JIST Has a New Publicist and a New Blog

I'm happy to announce that Selena Dehne has been promoted to the position of publicist for JIST. She has been our marketing copywriter for several years (see this post) and has done a tremendous job. She is a superb writer and I am very glad that she is now the official voice of JIST.

One of her first acts was to institute the new JIST Job Search and Career Blog. In it she will be dispensing helpful advice on all aspects of the job search industry.

Congratulations, Selena!

October Surprise: Wikert Leaves Wiley

Readers of Joe Wikert's Publishing 2020 blog got a big jolt yesterday when they tuned in to the news that he has left his position as VP and Executive Publisher at Wiley after 10 years. He's been hired as the new General Manager of O'Reilly Technology Exchange. O'Reilly's blogs are buzzing about his appointment, and a flurry of lurkers on his own blog have come out to congratulate him.

The new position will give Joe the chance to practice the kind of forward-thinking publishing ideas that he preaches on his blogs, so this is a perfect fit for him. Instead of moving to the San Francisco area where the company is headquartered, Joe will be working out of his home in suburban Indianapolis. But he will be traveling both east and west.

Congratulations, Joe! O'Reilly has made a very smart move!

Career Encouragement from a Teenage Millionaire

The keynote speaker at the NRWA conference was Cameron Johnson, whose recent fame derives from having been runner-up on Oprah's Big Give. But at age 23, he's already been a self-made millionaire for almost a decade.

Cute as a button and in command of the room, Cameron enthralled and amazed us with the story of his entrepreneurial ventures--from being the first eBay reseller of Beanie Babies to making $15,000 a day from his Internet business while still in high school. Cameron's business instincts have been unerring.

So imagine the dissonance I perceived when he said his latest venture was to write a book. During the Q&A session, I had to ask:

"I work in book publishing and I know it's not a very profitable business model," I began.

"Oh, it's terrible!" he interjected.

"So what was your motivation to write a book?" I asked.

He went on to elaborate on the grim statistics of the publishing business to the audience full of secretly aspiring authors. Then he said that the reason he wrote it was to tell his story, in response to many requests. He said he has an awesome agent in La Jolla who got him a bidding war like the ones we read about in Publishers Lunch, and presumably a big advance. So he was one of the lucky few, and You Call the Shots has been a successful venture.

The key takeaway from Cameron's riveting presentation was this:

"Put yourself out there. If you don't ask for it, you're never going to get it."

I intend to keep this thought in the forefront of my mind going forward.

How to Future-Proof Your Publishing Career

Everyone is in agreement: Book publishing is changing so rapidly, we might not recognize it 10 years from now. Today you might be on top of it all; but if you don't start thinking outside the proverbial box, tomorrow someone's going to ask where you got all your fossilized notions about what book publishing is.

But just what should we be doing today to make sure we're still employable in the future world of book publishing? Here to answer that question is Wiley VP and Publishing 2020 and Kindleville blogger Joe Wikert. I posed a few questions to him about the brave new world of publishing careers, and his responses are enlightening.

I'd love to get your insights on how all the new technology in publishing will affect the careers of individuals. What sorts of retooling should we be doing to make sure we're still relevant to the publishing industry of the future?

I think the most important thing we need to do in this (and probably any) industry is make a commitment to being lifelong learners. Technology is causing rapid change everywhere and if you're not keeping up with it, you're highly likely to fall behind. That's why every time I see a new and interesting applet, website, tool, device, etc., I try to test-drive it. I miss quite a few, but I also think I do a reasonably good job of staying on top of the important ones.

As far as our own industry is concerned, it's pretty clear that e-content is the future. E-books only represent a tiny fraction of any publisher's revenue base today, but that's likely to change--maybe not tomorrow or next year, but it will happen. (Btw, I'm still a big believer in print books...that's not going away in my lifetime, but e- is where it's at.)

With that in mind, I'm amazed to talk to so many people in our industry who have never touched a Kindle or Sony Reader, for example. Even though the Kindle is harder to find (because of Amazon's online-only distribution model), the Sony product isn't; just go to your local Borders or Target and check it out. I've had my Kindle for three months now and I can't tell you how much it's influenced my thinking, not just for the Kindle but for e-content in general.

Social networking is another critical area. Every publisher will want their content where communities are forming. What better way to accomplish that goal than to tap into social networks? You can't be overly obtrusive, of course, but I'm convinced we'll see all sorts of innovative ways to expose our content through this sort of platform.

