May 22, 2008

Of sports coaches and CEOs
Posted by Jesse Nunes at 4:28 PM

What's the difference between a really good CEO and a top-notch professional coach? Well, aside the fact that one group shares locker rooms with sweaty athletes, not much.

An article at HRWorld.com looks at the traits of successful CEOs and argues that many of the top pro coaches share those attributes, which generally involve getting a diverse group of people on the same page and making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. A list is presented of the top 10 coaches who would make "exceptional CEOs." One prominent local coach made the list:

2. Bill Belichick: Head coach, New England Patriots

Coaching Record: 127 - 81 with the Cleveland Browns and the New England Patriots through the 2007 season; three Super Bowl victories

Top CEO Trait: Be Willing to Admit Mistakes, Yet Be Unapologetic

Trait Example: In conjunction with the "Spygate" scandal, Belichick admitted that a misinterpretation of the NFL Constitution and Bylaws led him to authorize the taping of opponent practices, which he apologized for in a CBS Interview with Armen Keteyian. However, it was quite clear that Belichick's belief that the regulation in question (which forbids the videotaping of opponents during games) meant that he could tape opponents at any time besides during games. Clearly, Belichick believed that his mistake was a technical violation of NFL rules, but he did not apologize for act itself.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Enough "Spygate." But you'd have to admit Bill would make a good CEO. The Laker's Phil Jackson and his world of Zen take the No. 1 spot in the list. Check out the rest of the Top 10 here. And no, Doc Rivers or Terry Francona didn't make the cut.

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May 21, 2008

The career paths of bloggers
Posted by Jesse Nunes at 10:43 AM

There are many blogs out there on the Internet. Even on Boston.com, there are a whole slew of blogs and bloggers (present company included.)

But for those most successful bloggers out there, the ones who are known around the country and who make their living off of their little slice of the Web, how did they start out? What jobs preceded their blogging days?

Well, mainstreet.com asked a few well-known bloggers what they did for a paycheck before they got the blogging bug. Here is a sampling:

Blog: Celebrity Babies
Blogger: Danielle Freidland
First Job: Freidland was a floater at an executive search firm. In addition to tech support, Friedland had to frequently arrive early to man the receptionist desk. Forced to wear skirts everyday, the company's finally agreed to allow the women to wear pants, but the threat of losing the right to wear pants always loomed over her. They put me "out of my misery", says Friedland, who was let go in 1999, along with the manager she was fond of.

Blog: Deadspin
Blogger: Will Leitch
First Job: "My first job was working for U. The National College Magazine, as the film editor. I mostly drove all around Los Angeles, watching awful movies and desperately trying not to get a tan. I succeeded."

Blog: Huffington Post
Blogger: Rachel Sklar
First Job: "Okay, so: First job out of college? Well, every summer I went to summer camp. I did some student-council related work during the summers also. But I went straight from college (in Canada we call it "undergrad") to law school, where during my first summer I went back to camp. My part-time job during law school was working on a book I had been hired to write ("A Stroke of Luck" with stroke survivor Howard Rocket), and my first "real" job was as a summer associate at a Manhattan law firm after my second year (though if you don't think putting 90 ten-year-olds on stage to rehearse "The Lonely Goatherd" during a July heat wave is work, then you've never been a camp theater director). After law school, my first job was lawyer. So technically, my first job out of school was "lawyer." I did the broke/unemployed thing a few years later, when I left to go freelance full-time; eBay helped."

It's always interesting to see the winding career paths that some people take. Many times, what they do now is completely unrelated to what they thought they'd do 10, 20 years ago.

How many twists and turns has your career path taken? Are you doing something completely different than you thought you'd be doing? Share your thoughts on our message board.

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May 15, 2008

Bay State loses 2,400 jobs in April
Posted by Jesse Nunes at 4:06 PM

Massachusetts employers cut about 2,400 jobs in April, according to the state Department of Workforce Development. The drop ended a streak of six months of consecutive gains in payroll employment. However, a separate survey showed the state unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent in April, down from 4.4 percent in March, making it the lowest rate since September 2001 and almost a point lower than the national rate of 5 percent. The Globe's Robert Gavin reports:

The state economy in recent months has performed better than the nation's because of the strength of its healthcare and technology sectors. Education and healthcare added 3,200 jobs in April, and 14,500 over the past year. Information employment, which includes software publishers, rose 300, and has gained 1,600 jobs in the past year. Another key sector, professional and business services, shed 600 jobs in April, but has gained 7,400 jobs over the year.

Consumer- and housing-related sectors, however, continued to lose jobs. Construction employment fell by 900 jobs in April and is down 3,400 for the year. Retailers cut 1,000 jobs in April and 3,100 since April 2007.

Overall, state employment has grown by 23,000 jobs over the past year, or just under 1 percent. The state still has 93,000 fewer jobs than in early 2001, when employment peaked at the end of the last expansion.

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May 14, 2008

Helping moms return to the workforce
Posted by Jesse Nunes at 1:24 PM

It's a question many mothers face after they have devoted years of their lives to having and raising kids: How do they get back in to the workforce?

Meghan McCartan, a mother who has has to deal with this issue herself, has put together networking conference to help other parents overcome the obstacles associated both exiting and re-entering the working world. "Detours and OnRamps" is a forum designed to provide advice on how to hook up with the right resources, negotiate contracts, and figure out the steps needed for a successful re-entry into the workplace.

So what's the best way to make this transition, which many parents find very hard to do? Here are some tips provided my Meghan:

1) Get your whole family on board
Make sure that your kids -- especially if they're a little older -- understand that you're going back, and know what they can do to help. Make sure your husband (or wife!) does too, and talk through how that might change the "status quo." And figure out what can help alleviate the stress. (i.e., find a cleaning lady to come in once a week if that used to be one of your responsibilities!)

2) Ease into it
Especially if you haven't been working for a while, for the sake of family harmony, give everyone a chance to get used to having you around less. That might make the transition easier.

3) Scout out a win-win
If you do want to go back part-time, but aren't finding the right "skill set" level jobs, consider applying to some "full time" jobs and then suggesting how you can effectively complete the job on a part time or consulting basis. You'd be surprised how many opportunities or employers may be open to the suggestion of trying out a "part time" arrangement, especially on a temporary basis, especially if there's something in it for them, too. (i.e., instead of paying a full- time salary, they could pay for 3 days a week: a win-win.)

4) Network
If you're looking to develop a consulting-type career, tell everyone you know. That goes for job hunting too. You never know when someone's husband or cousin might need some graphic design help. Freelance, spread the word and you'll be surprised!

The "Detours and OnRamps" event will be at Bentley College in Waltham on Thursday.

Also, as Maggie Jackson wrote recently, 'On-Ramping' isn't a mother-only challenge. Many stay-at-home dads also struggle with figuring out how to return to the workforce.

It's hard to say how many men nationwide are on-ramping, yet their ranks are surely growing. Seventy percent of working dads with a preschooler had taken a paternity leave when surveyed in June, while just under half of those with a school-aged child had done so. The poll of job-seeking working dads was conducted by Monster.com.

And be sure to check out BoMoms.com, Boston.com's new section devoted entirely to moms "in Boston and beyond."

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May 8, 2008

A new form of career advice
Posted by Jesse Nunes at 11:02 AM

Author Daniel Pink stopped by on Tuesday to talk about his unique career advice book: 'The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need.'

Pink, who has authored two other books on the changing world of work in the 21st century – "Free Agent Nation" and "A Whole New Mind" – talked about how why he decided to use the Japanese comic style of manga for a business book on the workplace.

Here is a snippet from the chat:

gunslinger: Hi -- do you read a lot of comics -- manga or otherwise? What are your favorites?

Daniel Pink: hi, gunslinger. i wasn't a rabid comic fan as a kid, but i did read them. as an adult, though, i've become quite fascinated with the form.

Daniel Pink: in fact, last year i spent a couple of months in japan studying the manga industry. as you might know, manga in japan is VERY different from comics in the US. manga is everywhere and for everyone -- including adults.

Daniel Pink: you can find manga on politics, time management, finance, cooking, anything. but here in the us, as popular as manga has become, it's still mostly for the under 17 crowd. i thought this form was so expressive that we ought to try it out for adults.

It certainly is an interesting read. And, as Daniel points out, because of its format, the whole book can be read in an hour. How many books can you say that about?

To read the full transcript of the chat, click here. Also, you can check out images from 'Johnny Bunko' in this photo gallery.

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May 2, 2008

Party like it's 1964
Posted by Diane Danielson at 1:01 PM

Ellen Goodman does a great job of capturing the pathetic treatment of Lilly Ledbetter and the rest of our gender when it comes to wage equality in today's Boston Globe:

The idea that the wage gap might be because of, um, sex discrimination seems soooo 20th century. In fact, the Supreme Court implied that Lilly Ledbetter's lower paycheck was her own fault because she didn't start investigating her employer for sex discrimination as soon as she started her job.

As for the conductor of the Straight Talk Express? McCain said he was all in favor of equal pay for equal work, but that women don't need lawsuits, they need "education and training." So let's begin with a couple of basics.

Lesson One: An unequal paycheck is a thief that keeps on taking. Even in retirement, Ledbetter is still, in her own words, "a second-class worker" with a pension and Social Security check that carry Goodyear's bite marks.

Lesson Two: In 2008, the Republicans are partying - "political partying" - like it's 1964.

Click here to read the full story.

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