jomcdermott
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I Hate My Boss!
Unless you’re independently wealthy, you probably have to figure out how to deal with a boss you hate–at least for a while. Pretty much everyone has this problem at some point in their career. The good news is that you… Continue reading
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What If . . .?
You’re 18 and Can Do It All Again What if when you were 18 years old, you were given a list of all the major things that you would accomplish between the age of 18 and your age now. All… Continue reading
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You Only Need 3 Things for a Successful Career
What if I told you that you only need three things to have a successful career. Only three. Would you believe me? Probably not. Let’s try it anyway. You need to be able to adapt; you need to be a… Continue reading
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Which Comes First, Success or Happiness?
One of my favorite coaching clients recently told me a story. She said that her brother went into a florist and while checking out, spotted a framed Master’s or Doctorate diploma in Engineering on the wall. He asked the store… Continue reading
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Rot at the Top
Is All Corporate Leadership Rotten? When I taught leadership, I always discussed Manfred Kets de Vries’ (see his book, The Leadership Mystique) theory that when organizations go down the drain, it is usually because of rot that started at the… Continue reading
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White People Don’t Know They’re White
Before I Explain What I Mean First, let me tell you why I’m writing about this. This is a post about people not knowing what they don’t know. When you don’t know what you don’t know, it really gets in… Continue reading
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Genericize Yourself, Increase Your Options
Broaden Your Opportunities For the first ten years of my career, I did product development and operations at an electronic publisher. Before the Internet. Explaining what I did was very hard. (It would be a lot easier now). When I… Continue reading
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Being Told “No” Changed My Life
The most important lessons I have learned came from people who told me “No,” or “Do it faster.” NO! I was “reorganized” into managing a large department with twenty managers reporting to me. Only a few of those managers had… Continue reading
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Are All Organizations This Crazy?
People frequently ask me, “Are all organizations like this?” This political? This crazy? Yes and no. All organizations are functional and dysfunctional in their own ways. Like families. Even the very best organizations rub some people the wrong way. Organizations… Continue reading
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Are You On Your Way to Failure?
Derailment Executive coaches call it “derailment.” Derailment happens when the organization has made an assessment of you that basically takes you off the planned (yours or the organization’s) trajectory of your career. Derailment is usually talked about from the perspective… Continue reading
Jo McDermott 