Do you think book graphic designers should be learning skills for laying out/converting e-books, such as XML and whatever other technologies are being used?

Yes, I definitely think designers should be familiarizing themselves with the new challenges involved in e-devices. It's a totally new world and it introduces a new set of challenges from the print space. Every time I get a file/book/newspaper on my Kindle that looks like a simple port from print I just about want to scream! The tricky thing here is that we're working with rapidly moving targets. Right when you think you have all the angles figured for something like the Kindle or Sony Reader, boom, they'll probably release a new version or add new functionality. There again, staying on top of all the developments will be crucial.

What about editing--if the world moves to an e-book-heavy model, will editors need to adjust how they do their work?

The same goes for editors. This brings me back to the "content layering" drum I like to bang from time to time. It also applies to authors as well as editors. Just because a print product features a two-dimensional reading surface, why should we feel compelled to limit ourselves to that in the e-world? Simple hyperlinks are one thing and should be considered baby steps in this area. What I'm talking about is building a truly collapsible and expandable work.

Are you familiar with any of those book summary services out there? getAbstract is one and I believe another is called Executive Summaries. These guys take a 300-page book and boil it down to 4-5 pages. So in the e-world, what I'm describing is a product that could be read as a four- to five-page summary or a full-blown 300-page book. The reader gets to decide based on how much they want to drill down in each area. So I envision a getAbstract-like approach that allows me to click on any of the summary paragraphs and they expand into more in-depth coverage of that particular topic. Maybe there are only a few small pieces of the four- to five-page summary that I want more info on, so I expand there and cruise right through the rest of the summary. The key is I can shrink and expand as needed.

Authors and editors would have to learn how to write to this layering model I've described above, and that's no small task. But think about how much more usable the resulting product could be! Then again, I tend to get overly excited about this stuff...and I might be the only one!

How will acquisitions editors compete against people self-publishing their own e-books and selling them online?

We'll have to look at reinventing ourselves, don't you think? Author platform is such an asset to any great book these days and it doesn't matter whether it's self-published or done through a big publishing house. So where do we add value? Marketing and PR are two areas. Then there's the editorial/selection process. I'd like to think that editors still play an important role in finding the highest-potential projects, but there have been enough self-publishing hits to show that we don't catch everything. I think it will also be important for publishers to play a role in helping authors build their platforms. It should be a joint effort, not something an author should have to do on their own.

Again with the LinkedIn Schtik?

Today I took a few minutes to write recommendations for three former coworkers and post them on LinkedIn. These three are currently looking for new jobs and I wanted to help in some small way. If a potential employer checks them out online (and so many of them do that these days), they will see my positive words (and those of others) and will hopefully be more inclined to call them for interviews. And not that I am fishing for this, but I certainly wouldn't refuse it: My recommending them might lead them to recommend me in return.

The recommendation feature on LinkedIn is a high-tech version of the old "list of references" that job seekers used to be compelled to provide with their resumes. Later that evolved into just putting "References available upon request" at the bottom of the resume. But these days, career experts advise you to even skip adding this line. It just wastes space and is kind of a "duh" statement--if they ask you for names of references, of course you'll provide them. But maybe if they can look you up online and see a list of endorsements there, they won't even ask for a more formal list.

And while we're talking about online networking, this week my sister tried to encourage me to join Facebook. "Everybody's on there!" she gushed. I have some good reasons for my reluctance:

• It looks like another time sinkhole from which I might not escape.
• Maybe I don't want to reconnect with "everybody."
• The content there is more casual and I worry I might be tempted to post something that reflected badly on me if googled by a potential employer.
• Isn't one social networking site enough?

Of course, reconnecting with old friends could possibly lead to "hidden" opportunities, so I reserve the right to reverse my stance in the future!

How Kate Travers Got into Publishing

The Devourer of Books blog has an interesting guest post from publishing professional Kate Travers at HarperCollins. Kate talks about her lucky break that got her in the door, and gives a wonderful summary of how the publishing process (and an acquisitions editor's job) works. She is particularly insightful about how a book is marketed and sold. In a rather uncommon career move, she decided to jump from editorial to marketing, and found a renewed love for the industry there.

It's interesting to note how many of the commenters on the article said "I've always wanted a job like that, but I don't want to live in New York." Hello, folks! My readers and I are here to tell you that you really can have it all--bucolic living and a career in book publishing. You just have to be a bit more creative about it!

In addition to all this, check out the Devourer of Books blog itself, especially its blogroll--tons of blogs devoted to reviewing books. Looks like a bonanza for readers as well as publishing PR people!

What I Should Have Said About Management Trends

Yesterday I told you about my somewhat disconcerting interview with the Publishers Weekly reporter. Julie Cancio Harper suggested that I could write a post or two about the management insights that I didn't manage to share with the reporter. So here were my neglected talking points:

• With the retirement of the Baby Boomers, experts predict a massive labor shortage that no amount of immigrants can fill. (The expert in particular that I'm citing is Lynn Guillory, VP of HR for Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Company, who spoke a couple years ago at the Career Management Alliance conference on this topic.)


• Thus, retaining the best employees will be of paramount importance. On average, it costs 150 to 250% of an employee's annual compensation to hire and train a replacement for them.


• Employers will have to go to great lengths to attract and keep the Gen-Y and Millennial workers, who have in general experienced a great deal of hands-on parenting and expect their managers to be more caring and humanistic than the stereotypical "big-business" management protocol.


• One of the biggest factors that causes employees to leave a job is not liking their boss.


• Enter JIST's upcoming flagship business title, The PITA Principle: How to Work with and Avoid Becoming a Pain in the Ass. It talks about various categories of "PITAs" that you might work with and how to get along with them (and it capitalizes on a business book trend of a clever/silly hook by comparing these types of people to different types of PITA sandwiches, such as the Soggy PITA, a needy whiner).


• The PITA Principle can also help train older managers to recognize and fix their own PITA characteristics, which makes them easier to work with, which in turn helps retain those precious Millennial workers.


• In addition to the importance of retention, productivity continues to be a key concern for businesses. As they merge and downsize, fewer people are doing more of the work. And if their work environment is filled with PITAs, they'll waste a lot of time dealing with them and will be less productive.

That's my take on things. Being a Gen-Xer, I'm pretty much watching the fray from the sidelines and hoping those whippersnappers will reshape the workplace into something more friendly instead of just falling in line like we did.

Cube Chic

Wired magazine online has a fun piece on a book called Cube Chic by Kelley L. Moore. The book features photos of "22 whimsical workspace makeovers" to take your own veal-fattening pen from drab to fab. Of course, the Zen Cube and the Nap Cube are just over-the-top examples. But supposedly there are takeaway nuggets that can help you jazz up your own cubicle without getting yourself tossed out the door along with your bamboo wallpaper.

You can also check out the apparently out of print Pimp My Cubicle by Reverend Smoothello G. Debaclous.

And when your cube is all decorated, here are some tips for coexisting in Cubeville, from the forthcoming fourth edition of Job Savvy by Laverne Ludden, which I am editing this week:

• Use a reasonable voice. Cubicles are not soundproof. Others can hear what you say. Use a quiet voice when conducting business.
• Think about your cell phone use. Check your company’s policy about personal cell phone use. Avoid disturbing your coworkers with the ringing of a cell phone. Set the ringer on “vibrate” or turn it off. Take the phone with you when you leave the cube.
• Treat your coworkers’ cubicles as offices. Knock before entering. Wait till the person responds to you before walking in. If they are on the phone or busy with someone else, leave and come back later.
• Hold conversations in the cube. Sitting in your cube and talking to the person in the next cubicle disturbs everyone around you. Leaning over the wall for a conversation is just as distracting. When you need to speak to anyone, enter the cube for the conversation.
• Avoid overcrowding in the cubicle. Unless you are meeting with only one other person, a cubicle is not large enough to hold a meeting. A conference room is a more appropriate place to have a meeting.
• Be considerate of others. A cubicle office is shared space. Eating strong-smelling foods in your cubicle may irritate others. Using scented lotions or perfumes affects people’s allergies. Coworkers who hum, chew gum loudly, or clip their fingernails annoy others.
• Express your concern. If you are unable to do your work because of a coworker’s actions, politely discuss the problem with the individual. A direct approach is much more kind and effective than gossiping about the individual or avoiding the problem.

My Experience with a Career Coach

Many of the top career book authors these days call themselves "career coaches." If you've never heard the term before, it might sound a little funny. Do they blow whistles at people and make them run laps if they have a bad job interview?

In April 2006, I attended the Career Masters Institute (now Career Management Alliance) conference in San Francisco. I go to this conference as often as I can to support my authors (who are founding members) and hopefully find some new authors. At the end of the conference they were giving out door prizes, and I ended up winning one. It turned out to be two free sessions with a career coach named Wendy Terwelp of Opportunity Knocks in Wisconsin.

I figured, what better way to understand what career coaches do than to be coached a little? So we scheduled our two hour-long sessions. We started by getting to know each other. Turns out, Wendy was a journalist in her early career. So she could relate to me.

Wendy asked a lot of questions, and pretty quickly was able to pinpoint my issues and size up what's holding me back in my career. She gave me assignments and held me responsible for tackling my issues. She also helped me lay the foundations of a plan for career progress. I kept her advice in my head and it played a big role in my recent promotion.

I didn't end up paying for more sessions because, well, it would have been expensive (at that time, her services ran about $200 an hour). But she has stayed in contact with me, sending Christmas cards and birthday wishes each year, and occasionally touching base by e-mail.

So if you are feeling really stuck in your career or your job search, I can recommend giving a career coach a try. Just a few sessions can make a big difference. Check out the Career Coach Academy website for a listing of coaches around the country (but remember that you don't have to be in the same place--coaching works fine over the phone).

Give Thanks for Your Mentors

"Oh no," you're thinking. "Not another cheesy Thanksgiving-themed blog post!" But really, there's a relevant message here about how mentors can help shape your career (and your life), if you will bear with me through my self-indulgent little trip back in time.

I've been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about the people who helped me figure out where I belonged and find the work I was meant to do. I wonder how I got so lucky to have literally fallen into so much good advice from so many caring people. Although I owe a lot to my parents (insisting that I go to college, and instilling in me their entrepreneurial spirit and "git-'er-done" work ethic), they were very young and naive about careers and education.

The first concerned outsider to step in was my third-grade teacher, the late Charlotte Petkovsek, who told me bluntly that just because I was a girl, it didn't mean I had to be a teacher. She told me to think bigger. (Not that being a teacher is bad, but it wouldn't have fit well with my introverted nature, anyway.)

Then there was the late Don Weil, the middle-school band director at my school. After I took his required music aptitude test but declined to join the program, he went directly to my parents (not hard, since he lived next door) to convince them to let me join the band. I shudder to think what my life would have been like without the camaraderie and joy of being a musician. It brought me out of my shell and helped me make so many later connections that propelled me to my career destiny.

As a high-school freshman, a band friend's dad, who happened to be the dean of arts and sciences at the University of Evansville, locked in on me and said, "You will be an English major at UE." Sam Longmire ended up being my advisor and confidant for many years. I still remember him trying to pry from me an idea of my dream career. "What do you see yourself doing?" he asked. When I gave a vague idea (working with words in an office, mostly by myself, but with moderate interaction with others), he steered me toward taking communications courses along with my literature (much as it pained him as a literary purist).

One summer I had an internship in the promotions department at the Evansville Courier. It was quasi- journalism--writing ads disguised as newspaper articles. But our supervisor Ann Ennis made it worthwhile, drilling us on our writing and our reporting techniques until they were strong. She lined up informational interviews to help us with our career choices. And she left us with an indelible piece of advice: "If you ever stop learning and growing in your job, no matter how comfortable you are, force yourself to move on."

After a couple of rocky post-grad jobs and a move to Indianapolis, Joe Wikert plucked me from obscurity and hired me as a copy editor at Macmillan Computer Publishing. What was special about working with Joe was how he took the time to educate everyone about the big picture of publishing, instead of just expecting us to focus on the little picture of editing. Sometimes I still find myself asking, "What would Joe do?" And I usually make the right choice. Recently, he's also the one who pushed me to post to this blog daily, and provided the "spark" that started getting it noticed by mentioning it on his own very popular blog.

And I'd like to thank my JIST mentors (Sue Pines, Janet Banks, and Mike Farr) for teaching me about the careers business and giving me the freedom to do my own thing here. Especially important was their support of my three years as a two-day telecommuter while my little girl was young. It helped balance things out better and got me a few steps closer to "having it all."

I've left off lots of people, no doubt. But I think I've made my point. Mentors are everywhere--they're your teachers, your next-door neighbors, and your bosses and coworkers. You never know when you'll run across that one person who will make a huge difference in your life. During this week when we pause about 30 seconds from eating to think about what we're thankful for, think of your mentors. And someday, you can pay it forward.

"Young to Publishing Group" Launches Website

The Association of American Publishers last week announced the launch of a new website aimed at entry-level publishing professionals. YoungtoPublishing.com is filled with resources, including newsletter articles, helpful links, information on the mentoring program, and updates on the group's events, which include brown-bag lunch programs featuring prominent people in the industry (most of this takes place in NYC).


"The Young to Publishing Group is an initiative of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) that strives to give entry-level and junior industry employees (typically with 0-5 years of publishing experience) a chance to build a community outside of their own publishing house and to educate themselves about the publishing industry as a whole. MEMBERSHIP IS FREE, and is open to all 'young' (not far advanced in growth, junior, lacking experience) persons currently employed by a book-publishing house," said Christina Rodriguez, project coordinator at the AAP.

Of particular interest is the 60-Minute Mentoring program, which pairs young publishing professionals with each other to share their experiences over coffee. The program is open to people outside New York, and their "coffee" can be over phone or e-mail. Once the 60 minutes is up, there's no further obligation (unless, of course, you become friends and want to continue meeting on your own).

The group, which is under the auspices of the AAP's Diversity, Recruit & Retain Committee, has been around for six years. You can join by filling out a short questionnaire at the site.

Thanks to Joe Wikert for passing along the press release!

Blackhawk Helicopter Parents: Do You Have Them, or Are You One?

Almost every day you hear something in the media or anecdotally about "helicopter parents"--those Baby Boomers who want the best for the kids and end up going overboard and being just a bit too involved. Many people blame/credit them for creating the monster/phenomenon that is Generation Y--the new young workers who expect the workplace to be a kinder, gentler place than it currently is.

Everyone has a different opinion. For instance, this morning I read this post from Sue Danborn, Training and Development Coordinator for Volt Information Services. Not only does she encounter helicopter parents advocating for their kids at work; she also confesses to being one herself!

Gen Y spokesperson Ryan Healy on his Employee Evolution blog writes in defense of the helicopter parent and likens them to agents.

There was talk on 60 Minutes this week that the kind of work ethic engendered in children of helicopter parents will be the downfall of our nation's economic dominance.

As a Gen-Xer stuck in the middle, I'm not going to take a side here. Just ask youself: Do I coddle my kids too much? or Have my parents coddled me too much? Or, in a world where so many kids are neglected, is it such a bad thing to be a parent who goes the extra mile to make sure their kid does well in life?

News About My Own Publishing Career

Last week my boss, associate publisher Susan Pines, sent out the following announcement:

Our new workbook product line manager is...

...Lori Cates Hand!

As you all know, Lori has done a great job managing our trade line, which has more than doubled in sales. Now she's ready for more responsibility and challenge. Effective immediately, Lori is taking on the workbook product line as well.

In her first few years at JIST, Lori edited several workbooks, including Job Savvy, which is currently in revision. She's also worked with many of our key workbook authors, including Vern Ludden, Mike Farr, Kathy Troutman, and Bob Orndorff.

Please join me in thanking Lori for her many contributions to JIST and congratulate her on her new, expanded role.

This all came about because of Dave Anderson's departure a few weeks ago. He had been managing the workbook product line (as well as the smaller assessment product line). When he left, the idea was to replace him with another product line manager. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made for me to volunteer to take on another line. In return, I requested that we use the open "head count" to hire a development editor (whom I will supervise) to take over more of the detailed, day-to-day editing tasks from me. It will be easier to find someone with those sorts of skills. Plus, it really does advance my career by making my responsibilities more "big picture."

Workbooks have always been the bread and butter of JIST, because they appeal to our core non-trade markets. Trade has suffered a bit of an image problem, especially since our merger with EMC/Paradigm, because the retailers take such a big discount and send back so many unsold books. We have to sell a lot more trade books to make the same amount of money that we do on workbooks. So in JIST terms, taking over workbooks is a good move.

So wish me luck during the transition period--before I get someone hired and up to speed. It's going to be busy for me.

As an aside, my parents had a big week in the filial bragging department last week. My younger sister resigned her position as Manager of Customer Research with Hilton Hotels' corporate office to take a higher-paying research job with FedEx in Memphis. Her job is to figure out who customers are, what they want, and what will convince them to buy. Her first order of business will be to test FedEx's upcoming Super Bowl ads.

Debbie Weil on Business and Professional Blogging

To continue with sharing the excellent advice I picked up at last week’s Brand You World international branding summit, here are some tips on writing an effective business blog from Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book. I might add that these tips are also relevant for writing your own professional blog for career advancement and personal branding.

• Package what you write. Give numbered lists of tips, such as “Top 10 Tips for Writing Your Resume.” It makes for good reading and other bloggers will link to it. Be sure to include a synopsis paragraph at the top.
• Always link to other sites in your posts. Every post should have at least one link. “Links are the currency of the Internet,” Debbie said. You can link back to your own past posts, articles you’ve read, Wikipedia entries, etc. Make each post a resource worth reading and coming back to.
• Use the right keywords in your headings and posts. Think like a journalist when titling your posts. Doing so will attract readers as well as Google. Be specific and colorful.
• If you can’t commit to blogging consistently over a period of a year or two, don’t do it. Try to post at least once or twice a week. (Debbie cited some bloggers who post three times a day!) Such frequent posting will help your blog come up higher in search engine results. (I can testify to that: After three and a half months of posting nearly every day, I have captured the #1 ranking on Yahoo for the term “Publishing Careers.”)
• Allow comments on your blog. To generate more, you can ask for them in your posts, or e-mail a link to the post to your friends and colleagues, asking them to take a look and leave a comment.
• Consider using “controversy” to make your blog stand out. Obviously, tread carefully and always be true to your personality.
• Keep focused on what you’re trying to achieve with your blog.
• Consider embedding video clips in your blog. You can use YouTube to post them and then link back to them from your blog.
• Don’t make posting to your blog harder than it has to be. Think of it as a tiny task. “You’re always running across ‘bloggy bits’ during the day,” Debbie said, such as relevant articles and blog posts, that you can refer to. Your entries can be short.
• Establish yourself as someone who has something to say. You’ll attract speaking engagements and media quotes, and maybe even a new job or consulting gig.

In closing, Debbie offered one last piece of advice: Just do it! It will be worth the time and effort.

Two Events of Note Next Week

On my radar are two events next week, one of which is more of an FYI. The other is a must-do.

First, I see that Santa Barbara City College is having its annual Meet the Pros communication career expo on Wednesday, November 7. Much like the event at SMU last week, alums with communication (including publishing) careers are coming to campus to relate their experiences to students as they plan their impending transfers to four-year colleges. Unless you're a student there, you probably won't be attending (but get a look at their campus and maybe you'll decide you want to be a student there!).

The other event is a huge, worldwide teleconference. The Personal Branding Summit, which takes place November 8 starting at 10am New York time, celebrates 10 years of the personal branding phenomenon. Anyone looking for a job or working to advance their career should be working on defining and communicating their own personal brand. And what better way to start than to hear 24 of the world's foremost experts on the subject--for FREE? Presenters include William Arruda of REACH Branding, Richard Bolles (author of What Color Is Your Parachute?), Guy Kawasaki, and Susan Britton Whitcomb (my author!). I spoke to William Arruda about it earlier this week and he noted that although the event runs 12 straight hours, people are certainly welcome to drop in for just the presentations that interest them most. All speakers and sponsors are donating their time and money to the event. You too can make a donation, which will go to KIVA, an organization that sponsors third-world entrepreneurship. See you there!

Working with a Difficult Boss

In honor of Boss's Day this week, I wanted to share some tips for working with difficult bosses of all types. These tips come from our book, First-Job Survival Guide. One of the authors, Diane Decker, is here this week presenting at JIST's job search seminar. She's an organizational effectiveness coach in Chicago.

In your working life, you'll have all different sorts of bosses, from ones who partner with you for success to those who make your life miserable just because they can (for example, Michael on "The Office"). You can learn something from all of them. Here are the authors' tips for making the best out of some of the most common bad-boss situations:

What to Do if Your Boss Is a Poor Performer

• Write short reports summarizing your accomplishments and send them to your boss and other relevant team members.
• Find ways to use your talents to offset your boss’s weaknesses.
• Stay alert for open job positions within the organization.
• Establish or strengthen a network to help you stay in the flow of communication.

What to Do if Your Boss Doesn’t Communicate

• Meet with your boss and have a list of questions you would like answered, with the reasons the information will help your results.
• Keep your eyes and ears open to learn needed knowledge from the informal network.
• Try using e-mail and assess how your boss responds.
• Talk directly to the recipients of your work to learn what they need.

