Jo McDermott

Career development

  • The Specialization Sweet Spot for Career Success

    Too Specialized–The Other Kiss of Death I wrote recently about avoiding the Career Kiss of Death by avoiding becoming a commodity.  Becoming too specialized can also be a kiss of death.  I once worked for an electronic publisher that published… Continue reading

  • Bosses Are People Too

    You Think The Same As You Did Before For those of you who are over the age of 25, you know how you feel the same no matter how old you are?  The outside may seem older, but to yourself—inside… Continue reading

  • Get Better At Your Job. Now.

    How Good Do You Want To Be? What kind of employee do you want to be?  What kind of a manager?  What kind of a leader?  What kind of a boss? What kind of a sales person?  What kind of… Continue reading

  • Are You Making Mistakes On Purpose?

    We all make mistakes.  Mistakes have consequences.  We learn from our mistakes and don’t make them again.  Or do we?  Sometimes, especially when you find yourself doing something over and over again—being late, forgetting to send something, leaving certain people… Continue reading

  • How Do You Lead From the Middle?

    Many people are frustrated by their managers.  We want our managers to live up to our expectations, our hopes, our projections.  We want them to be charismatic, thoughtful, insightful, inspirational, good communicators, etc., etc., etc.  Some managers are good, but… Continue reading

  • Why Doesn’t Your Team Work?

    All of us get to spend time on teams.  Some of us spend all of our time on teams. There are terrible teams, good teams and great teams.  Most of us rarely get to spend much time on great teams. … Continue reading

  • How Do You Get Noticed?

    Do You Get Noticed? Do you feel like you work as hard as every one else?  Do you feel like your deliverables are better than others?  Do you feel like no one notices how hard you work, or how good… Continue reading

  • Can’t Trust Your Boss?

    What is Trust? First, let’s talk about what trust is.  Trust is the ability to rely on a particular response from another person.  If I trust you, then I’m pretty sure that you’ll do what I expect you to do… Continue reading

  • Will Your Style Get You To The Next Level?

    You have gotten to where you are based on a lot of things, but a key element of your success is your style.  Are you the “expert/straight-forward/opinionated” person?  Are you the “social/make everyone comfortable/cheerful” person?  Or are you the “large/take… Continue reading

  • Sorry. You Are Not Indispensible.

    We all see ourselves as the hub of our own universe.  This is not a bad thing–and it is natural.  It does create blind spots, however. When we evaluate our importance to the organization it is through our own eyes. … Continue reading