Slacker Manager

5 Management Zingers: Vol. 1 No. 3

by David Zinger on January 26th, 2008

Here are my current top 5 management ZINGERS.

Making It Funny: An Interview with Sally Fayis a post by Richard Fouts at Communicado. This is an informative interview on humor in corporations. Here is a sample question and answer from the interview:

Overall, what does it take to be successful in applying humor in corporate communications?
Using humor in corporate communications takes patience, a healthy dose of empathy and an understanding of the limits of general corporate culture. Remember that corporations are made up of people, and most people appreciate humor. That keeps me trying. I have witnessed humor’s powerful effect on morale, and what company these days can’t use a lift like that?

The nature of things by Jack Ricchiuto is another one of his short pithy gems. Here is the start of his short post, click the title to see how it ends:

When doing laundry becomes as important as blogging, listening becomes as important as speaking, being still becomes as important as being in motion, thinking becomes as important as acting…

Preparing Your Professional Checklist by Marshall Goldsmith in Business Week outlines the value of checklists. As managers we may function better when we operate from a checklist.

Right now you may be thinking, “I am too smart to need a simple checklist to be effective in my role,” or “I am too busy to need another task,” or “This is too mundane, I would rather focus on something more exciting, like how to transform my organization.” …In the same way, if we can get over our own egos, admit that we need checklists to do what we know we should, and focus on the needs of others, we can all “reduce infection” in our own ways, better serve our key stakeholders, and make our organizations more effective.

10 things you can do if you’re too busy is from the bing blog. I love his satire and you’ll enjoy the 10 items, including:

8. At about 4:15, take a look at your To Do list. Anything on it that can be put off until tomorrow? Hold on! Can’t, like 80% of it be put off until tomorrow? Or even the day after tomorrow? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. It’s called procrastination. It’s divided into three parts: PRE-crastination is all the things you do before you start your serious PRO-crastination which comes right before a good session of POST-crastination. Then you can do whatever it is. Or not.

Job Applicants Are Customers, Too by Bryant Ott discusses how we need to treat job applicants with respect, caring and dignity.

But job seekers’ disappointments run deeper than just the time they invest. Some mention hiring managers who did not seem interested in applicants’ answers during a job interview, while others specifically reference a lack of respect hiring managers and interviewers exhibited. “I was amazed at the lack of respect shown during the interview process,” one respondent said. “It amazed me because this was a clear indication as to how I would be treated as an employee.”

Share This

Related Stories

• The Art of Sucking Up with Guy Kawasaki: Management Zingers #3
• Tom Peters 10 Years of “Health” Work: Management Zingers #4
• Do you have a quick draw? Management Zingers #6
• Anita Bruzzese on Pro Management: Management Zingers #1
• Management Zingers: Volume 5 No. 8

POSTED IN: management