What to Do if Your Boss Shows Favoritism

• Accept that some people will click together better than others.
• Look for a mentor to give you career guidance and coaching.
• Ask your boss what he or she expects of you, and regularly seek feedback.
• Focus on improving and maximizing your own results, rather than concerning yourself with the favorite employee.

What to Do if Your Boss Is Hard to Pin Down for a Meeting

• Send a short e-mail or voice-mail message when you need an issue resolved or a question answered.
• See whether your boss is available over lunch or a cup of coffee.
• If you have a problem or issue, come forward with various solutions or options and your recommendations.
• Request short meetings, send your agenda ahead of time, and come well prepared.

What to Do if Your Boss Takes Credit for Your Work and Ideas

• Acknowledge your boss’s contributions to your success.
• Share your concerns with your boss about others’ awareness of your results.
• Keep track of and publish a summary of your goals and accomplishments.
• Actively look for a career mentor to provide guidance and coaching.

What to Do if Your Boss Is Unapproachable

• To increase your understanding of the situation, identify the possible cause(s) for this behavior.
• Stay communicative and interact positively with your boss.
• Use nonconfronting language to let him or her know what you notice and its impact on you.
• During a meeting with your boss, identify common concerns and challenges, share your perspectives, and offer assistance.

What to Do if Your Boss Looks Over Your Shoulder

• At the beginning of a project, ask your boss what he or she would like his or her role to be in the project.
• Instead of waiting until the end of the project, or when your boss comes to you, schedule regular project updates.
• Proactively communicate to help instill confidence in your ability to manage the details.
• Regularly communicate barriers and the ways you are addressing them, to help prove your abilities.

What to Do if Your Boss Has a Large Number of Direct Reports

• Ask your boss his or her preferred method of communication. Be concise and clear in what you share.
• Tell your boss what is going well and the ways you are addressing your challenges.
• Identify ways to stand out from the crowd of subordinates--look to expand your role in a way that can help reduce your boss’s workload, or forward articles of relevance with a short note.

What to Do if Your Boss Pits Direct Reports Against Each Other

• Share your concerns with trusted peers, and decide to work together collaboratively, despite your boss’s behavior.
• Go to your boss and share your concerns with the culture that has been created, what you would suggest, and the reasons it would be an improvement for the organization’s results.
• If you stand alone in a desire to change the culture, determine whether you are willing and able to stay and endure your boss’s regime.

Blogging for Career Advancement

Yesterday the Monster blog had a post about blogging for career advancement. I agree: If you've got a passion for something, you've got a "voice," and you've got the discipline to post regularly, starting a blog can do wonders for your career.

For one thing, it makes for some wonderful networking opportunities. (Are you tired of hearing me harp about networking yet? Get used to it--it's here to stay.) But an even more tangible side effect is that when a potential employer googles you (and studies say more and more of them do it all the time), if you post to your blog regularly, your posts are likely to come up in the first page of results. And as personal branding expert Kirsten Dixson says, it's better to be able to control what people see about you online than to let them dig up any "digital dirt" on you.

So try it out: Google yourself. Do you see anything horrifying--or worse, nothing at all? Better get busy with a focused and well-written blog!

Free Teleconference: Promotable People

This coming Thursday (3 to 4pm eastern), one of my authors, Susan Britton Whitcomb, is offering a free teleconference to promote her latest book, 30-Day Job Promotion. In this teleconference, Susan will

• Reveal 10 characteristics of highly promotable people.


• List the organizational factors that will enhance or impede the likelihood of promotion.


• Share some common mistakes that individuals often make when going for a promotion.


• Illuminate the five A's to a powerful promotion plan.


• Offer a career model to determine one's promotability factor.


• Describe the "crucial conversations" with managers that are prerequisites to being promoted, including what and what not to say, when to say it, and how to follow up.


• Highlight some common roadblocks to promotion, such as being too valuable in one's current role, having a difficult relationship with one's current manager, and dealing with the organizational politics, along with strategies for how to manage these roadblocks.

So you're saying, what's the catch? Well, there isn't one, really. Susan just wants to get the word out about her book. Oh, and it's not a toll-free call. But seriously, Susan is such an amazing source of ideas on careers that I urge you to check it out. You can register here.