Hey, congratulations on that big promotion. I always knew you were going to make it to the top. You'll be great in your new position, I'm sure, and all the extra money and perks will make a big difference in your lifestyle. Wait a minute! You didn't get the promotion. They gave the big job to someone else - someone who just happens to be your best friend in the office. So now your friend ... [full story]

You know there are people who obsess about writing the great American novel. Not me. I don't dream of writing the great American screenplay, nor the great American pop song, nor the great American spam e-mail. These are all worthy goals, but for working people, like thee and me, there can only be one literary goal that shines like a beacon in the dark and stormy night. We want to write the great American office ... [full story]

Good news! Today's column is not being written by the same mental midget who usually pontificates on office life from this soapbox. Instead, you have the extreme good fortune to be reading the opinions of someone whose views have won recognition from the famous Foundazion di Vittoro. Feel free to faint in my esteemed presence. For me the real honor is not that the award comes with a trifling bit of cash - $500,000 to ... [full story]

If you've been wondering who to blame for your puny paycheck, the paucity of your promotions, and the total meltdown of your career, here's good news. It's not you who is to blame; it's your family. No, I'm not talking about that maladjusted bunch of malcontents who sponge off you in your overleveraged bungalow in Foreclosure Farms. I'm talking about the folks who raised you up from a pup: Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, and don't ... [full story]

Sick of the corporate rat race? Underappreciated? Undercompensated? Are you ready for a real opportunity that will finally pay you what you are worth? Congratulations. You're exactly the kind of sucker that we're looking for. Because I make a small (very small) fortune trading on the pain and frustration of the working stiff, I'm probably the last person on earth who should refuse to pass the gravy boat. Yet, I do feel protective of the ... [full story]

You think you're busy? I'm as busy as a truffle pig on a package tour of Tuscany. As busy as a one-armed man trying to cover his ears at a Maroon 5 concert. In fact, I'm so busy being busy that I don't have time to make up jokes about how busy I am. And that's too bad, because if there's one thing we like to brag about it's how busy we are. You know ... [full story]

You're a wonderful person, kind reader, and I've really enjoyed our relationship, but if you are expecting any further attention from me, you'd better wise up. Starting today, you're off my radar and out of my life. I'd love to spend more time relating with you, but honestly, you're just no longer worthy of a place in my network. If this seems harsh, let me recommend a few minutes of virtual networking with David Nour, ... [full story]

It's summertime, friends, and you know what that means - time to count up all those vacation days and then not use them. You heard me right. To succeed in business today, you not only have to work hard while you're supposed to be at the office, you also have to work hard when you're supposed to be lapping up the sunshine. If you wonder why anyone in their right mind would rather be drinking ... [full story]

It's a wonderful world in which we live and work, and if you don't believe it, just use your desktop computer to send a message to your laptop computer commanding it to call your PDA to forward a message to your cell phone. Get the point? We may walk around with pockets and purses laden with electronic gizmos, but when it comes to trying to reach us, no one can touch us. Unfortunately, there's a ... [full story]

Here's a question: are you a flower or a weed? It's important that we answer this botanical query because a new management craze is growing in the rich loam of Mahogany Row. Your bosses are not satisfied with just being masters of the universe. Now they want to be master gardeners as well. The management mania for gardening is the work of Erika Andersen, a "New York-based organizational specialist and executive coach" to firms like ... [full story]

Ever wonder what you'll be doing at 65? If your boss has anything to say about it, you may not be watching the waves of wheelchairs roll by at Casa Siesta. According to the experts, the latest trend in retirement is to "just say no."   Bob Goldman has been an advertising executive at a Fortune 500 company in the San Francisco Bay area.  It's true! As the first baby boomers hit retirement age, a strange new phenomenon ... [full story]

I don't lift my pinky when I drink my morning Red Bull, but that doesn't make me an ill-mannered slob. No, what makes me an ill-mannered slob is coming to the office in my bathrobe, sporting a three-day growth of beard. It's crude, rude, and everybody at work avoids me like the plague. And that, my friend, is etiquette power. For those of you who still cling to the archaic niceties of traditional behavior, there ... [full story]

As someone who grew up behind the counter of Syd's Camera Shop in White Plains, N.Y., I can attest to the positive effects of working in a family business. No Ivy League business school could ever provide a manager with a similar sense of how work can affect your life at home. That's because in a family business, work and home are one and the same. The only difference is that at work you get ... [full story]