Jeremy Arnold I could see that I was not going to cope as well as I wished with life unless I could acquire a better theory-structure on which to hang my observations and experiences. By then, my craving for more theory had a long history. Partly, I had always loved theory as an aid in [...]
Thanks, Obama
My Hopey, Changey White House Years (A Speechwriter's Memoir) by David Litt. Everyone should go into public service. Am I doing enough good? Choose service instead.
Guns, Germs, and Steel
The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond Read 2018-9-26, Rating 6/10 Questions about inequality in the modern world can be reformulated as follows: why did wealth and power become distributed as they now are? History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples environments not because of biological differences among peoples [...]
Data Analyst Nanodegree
I've earned it! https://confirm.udacity.com/TLVUZQTR
Valuable Lessons – First Time Managers
David Seidman The most important thing is psychological safety. If people can freely share ideas and criticize each other without taking it personally, the team will thrive. Demonstrate vulnerability. If you admit mistakes, your team will too. Any decision that involves someone's career should be double checked for errors and miscommunications. When you deliver a [...]
High-level, Middle, and First-Line Management
David Seidman First line: understands that their role is to make the team better. Listens a lot, delegates decisions and projects and focuses on skills and career development and team chemistry. Mid-level: creates a culture of trust and respect. Holds teams accountable for their performance. Sets a clear and correct strategy. Staffs the team correctly. [...]
Sean Kernan Answered Aug 31 The autonomy and freedom to do anything. As a kid, many of you get an allowance, a small sum of money each week either via chores or for some lucky people, just for existing. As an adult, you control that allowance, albeit from a different source. If you work hard, [...]
New Manager Questions
Ian Mathews I spent the first 30 days talking to every person in the region, one on one. I asked the same questions of each of the 70 employees who were doing the work. What do you like about working here? What frustrates you about this company? What frustrates customers about this company? What are [...]
Train Employee to be More Detail Oriented
David Seidman I find this to be one of the hardest skills to teach. The best method I've come up with is to provide detailed, meticulous feedback on their work assignments. After about the third time I send back their doc with 30 comments, they start to figure out how to nail the details. I'll [...]
Earn Employee Respect
David Seidman Be fair in all things. Be as transparent as possible. Praise in public, give constructive feedback in private. Set a high but achievable standard and hold people accountable to it. Never compromise on hiring. Never compromise on ethics. Uphold a high standard of professionalism, but be a human, not a robot. Have a [...]