Updated August 21, 2008 at 11:02 AM PST with comments from Glassdoor's CEO.
Glassdoor.com uses an online questionnaire so employees can rate their companies and CEOs. I took the questionnaire. It's all the usual stuff, like what do you think of the leadership abilities and competence of senior management, would you recommend your company as a place to work, that sort of thing.
I thought it would be interesting to track the stock performance of the
public companies with CEOs that had the highest approval ratings versus those with the lowest approval ratings.
Guess what I found?
Over the past five years, shares of all the companies whose CEOs had the highest approval ratings were in the black, while shares of all the companies whose CEOs had the lowest approval ratings were either in the red or flat. We're talking 8 of 8 in the black, 8 of 8 in the red or flat.
What does that tell you?
First, that we live in America, the great land of greed and capitalism. If you're stock is in the money, the CEO's a god. If your options are under water, he's a dog. And don't flame me, it's what employees had to say, not me. But for what it's worth, I don't think that's a bad thing. ... Read more
Last week, my wife's Dell Inspiron decided to stop printing to our wireless HP all-in-one. It was apparently a problem with the spooler, whatever that is. At that point, I had two choices: leave it alone and hope for a miracle, or fix it and perform some upgrades I'd been putting off.
Let me back up and explain something. I hate working on my wife's computer. Whatever I do inevitably screws something up, it takes way longer than I would like, and well, let's just say, my wife is impatient when it comes to technology.
It's OK for a doctor or dentist to poke and prod her, but when I poke or prod her computer, she acts as if I do it for the pure sadistic enjoyment of screwing up her peaceful existence. ... Read more
A couple of days ago, I posted a story called "Why does the media love Apple and trash Dell." In an honest attempt (really) to explain a gap between the reality and perception of Dell's tech support, I somehow managed to denigrate the noble profession of news reporting and blogging.
What I was trying to say was that the media - as an industry - generally covers what will get them the most eyeballs, since that's how the companies (not the individuals, mind you) get paid by advertisers.
Of course, I never meant to imply that the industry as a whole or individual writers sacrifice integrity for eyeballs. I've had a long, long relationship with the media and that's simply not the case. ... Read more
After describing a particularly exciting consulting opportunity, a friend called me "lucky." That got me thinking: Is he right? Is luck a component in business success, or is it all about knowledge and experience. And if luck does play a role, how important is it? Can it be influenced, or is that taboo by definition?
To answer those questions I first did a little research. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines luck as "a: a force that brings good fortune or adversity, or b: the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual."
Gee, "luck" sounds a lot like "competition" to me. ... Read more
In 1964 congress passed the Civil Rights Act. Three years later came the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), followed by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This litany of legislation proves that politicians can actually get things done when they put their minds to it, all recent evidence to the contrary.
As an engineering manager for Texas Instruments in the mid-80s, I was careful about discrimination. Then I got a memo explaining that sexual harassment would not be tolerated. I was terrified until I realized the memo went out to all employees. Whew, that was a relief. I wish the memo proves that executives care about their employees, but I think it was more about avoiding litigation. And my relief was all about keeping my job.
Regardless of how or why any of this stuff happens, it's exactly the kind of thing that distinguishes our nation. We've made great strides toward putting an end to job discrimination and sexual harassment. But lately, something seems to have gone terribly wrong. ... Read more
How many of us have driven home in anger, after a frustrating day at work, and declared to our spouse or the nearest person who will listen, "I can do that incompetent jerk's job way better"? The incompetent jerk is, of course, the boss.
At that point you have three options:
Option 1: Realize that you're full of hot air and do nothing.
Option 2: Quit and go to work for somebody else.
Option 3: Try to get your boss' job.
This post will give you three tips for accomplishing Option 3. Just to be clear, I don't mean getting your boss fired and you getting promoted in his or her place; I mean getting a promotion to that job level, either at your company or elsewhere.
I've done it lots of times. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn't. Six years ago, I was so frustrated with my CEO that I responded to a call from an executive recruiter. Before long, I was CEO of an optical networking company. This was the opportunity I was looking for, a chance to see if I really was better at my boss' job than he was.
Seven months later, my company went bankrupt, a victim of the dot-com bust. True story. ... Read more
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 4 of the top 10 and 9 of the top 25 in-demand jobs over the next ten years are in technology fields. We're talking software engineers, engineering managers, IT managers, network and systems analysts and administrators, all kinds of technology jobs.
It's hard to argue with the fed's data. Bubble and burst cycles aside, technology fields have been good to us all, and that's not likely to change anytime soon. That means that a good chunk of CNET's audience probably won't be hurting for employment for the foreseeable future.
That's all good, right? Well, sort of.
If your current job is all you aspire to, all you're passionate about, all you've spent your life dreaming about, then great, you've hit the jackpot. Have a happy life and don't look back.
If, on the other hand, you feel unfulfilled some or most of the time, then I have a message for you. You're playing it too safe. You need to take more risks.
