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by Dan Oswald Fifteen years ago, country singer Toby Keith had a number one hit with his song “I Wanna Talk About Me.” The chorus of the song goes like this: I wanna talk about me Wanna talk about I Wanna talk about number one Oh my me my What I think, what I like, […]
Books are supposed to be my bailiwick here at the blog and after several posts on anything but, I figure it’s time to return to that groove. This week I want to focus on new businesses, or “startups,” if you prefer. If you’re starting a business and have grand plans for future growth, you really […]
Inspired by The Hunger Games trilogy, some employers may feel the urge to pile the employees onto a bus, head off site, and pit coworker against coworker in some form of physical competition under the guise of “team building.” Savvy employers are always looking for new and better ways to motivate the troops, solidify relationships, and build […]
by Dan Oswald The other night I walked in the door to find my youngest son watching the movie Remember the Titans. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you know I consider the movie one of my favorites. Of course, I sat down and watched the last 30 minutes of the film with […]
by Dan Oswald We talk a lot about teams in the workplace today. When we recruit to fill a position, we say, “We’re looking for team players.” When the team achieves success, we say, “We win as a team.” When we consider whether we have the right people on the team, we say, “The team […]
It was another nonproductive workday at The Office. After 10 years, Michael’s little known, self-written, self-produced, self-directed, and self-starred-in movie, Threat Level Midnight, finally debuted in Scranton. Despite a private staff-only viewing a few years back in which the movie was mistakenly taken for a comedy (it’s really Michael’s rip-off of James Bond and Austin Powers […]
Tonight’s episode serves as a good example of team building exercises gone wrong. Very wrong. But, believe it or not, Michael’s efforts to enlighten his staff about Kelly’s Indian culture was not the worst example of “team building” I’ve ever seen. It was a close call, but the award for “worst team building exercise” belongs […]