyers get tangled up in these messes.

Lesson? Pick up the phone if you must give someone a piece of your mind. But better yet (you know the saying): If you don’t have anything nice to say…

If you’ve already somehow gotten yourself in such a pickle, be sure to heed this advice.

Have you had a bad email experience?

Mickey's 10 Commandments

When I was growing up, "mickey mouse" was often used in a derogatory sense to mean something cheap, flimsy or, pardon the pun, cheesy. But I remember when my best friend returned from a visit to Disneyland -- back when there was just one, in Anaheim. He was beside himself with 12-year-old excitement: "They've got it all wrong," he exclaimed. "Disneyland is amazing! Everything works! It's clean, it's fun, it's wonderful! 'Mickey mouse' should mean something nearly perfect."

In fact, that was exactly what Walt Disney wanted his guests to think. It was his vision that set the standard, but that vision was codified into "Mickey's 10 Commandments" by Marty Sklar, Disney's theme park expert. A 50-year Disney employee, Sklar, now 72, announced last week that he was stepping down as head of Walt Disney Imagineering to become a Disney ambassador and help recruit new talent at colleges and universities.

While Mickey's 10 Commandments still govern Disney theme parks, other businesses could benefit from studying the tricks perfected by the folks who created the Magic Kingdom. Here they are, courtesy of ThemedAttractions.com:

1. Know Your Audience: Don't bore people, talk down to them or lose them by assuming that they know what you know.
2. Wear Your Guest's Shoes: Insist that designers, staff and your board members experience your facility as visitors as often as possible.
3. Organize the Flow of People and Ideas: Use good storytelling techniques. Tell good stories, not lectures. Lay out your exhibit with a clear logic.
4. Create a Weenie: Lead visitors from one area to another by creating visual magnets and giving visitors rewards for making the journey.
5. Communicate with Visual Literacy: Make good use of all the nonverbal ways of communication -- color, shape, form, texture.
6. Avoid Overload: Resist the temptation to tell too much, to have too many objects. Don't force people to swallow more than they can digest. Try to stimulate and provide guidance to those who want more.
7. Tell One Story at a Time: If you have a lot of information, divide it into distinct, logical, organized stories. People can absorb and retain information more clearly if the path to the next concept is clear and logical.
8. Avoid Contradiction: Clear institutional identity helps give you the competitive edge. The public needs to know who you are and what differentiates you from other institutions they may have seen.
9. For Every Ounce of Treatment, Provide a Ton of Fun: How do you woo people from all other temptations? Give people plenty of opportunity to enjoy themselves by emphasizing ways that let people participate in the experience and by making your environment rich and appealing to all senses.
10. Keep It Up: Never underestimate the importance of cleanliness and routine maintenance. People expect to get a good show every time. People will comment more on broken and dirty stuff.

To learn more about The House the Mouse Built visit:

• The Disney Blog
• Luxo: A blog about Pixar Animation, which was just acquired by Disney.
• TheMickeyNews: Everything you wanted to know about the Mouse -- and more.
• Tom Peters' blog: His book In Search of Excellence also highlights Disney and its theme park success.

Can Instant Messaging Help You Find a Job?

Google Talk, Google’s new instant messaging product, is finally here. Which of course has most people asking, “Do we really need another instant messenger?”

Google Talk boasts the same basic features as most IM clients with a few new additions, including the ability to talk through the computer and archive your conversations. So how can this new service help you get a new job?

As Joel Cheesman points out, the ability to archive instant messages opens up a whole new world to recruiters looking for the right candidate. Google’s ability to archive your IM conversations will allow them to target specific messages to you, based on what you discuss.

I cringe at the idea of anyone being able to read my messages, but this will be an optional feature and could end up being an interesting twist on recruitment advertising. Recruiters will be able to target seekers based on their profile criteria, matched with what they discuss. So if I start talking about how I’d love to find a job that was closer to home, a company located near my house could target me with their job opportunities.

What a world we live in, huh? If you’re the lazy type and don’t want to actually look for a new job, you will be able to just discuss the type of job you want and wait for it to fall in your lap.

