Clipping blog |
| A Graceful Loser is Still a Loser, Republicans. Posted: 28 Feb 2013 07:47 PM PST
Nevertheless, John Hinderaker at Power Line saw the confirmation as a reason to praise Senator Jeff Sessions, who spent 2 1/2 hours trying to rally his compatriots to stand against Lew.
As it happens, they didn’t have to. Of the 45 Senate Republicans, 21 voted to confirm Lew, including such rising stars as Kelly Ayotte and Rand Paul. Sessions impassioned speeches had about as much effect on his fellow Senators votes as a fly’s valiant charge into a windshield would slow a speeding tractor trailer. Nevertheless, Lew’s confirmation was a win for Republicans according to Hinderaker because karma might spin ’round and get the the Democrats.
No, it won’t. Political comeuppance is not inevitable. You have to create it, often through patient planning and clever maneuvering. The Republicans have had chances to lay that groundwork this year — the fiscal cliff; the debt ceiling; the nominations of John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, and Jack Lew; the sequester — and each time they shrug and claim victory because someone, somewhere made a good speech or accepted less than total defeat. The handwriting is not on the wall. America gave Democrats more power last November and, unless things change drastically, they’ll likely do so again next year. Thus far, Republicans have no answer, no plan, no fight. No pretty but futile speech will give the Democrats the political defeats they deserve. Senator Sessions did just fine but, as with most Republican shows of defiance over the past few months, he was undone by fecklessness from within his party. If they really want to bring some comeuppance, they’re going to have to come up with a plan, a real agenda, and some backbone. And we’ll have to stop applauding them for being graceful losers. (Photo Credit: portobeseno on Flickr)  |
| Is Working from Home Good, Bad, or a Path to Unicorn HappyLand? Posted: 28 Feb 2013 02:02 PM PST
No they do not, which ought to give us pause to consider why she’d bring down the hammer on her people. Perhaps Yahoo’s employees were abusing the privilege, as this Business Insider article suggests.
I understand what Mayer is trying to do. Yahoo is in trouble. Its infrastructure is too large and too expensive. Its people are scattered to hell and back and an unknown number of them aren’t working nearly as hard for Yahoo as they should. Mayer needs to get a handle on her company and, more importantly, on the people working under her. She can’t do that if she can’t get them in one place, working with each other, so she can see who is worth keeping and who is not. Yahoo’s old work-from-home arrangement seemed long on the “let people work from wherever they like” and short on the “make sure those people are still producing enough value to make the arrangement worthwhile”. There is a sizable down-side to working from home. Very few people (and I am one of them) take easily to working without structure or supervision. That’s not to say the skill is hard to acquire but if you’re like me and you’ve spent your whole life in traditional work environments working without a schedule imposed on you from an outside authority will daunt you. I find comfort in the routine — come to work by a certain time, work at a specific location, take your breaks at fairly predictable times, go home after eight or eight-and-a-half hours. I bet you do too. However, working without a safety net (or a cattle prod) is a skill most of us can learn but that learning doesn’t happen accidentally. I believe companies like Yahoo get into trouble when they believe they can simply cut employees from the leash of responsibility without training or much oversight and assume they won’t run wild, especially when for many years they were a more traditional “everyone gather in the cubicle farm” type of company. Matt Mullenweg is proud of his largely-autonomous work force, but he didn’t get it by accident. I’d bet big money he looks for people who show they could work by themselves and gives them follow-on training to make sure they have the skills and resources they need and the accountability his company needs. Sooooo…what does that mean for you? After all, this post isn’t much good to you unless I give you a little tidbit you can use, right? Here’s the good stuff. If you’ve a job that doesn’t absolutely require your physical presence, you can probably work from home at least one or two days a week. You’ll have to approach your bosses the right way — bring them proof it’ll cost them less money and won’t cost them any less productivity. The economy is rough enough these days that your pitch should get at least a fair hearing if you bring it down to the bottom line. Getting your employer to agree with you is the easy part, though. Once you’ve slipped the office leash, you’ll have to back up the promises you made in your boss’ office. Read up on the perils (maybe NSFW) and pitfalls and pick up as many tips from those who are doing what you want to do as you find useful (see Leo Babauta here and here and Singyin Lee). Yes, you will have gotten off of one lead and put yourself into another set of traces, but they’re traces you control. Be deliberate, make a plan and stick to it, and enjoy yourself. What? You wanted bullet points? Okay. Okay. Bullet points.
Of course, none of these tips are worth much if you work for Yahoo, but I’ve a suspicion that Mayer’s order is only temporary. Once she’s sure of her people and the company turns around, she’ll be a lot more likely to let people slip away to remote working locations. It’s the smart thing to do.
(Photo Credit: Fortune Live Media on Twitter)  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Sundries Shack To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar