It was Loverboy who, in 1982, had a hit with the song “Working For The Weekend” but, 38 years later, it seems that their sentiment has been replaced for many people. It seems that for many, there is an expectation that “everybody’s working ON the weekend” … and in many cases, after hours during the week as well.

Why have we allowed this to happen?

A long time ago, I trained as a Physics teacher and, in doing so, came to appreciate that, to be a good physicist, I believe you must also be a good philosopher. In fact, much of what used to be called natural philosophy is now regarded as physics.

Consider a log cabin with three solid walls and a fourth wall with a single window. That window is perfectly square – from top to bottom, the window measures exactly 1 metre. From left to right, the window measures exactly 1 metre.

Can you picture it?

One the great catchphrases of the management consulting movement of the 80’s and 90’s was “think outside of the box”. Most agree that this slogan had its genesis in the “nine dots puzzle” where you are asked to connect nine dots, arranged in a 3 x 3 configuration, with four straight lines … but without lifting the pencil off the paper.

How many emails do you get each day? For most people, the answer is “too many”. And, of the emails you get, what proportion are written in black 11pt Calibri font? 80%? 90%?

Of the emails that you receive, what proportion of them do you read, digest and act upon? 10%? 20%?

Last time, I posted about the equality of importance within an organisation or team and I was surprised by the level of feedback I received. It seems that there are many businesses where the implied (if not, stated) importance seems to be directly proportional to how close someone is to the top of a organisational diagram.

A client was telling me about a conversation he overheard in his work place the other day which brought back a memory of the first day of my second year of teaching – in February 1985.

Firstly, the recent conversation as told by my client …

There’s a phrase that gets me fired up. Closely related to “same s**t, different day” (tidied up for family viewing), no one ever uses either phrase to inspire themselves or anyone around them, do they?

You ask someone how they are and there it is … same old, same old. Ask them how their day is going … same s**t, different day.

Last time, I posted about lazy recruiters and given the response I have received, I felt that a follow-up post was warranted.

I have noticed that many organisations have started using an even more automated process for their acceptance of resumes and cover letters using application systems (e.g. Taleo) . Typically, these are used by the big corporates in the market who have seemingly ditched the recruitment companies and started advertising directly through job boards and other networks like LinkedIn.

Here’s something that annoys me and I don’t think it’s just me.

And before I go any further, my apologies to the few recruiters who I think do a great job – you know who you are.

As you would know if you were to visit my LinkedIn profile (click here), I have what could be best described as an eclectic background when it comes to employment history and skill set. I clearly don’t fit the traditional model of accountant, personal assistant, project manager, school teacher (I was once), mechanic, etc, etc.