Entries for April 2008

To a student or recent graduate considering the ministry,

If you are one of the many Americans who have watched the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's performance at the National Press Club, or perhaps read the transcript of his remarks, you may be confused as to the function of a minister.

Allow me to offer some clarification.

Crane Kenney is in charge of the Chicago Cubs—not a simple job. Not only is the baseball team's chairman charged with winning a World Series for a much-beloved franchise that hasn't done so in 100 years, but now both the team and its legendary ballpark, Wrigley Field, are up for sale. Fans who previously worried about winning a pennant now fret over the prospect of watching the Cubs play in a ballpark renamed "SynComTel Field," as the Washington Post teased.

But Kenney, who is pulling double duty as Tribune Co. general counsel until mid-May, when he'll focus on the Cubs full time, seems not at all daunted. Read on for his take on smart hires and commanding leads:

All American citizens are basically hiring managers for the role of president of the United States, so we ought to be pretty familiar with what the position entails. But most of us stopped paying attention to the details after junior high, when we learned something like this, from the Scholastic website:

As chief executive, he enforces laws, treaties, and court rulings; develops federal policies; prepares the national budget; and appoints federal officials. He also approves or vetoes acts of Congress and grants pardons.

It's not news that succeeding at a new job is very difficult. But I'm not sure that I ever really understood why until I read this week's Wall Street Journal interview (subscription required) with Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler. Kindler had this to say about delivering results:

You have to set a strong foundation before you can do much else. I think it would be foolish to try to accomplish a lot of things before you have the capabilities of doing them, and we needed to fix the foundation of this company in a whole host of ways.

Think your job is tough? It never occurred to me that there might be a woman in a white lab coat heading to work everyday to taste-test dog food—or someone designing men's underwear, right on a fit model. Frankly, I'm not sure which career involves more awkward moments.

You can check out these 10 fascinating images of people working very odd jobs at the blog What Would Dad Say?

It may be a source of enlightenment—perhaps you're missing your calling as a gumbuster—or it may bring relief, as in, you might be allergic to your coworker in a neighboring cubicle, but at least you're not collecting pollen all day. And, speaking of collecting, you'll be glad to know that a semen collector works with bulls.

Americans are livid about rising healthcare costs, particularly as food and fuel costs jump and the stock market quivers. But, frankly, where on earth do we get off? We're outraged at something we can absolutely mitigate but expect to be mitigated for us.

For example: Corporate wellness programs are one way companies try to lower healthcare costs by providing incentives for employees to take care of themselves. But the programs can run afoul of the law, reports Human Resource Executive, which follows on an earlier story in the Philadelphia-based Legal Intelligencer that actually warned companies to let the wellness-program trend pass by. From Human Resource Executive:

For the third consecutive year, sales representatives, technicians, accountants or finance staff, and machinists are among the 10 hardest jobs to fill in this country, according to a Manpower survey of 3,000 U.S. employers.

From Manpower:

Taking short breaks during your workday to focus on something else is actually beneficial, as it helps in the formation of memories.

Here are a few break-time activities that can increase your break-derived benefits:

• Find a career that's a sure thing.

• Polish your online profile.

• Get fit at your desk.

• Improve the environment.

• Practice your typing skills.

Most of us have to invest money in our careers, whether on a new suit, a good haircut, or an M.B.A. We treat these as necessities but rarely talk about them as such.

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece over the weekend that tackled the financial straits of Pennsylvania's middle class.

Here and elsewhere, middle-class earnings aren't keeping up with the cost of living. Rising gasoline and food prices, health bills, child-care and education costs are leaving less to set aside for retirement. With the housing market in turmoil, even the asset many had come to count on—the value of their homes—is threatened.

Former Washington Post reporter Michael Tunison says he just got dooced for identifying himself and his employer on the popular NFL blog Kissing Suzy Kolber, where Tunison has been blogging as the "Christmas Ape."

I've reported on blog-related firings, as well as shared experts' advice on heading off this kind of misfortune. It's worth noting how Tunison outed himself (with a blog entry titled "Drunk Blogger Staggers Into the Light" that refers to his work at the Washington Post via a hyperlink to "this dying medium" and includes a generous littering of expletives). This is what Tunison has to say, from Editor & Publisher:

A potential reprieve for the laid-off and looking: The House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill yesterday that would extend unemployment benefits, as lawmakers seek additional economic stimulus beyond the tax rebate plan. From Congressional Quarterly:

The legislation is expected to be a key element of a second economic stimulus package that congressional Democrats plan to move in the coming weeks, possibly as part of the fiscal 2008 war supplemental funding bill.

Bruce Tulgan, founder of RainmakerThinking, author of It's Okay to Be the Boss, and an expert on managing younger generations of workers, has some terrific advice, to continue yesterday's discussion of Web-threatened bosses and Web-browsing workers.

First, make sure you know what your immediate manager's policy is when it comes to this. Discuss the parameters of acceptable online activities. What's permitted and what's not? Second, be honest with yourself. Maybe you should keep a timelog for yourself and see how much time you are really wasting. If it turns out that it's not that much, then you can share that with your boss. Let your boss know that you do spend time online, but that you keep track of how much so you make sure it doesn't get out of hand.

Third, make sure that—however much time you do spend online—it doesn't distract you from getting lots of work done very well very fast all day long. Make sure you are accomplishing all of your assigned goals, meeting high quality standards, and beating every deadline. Be able to demonstrate as much. Fourth, keep close track of all the hard work you are doing and the results of your efforts. Again, timelogs will help you demonstrate how much work you are doing. You should also use your to-do lists as checklists to keep track of all the tasks, responsibilities and projects you are tackling and be able to demonstrate all the valuable results you achieve. Make sure your boss knows how valuable you are and you'll be in a lot less danger of ever losing your job.

Last month, I wrote a story that covered several ways employees have used their office or home computers and wound up getting fired. Blogger Barry Leiba took me to task for a story that he says is made up of obvious points and ignores "the real problem of unreasonable employers and irrational disciplinary action." Leiba wants to know: "Where's the advice about dealing with the boss who's afraid of those blog things, and is willing to sack people prophylactically, even when they maintain appropriate work/life boundaries?"

Of course, for a person who is actually called in to the boss's office to be fired, it's a bit late to wonder how to delicately manage the unreasonable employer.

If you want the job, you must intern, intern, intern: It's the refrain that never ends. The educational—and often unpaid—experience is recommended for careers from fashion designer to investment banker. But the really good internships can be enormously competitive, so how do you land the summer stint of your door-opening dreams?

TheStreet.com has 10 tips for making it happen.

The mess American Airlines is in right now is an obvious cautionary tale for other airlines, but it's also a lesson for you and me.

Take a look at what Dan Garton, American's executive vice president of marketing, had to say yesterday at a press conference when he addressed the airline's grounding of flights because of problems with MD-80 wiring that didn't comply with a Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness directive: