Eager to be helpful and perhaps to appear knowledgeable, you may be tempted to answer a question without understanding fully what is being asked.  Many seemingly straightforward questions are asking something slightly different from what they may first appear to be asking.

Before contracting with someone or an organization to do a piece of work, it is prudent to get a concrete proposal or estimate.  This approach works in the business world and in your personal life, say for getting your car insured or fixed, planning a home improvement project, undergoing a medical procedure, and so on.  Get more than one bid and keep soliciting bids until you feel you have a good sense of what the market is offering.

Feedback, like everything else, should be categorized and prioritized. This podcast suggests some ways to handle feeback.

When thinking about any course of action, it is prudent both to check all assumptions and ask questions, such as which is more correct, a statement or its opposite.

Basis points (bps) are a unit of measure for interest rates (and other percentages), where one basis point is 1/100th of one percent.  The finance industry uses basis points to reduce ambiguity.

Getting into a market (and staying competitive) involves a clear-eyed analysis of what it takes to participate.  Ideally, you are already in a market and the barriers to new entrants are very high.  Before entering a new market, look at the barriers carefully.  When in a market, be realistic about the potential for new competitors to emerge.

Your job has many facets.  Looking only at compensation, broadly defined, there are many elements, such as pay and benefits, but also other things such as your title or how many people you manage.  Rather than assume your employer weighs each element the same way you do, be explicit about what's more and what's less important to you.  This episode goes into the topic in more detail.

Do not simply add a new item to a list; always place the addition into a priority ranking. When your manager asks you to perform a new duty, make certain you review your current, prioritized task list, and be clear where the new activity fits.

These episodes help the listener develop critical workforce skills such as effective communication, teamwork and collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking, decision making, time management, adaptability and resilience, technical literacy, career planning, and professionalism