If you’re not the sit-around-and-wait type, here are a few tips on how to be proactive in your job search:

• “Get the Interview”
• “Salary Negotiation Know-How”
• “Talk the Talk”

Five Work Microwave Etiquette Commandments

The microwave has revolutionized how workers eat on the job, allowing them to enjoy goodies like warmed-up leftovers, frozen dinners and microwave popcorn while they work. Most workplaces, including Monster, provide several microwaves for employee use.

Alas, not everyone is on the same page when it comes to workplace microwave manners. To preclude confusion, here are my top five things to remember as you're watching your lunch take a spin:

1. Thou Shalt Not Nuke Stinky Food: Fish is the most common offender, but the smell of his coworkers cooking anything with cheese makes my husband's stomach turn. Be considerate of your neighbors.

2. Thou Shalt Not Leave a Mess: It's just common sense: If your cup runneth over, clean it up.

3. Thou Shalt Not Jump the Line: Those people waiting by the microwave with leftovers in hand are hungry, too. Wait your turn, or find another microwave to use. An exception is when someone leaves their food in the oven. If they don't come back to claim their Tupperware within a minute or two after the bell sounds, feel free to take it out and proceed with your own nuking.

4. Thou Shalt Not Leave It Broken: If your Lean Cuisine is still frozen after five minutes, don't just go out to lunch. Let someone know the microwave's busted so they can fix it.

5. Thou Shalt Reset the Controls: It's great that your popcorn took less time to pop than you thought. Hit reset on your way out so the next person doesn't have to.

And once you get back to your desk, check out these tips on desktop dining etiquette.

The Case for Product over Process

"With the lava lamps and scooters, everybody thought we were idiots, the last vestiges of the dotcoms," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a recent interview with Time magazine about the growth of the $100 billion company. "It worked until it leaked out how well we were doing.”

Google’s example should probably get us all thinking about what we essentially lose when we dismiss an idea because of its packaging -- or lack thereof. Where we don’t see suits, we don’t see dollars. And then we can’t understand how something brilliant can pass right under our radar.

With all the time we commit to dressing for the job we want, figuring out how to embrace office politics, scheduling meetings to formalize a project, and finding ways to protect ourselves, our personalities and our interests from those we work with, it’s no wonder we wrongly brand those who might actually have the moxie and insight to reveal their raw ideas as amateurs.

We spend our time in the land of process. We envelope and censor our thoughts with layers of red tape. It’s professional pathos, a la Office Space. Do we really lack the imagination to consider that the guy who plays Monopoly over lunch or the daisy-bearing, lighthearted woman might produce the next billion-dollar brainchild? With the risk of sounding cliche, Einstein wasn’t exactly the poster child for perfect grooming or professionalism.

Does one need to brood to be brilliant? That mentality might cost us a lot -- like $100 billion. It’s time we start thinking about how much product can get lost in the process -- and what we can do to change that.

The H-1B Visa -- Everywhere You Want to Be Working?

The H-1B visa issue is back in the news again. The bete noire of downsized IT employees during the tech slump of 2001-2003, when the limits for work visas for skilled foreign workers were raised to 195,000 per year, the H-1B is a hot-button issue for employers and employees alike. The visa limit was rolled back to the older 65,000 annual limit in 2004. President Bush announced in a speech at 3M's Minnesota headquarters last week that his administration will push to raise the limit again.

On one side, employers say they cannot find sufficiently educated and skilled US workers to fill their hiring needs. H-1B visas allow employers to hire foreign workers to work in the US for up to six years without the worker going through the immigration process.

On the other side, organizations such as the Programmers Guild contend the real issue is wage costs -- the so-called high tech worker shortage is not due to lack of availability of skilled workers in the US but rather a lack of desire on employers' parts to pay the going rate.

There are some moves in Congress to reform the H-1B visa program, but as with any legislative initiative, the final product may be quite different from the original.

There is plenty of commentary to be found on this topic, including career advice on the related offshoring issue right here on Monster:

• "CIOs on Offshoring"
• "The Offshore Battle" 
• "Survive Offshoring"

Plus, check out these related links:

• H1Base
• "Immigration Good News and Bad News" from The CareerXRoads Annex
• ImmigrationProf Blog