New York-to-Paris automobile race: [Automobile stuck in snow]

Top Reasons Why Your Resume Says “Career stalled”

Forrest ChristianCoaching, Underachievers 7 Comments

Have you ever considered that your career path is a lot like a movie? Film scholar Chris Simmons, a colleague of mine, lectured once on the massive blockbuster, Titanic. He showed how everything in its visual language spoonfed what the director wanted you to see, know and feel. The director made deliberate choices to make it easy for us as …

Man in a storm sailing a small boat into the horizon

In Memory of George Reilly — colleague, therapist, management consultant, author and dearly esteemed colleague

Forrest ChristianFinding your purpose 2 Comments

It was with great sadness that I learned that a dear colleague, George Reilly, had died at the beginning of November in his 75th year. He will be greatly missed: even though he received his biblical three score and ten, he leaves a hole. I wanted to take a moment to talk about his legacy in the management consulting, leadership …

Network hierarchy diagram.

#1 Reason Why 360º Reviews are a Menace to Managers

Forrest ChristianManaging Leave a Comment

360º review systems are often dissed by everyone except the people administering them. They’re so-called because they allow everyone in the organization around you — manager, boss’s boss, peers, subordinates and maybe even subordinates’ subordinates — to rate your performance. And that’s the problem: 360º reviews get people to think of things you don’t do well, often for the first time. …

Lighthouse at night, (c) 2009 Martin Belam. Via flickr. (CC BY SA 2.0)

If Your Boss Doesn’t Want You Preventing Problems, What Is Ethical To Do?

Forrest ChristianChange 3 Comments

Last time I recommended that if you are in an environment where the management rewards “firefighter” project managers rather than PMs who prevent them from ever occurring, you need to let some fires start. (“You Have To Let the Project Break So You Can Prove Yourself By Fixing It“) I wasnt saying start them on your own but simply don’t …

Men of Fort Story operate an azimuth instrument, to measure the angle of splash in sea-target practice. 1942. (reversed)

You Have To Let the Project Break So You Can Prove Yourself By Fixing It

Forrest ChristianChange 7 Comments

Why do project managers have to create crises on projects to prove that the risk management steps you took are paying off? It’s very common in project environments. The project manager who scrambles to get things done, who stays late to get things fixed, who has problem after problem that gets the attention of management but who then gets things …

(c) 2010 Ardfern (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Standard Process Kill Productivity Because Standardizing Destroys Local Knowledge

Forrest ChristianOrganizations Leave a Comment

Most executives that implement a PeopleSoft or SAP are surprised that productivity takes such a dive in the departments that these systems were supposed to automate. Departments that are dependent on the data see some productivity increase as information becomes more available, but many tasks that used to take a moment (or could, if you were pal-ly with the clerks) …

Rose hip on trellis

Tasking, Trusting, Tending: Gillian Stamp’s Tripod of Work

Forrest ChristianChange 1 Comment

Trust is hard. It’s the currency of everything social and, as the social capital people like Francis Fukuyama point out, it underpins everything necessary in a society. Some societies rely on Gillian Stamp — Stamp is a longtime researcher and consultant to all types organizations. She created the Career Path Appreciation (CPA), co-author of several papers with Dr. Jaques, including …

ADLER typewriter Model n°7 (Frankfurt / Germany). Unknown model date (probably ~1930/40). By Dake

How to Look Like a Leader (Why Fake Acupuncture Works Better Than Fake Pills)

Forrest ChristianChange 4 Comments

What’s the relative effectiveness of treatment regimens that are never delivered. Get that? It’s how effective is something when it’s faked. The study was originally published in the British Medical Journal, of two different groups of chronic arm pain sufferers. The first was given a fake pill that resembled one of the normal medicines for repetitive strain injuries. Almost a …

Marine Sgt. at New Orleans, La. By Howard R.Hollem. Library of Congress collection via Flickr.

How Having Closed Sector vs. Open Sector Career Affects Your Success

Forrest ChristianCareers Leave a Comment

Guy Benveniste had a great thought in article from 1977 about “Survival inside bureaucracy” that are even more relevant in today’s New Economy / Creative Class work-world. Benveniste postulated that there were three different types of careers: Closed sector Open sector Location-dominated Closed sector careers are what my father generation expected. Your entire career is within a single company; or, …

Mary E. Rundlett, new Secretary for Coach Dutch Bergman. October 31, 1935. Via Library of Congress. Public Domain

Purple Shark interview with Art Kleiner, who is always interesting

Forrest ChristianReviews - Articles Leave a Comment

Art Kleiner did an interview with Purple Shark Transcriptions. It’s fascinating to read. In this part he discusses his career path. If you’re a hidden high potential (2HiPo), his career path is fascinating. Of course, as someone who has been contracted to ghostwrite The Book for various older consultants, I find his comments on those jobs particularly interesting: And when …