motivation

AMPing Up Your Employees: Motivation According to Pink

With his book Drive! Daniel Pink has added another chapter in the discussion of motivation. Much has been written on motivation from Maslow, Herzberg and Skinner to Drucker. (I wrote on Drucker and Pink here.) Pink’s has added a discussion on work in the 21st Century. He talks about it in terms of AMPing your [...]

March 4, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

3 Unorthodox Ways to Motivate Your Workplace

by Eric Friedman

As workplace dynamics change, employers are seeking numerous ways to keep employees as productive as possible. An unmotivated employee can end up costing your company thousands of dollars each year from lost productivity. Companies are no longer able to motivate employees based solely on yearly bonuses and quarterly lunches. These unorthodox techniques will go far [...]

February 14, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

The Motivation of Impetus

by Ray_anne

My mom had gall bladder trouble a couple years ago that required three back-to-back-to-back surgeries; it was a very scary time for our family. After her final surgery, she turned to me from her hospital bed and drowsily said, “Thank goodness for college educations. Thank goodness all these people went to school.” I nodded in [...]

January 15, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Having a Lazy Employee Is Your Fault

by Christine Assaf

Dear Managers, I’m tired of you labeling your employee as a”lazy employee” First off, it’s name-calling and in some cases (where it goes too far) it could be constituted as bullying. Do you have an employee that’s not cutting the mustard? Try out these tips below: Tip #1: Stop Calling Them Lazy So maybe you’re not calling [...]

January 8, 2013 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Fortune: Random Success is Rarely Random

by Ray_anne

Fortune Cookie say… Chinese food last night. Shrimp fried pineapple rice – my favorite. Of course, most Chinese food is accompanied by fortune cookies, I love fortune cookies – the best part of this meal shared with my family is the reading of the fortunes. I purposefully make my children select their own cookies – [...]

November 6, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Living the Unexpected Dream

by Ray_anne

I don’t trust Freud or Jung I dream very vividly, as I am sure do many of you. One of my most oft recurring dreams is falling. I sometimes dream that I am falling off a roof or out of a plane. Usually, it is as simple as stepping off a curb and twisting my [...]

September 25, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

What is Your Hard Hat? Be Prepared.

by Ray_anne

Picture this… Your job is manual labor. You install and repair air conditioning units, ducts, parts, etc. in one of the hottest cities, temperature-wise and metaphorically, around: Las Vegas, NV. You are called to the Women’s prison on the other side of town to repair (what else?) the air conditioning. You must climb a 12-foot ladder to access the inside of [...]

July 27, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Weight & Work: There is No Magic Pill for Either

by Ray_anne

there is no magic pill for work or weight loss

The Change I can see Menopause staring me down and no one ever wants to talk about it. Oh, a few talk show hosts have made feeble attempts at breaking down the walls and getting women and their families to discuss it. But I find it completely fascinating that is still treated like a dirty [...]

March 19, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Career Maintenance in 7 Steps

by Ray_anne

My Honda is eight years old and, sadly, has been in a couple wrecks. I religiously change the oil every 3,500 miles and it still runs like a champ; I have never had a better car. I am hesitant to trade it in because it has never had a mechanical malfunction of any kind. I [...]

March 1, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Stagnation vs. Intensive Purpose

by Ray_anne

Nine-year old Sam once asked his father, “Daddy, how can we make a stuffed animal come to life?” His father pondered…, and decided yep, that’s a good question. A favorite toy, yet stagnant and non-productive. The production of play is in the mind and action of Sam, not the stuffed animal itself. Sam must move the toy [...]

February 20, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Placed in Learning Moments

by Ray_anne

Every day, I sit at my computer, typing away, with inspiration looming somewhere…, in the back of my brain? just beyond my finger tips. Question: Can you force inspiration? Can you nurture it to make it grow or sprout where once there was none? It would be easy for me to say “yes” because I [...]

December 12, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

To Motivate – Function 3 of Management

by Ray_anne

Function 3: to MOTIVATE The crowd roars in the background and stadium lights flood the field. The smell of freshly cut grass mingles with popcorn and hot dogs. An announcer calls out the first batter’s name in muffled tones and eager anticipation fills the stands. The batter crosses in front of the dugout to home [...]

November 22, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

“There’s No Crying” Leadership – The Phoenix Infection, part 9

by Ray_anne

Teams don’t always play well, nor do they always win. Winning or not winning, poor or unfair play just comes with the territory of being on a team, be it sports or departmental or even within a family. Having a common goal and divided responsibilities in order to reach that goal, because it would be impossible to [...]

October 20, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Leadership Cannot Be Taught

by Ray_anne

At eight years old, I was in my very first play. My director was Bud Cummings. Bud worked tirelessly with us less professional actors and certainly, young actors like myself, to teach us about team work in the theater and how to put the show ahead of our own personal interest. This was my first experience taking [...]

October 17, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Your One Thing – The Phoenix Infection, part 5

by Ray_anne

We spend our days working toward something, trying to be successful, trying to make a difference, achieving something bigger, greater than ourselves. Maybe that is too great of an assumption. Of course, not everyone is working toward greatness. Many give up, many assume they cannot achieve it, and many are stunted by lack of leadership. [...]

October 14, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Channeling My Inner Steve Jobs — Cynics, Critics, & Dreams

by Jessica Miller-Merrell

I said to myself last night, I would not write a blog post about Steve Jobs, and yet here I am. I’m writing a blog post about Steve Jobs. Last night I received speaker evaluations from a conference where I spoke at earlier this year. My speaker scores were near perfect, and I received some [...]