In my experience, the single biggest factor holding people like you back from fulfilling their dreams is unwillingness to take risks.
I've seen it a hundred times and I've heard every excuse imaginable: I don't want to work those kinds of hours, it's not good to jump companies so much, what if I fail, what if I succeed, I lack confidence, how do I know if I'm capable, it's outside of my comfort zone, I'm not this enough or I'm not that enough.
All those excuses have one common denominator: fear. You can make all the excuses you want, but if you're not happy and won't go for it, it's fear that's holding you back. Plain and simple.
Look, technical and engineering folks are typically a conservative lot. And that's a good quality to have. But you only live once, and if you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night feeling like there's got to be more to this life, then you're being too conservative.
And just for the record, I was a technical guy, I had excuses, I was afraid. My father worked for the post office, for God's sake. Talk about a conservative upbringing. I was there. I know of what I speak. I didn't come up with this stuff for a blog post; I came up with it for myself, a long time ago.
This isn't a do as I say, not as I do message. I walked the talk.
You know why I'm confident that risk-taking is good for you? Because, my interpretation of the Labor Department's data is that you've got the biggest safety net of all time under you. Use it.
The American dream is out there waiting for you. And we're not just talking about compensation, buying toys, living comfortably, financial independence, or providing for loved ones. We're talking about personal fulfillment and the pursuit of happiness. We're talking about going to bed eagerly anticipating what the morning will bring. We're talking about waking up when you're 70 or 80 and knowing that you lived a full life, that you gave it your best shot.
If you try and fail, that's okay. At least you tried. What more can you ask of yourself? The only true failure is failing to try. Regret is a bitter pill to swallow, my friends. I've seen it. Trust me; you don't want to go that route.
Here's the bottom line:
It's okay to be afraid. It's normal, human. Bravery is being afraid but doing the right thing anyway. Be brave. Believe in yourself. Take risks. Face your fear and don't look back. The safety net is there, just in case. But you know what? I don't think you're going to need it.
Every morning, each one of us wakes up a ragged mess and eventually, presumably after cleaning up a bit, exits the house dressed in attire that expresses his or her inner feelings.
Don't believe me? It's true; ask a shrink. The way you dress is a window into the subconscious. Of course, it helps if you know how to interpret the data. Sometimes the conscious mind overrules the inner self, so what you get is the opposite of what the person is feeling. It's complicated.
Okay, enough psychobabble. The premise here is that the way you dress matters and it matters in the workplace. Over the course of my career, I've noticed a lot going on with clothes, but nobody talks about it. Case in point, people have been commenting on the way I dress for decades, and I have no idea why.
Way back in 1981 - when I was an engineer designing chips for Texas Instruments - my manager told me I might consider dressing differently if I wanted to get ahead. I was wearing torn overalls at the time. Hey, I was just an engineer ... and it was Texas!
Anyway, he did have a point. Years later I read Dress for Success and began taking this stuff a bit more seriously. When I became a sales executive calling on customers, I began wearing a jacket and tie or a suit.
However, when it comes to really working, i.e. in the office, I'm strictly a blue jeans, untucked shirt, and sneakers or other comfy shoes kind of guy. I guess that's what comforts my neurotic subconscious.
When I worked at microprocessor upstart Cyrix in the mid-90s, Jack Kemp - quarterback turned politician extraordinaire - sat on our board of directors. That didn't entirely make sense to me, but he was a great guy and really fun at dinner parties. ... Read more
When was the last time you said something but meant another, or embellished the truth just a bit? Even the most honest and straightforward of us do it from time to time.
Sometimes we're trying to save face or spare somebody's feelings. Other times we're trying to make ourselves appear better than we really are.
I suspect that most of the time we're trying to save ourselves from something unpleasant by telling ourselves it's for the other person's good.
Call them euphemisms, embellishments, little white lies, spinning the truth, exaggerations, whatever you like. They're common in the workplace and everybody's guilty. You can either admit it or not, but if you say "not me," we all know you're lying.
There must be thousands of workplace euphemisms; I invite you to share your favorites with us. Here are some common ones that come to mind, just to get us started:
Hiring and firing
You said, "We welcome you to the company."
You meant, "We can't wait to dump all this crap on you."
You said, "I've got offers from a few other companies."
You meant, "I had one other interview but they never called back."
... Read more
Monty Python couldn't have come up with a more annoying routine than the infamous spam sketch. But way back in the psychedelic 70s, the comedy troupe couldn't possibly have imagined the disgust and frustration the word "spam" would elicit today, especially among IT professionals.
I managed to defeat hordes of telemarketers by signing up for the national do-not-call registry. But when it comes to spam, I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm ready to throw in the towel and become a computerless monk. I feel like less of a man because I couldn't protect my family from this deadly menace.
Maybe 2% of my emails are actually addressed to me personally. The rest are garbage: spams and scams of every shape, size, and flavor. They run the gamut from those offering me supposedly hot stock picks, loans, and drugs, to others concerned with the size and effectiveness of my manhood. ... Read more
