Don’t Squelch Happiness

There’s a happy face on the cover of the current issue of the Harvard Business Review.  Never, ever thought I’d see that!  It’s the come-on for the issue’s theme:  happiness.  Here is HBR, in many people’s minds one of the premiere business journals, doing a whole on happiness in the workplace:  what makes people happy on the job, how happy employees work better, how happiness can increase the odds of being successful, how happy employees make for more profits, and more.

The idea is such a Read more

Don’t Squelch Happiness January 13th, 2012 0 Comment

Get it in Writing

How do I love thee, nonprofit sector?  Let me count the ways.  Well, first:   Are we not a collegial sector;  one tempered by mutual respect? By the presumption that we are a team, working in partnership to achieve mutually defined and shared goals?

No, I am not naïve. I’ve worked and volunteered in this sector for decades.  I know the reality.  And I know that those who come into the sector truly understanding and valuing the presumption I outlined above, execute that presumption–fully.  Those who Read more

What’s a Yeppie?

As summer begins to wind down, students and parents everywhere begin to face the reality of the return to school.  There is, however, a group of folks for whom returning to school is not on their minds – 2010 college graduates.  Their sights, naturally, are set on finding jobs.  In this simple statement there is an enormous opportunity for nonprofits everywhere; I only hope we are all smart enough to grab this brass ring.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs both AmeriCorps and Read more

Supersize me?

 

True confession:  I was not always a popular feminist, even my feminist peers.  I didn’t believe that just because we wanted to be regarded as equal to men—we already knew we were, if not superior to—that we had to be the same as men.  We didn’t need to mimic them, working ridiculously long hours, barking orders, wearing suits, being cut-throat;  but rather, we could be just as successful if we played to our strengths and did things our way, bringing Read more

Cogito, ergo sum

One of the positive things about writing a blog is that it gives the author time to stop what she is doing, sit back and, OMG, think and reflect. For those who read blogs and respond, (and the response is the critical part here), the same thing is true: you sit back, contemplate an issue, form a response, and share it with the world. Giving oneself permission to stop work (that is, doing your share to deliver on the Read more