I hope this document tells us how to print money, especially since it costs $437.50 a page.  $3,500 for an 8 page PDF written in 2005?

Quote of the day:

“The world is governed more by appearances than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it.” - Daniel Webster

I have a feeling that this appearances versus reality thinking applies to many of our projects, especially reporting and BI.  If I had a nickel for every time someone was searching for the right logic / business rule to come up with the desired answer instead of trying to figure out why the data gave them that answer…I’d be a nickel smarter.

I must have picked up and put back this book 10 times on 10 visits to the bookstore before I actually purchased it. I mean, I've been doing this working in an office shtick for 20 years and you'd think I'd have learned the types of behaviors that work and the ones that don't. But the better part of me won out.

Frankel is an executive coach who has written what I believe is the most valuable book one could give to new professional, female or male. For each mistake, she tells a story of someone who has made the mistake and the price they pay. Then on the next page she gives tips on how to correct or avoid the behavior. I can see myself in some of these situations, especially early in my career.

Chapter 1 contains a self assessment, along with a description of how people learn to change their behaviors. I especially like the discussion about unconscious competence.

Chapter 2, How You Play the Game, discusses the types of work styles and approaches that get women into trouble - pinching company pennies, doing the work of others, working too hard, among others.
How You Act, Chapter 3, covers the tough problems that I constantly see women project: polling others before making a decision, needing to be liked, sharing too much personal information, decorating your office like a living room, and more.

Chapter 4, How You Think, delves into the problems women face when they think too much: viewing men as father figures, refusing perks, and making up negative stories. I found this chapter to be right on the button when comes to how women think.

The fifth chapter, How You Brand and Market Yourself keyed in on important aspects of how women diminish their position in order to be "nice". Minimizing your work or position, using only your nickname or first name, waiting to be noticed, working in stereotypical roles or departments were some of the most common mistakes I see women make.

Chapter 6, How You Sound, focused on how we women communicate: too much explaining, asking permission (we know what Grace Hopper said about this), apologizing, talking too fast, speaking softly, using touchy-feely language. Two of the mistakes are ones that I see all the time and I have witnessed how they negatively affect a women's chances for promotion: couching statements as questions, and the killer mistake, using long preambles. If you make these two mistakes on a regular basis, you need to get your hands on this book.

Chapter 7, How You Look, discusses how you present yourself, makeup mistakes, how you sit, how you dress.

Chapter 8, How You Respond, deals with how you respond to awkward and tough situations. One of my favourites here is what to say when you are asked to make coffee, get copies, or take notes. I learned very early in my career to choose to do these tasks poorly. My direct boss knew right away that I was faking it, but his bosses learned to ask some other woman to do it. Frankel here suggest to refuse and I'm not sure how that would go over. My rule is "never be good at something you don't want to do for the rest of your career."

The appendix has resources for further development.

I read this book thinking "do I do that?" much of the way through and I believe that's a great thing to get out of this book. I highly recommend this to all new professionals, as many of the mistakes are made by men as well.

Quote of the day:
Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong. - Dr. Thomas Fuller

I've been trying to read more about effective work habits, including tips on running model reviews and meetings in general. So how could I pass up a title like Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business?

This work, by author Patrick Lencioni, is indeed told as a fable. This story-telling approach worked for me, but I know some people would rather just get to the chase and spell out the meeting tips inside. Unlike Weinberg’s Secrets of Consulting, this book is not a series of parables, but a sort of case study for a fictional software company named Yip Software. Yip is doing well, but company executives have a lack of passion, a lack of fever to strategically lead the company into a much needed growth phase. Our protagonist, an intern, is frustrated by the lack of progress in the company's weekly two hour staff meeting, so he starts researching the film industry to find out what he can contribute. Throw in a bit of fierce company acquisition politics and a couple of contrarian meeting attendees and you have a story that most of us will recognize -- meetings can be painful, long, and demoralizing.

The meeting model proposed will go against conventional wisdom:

• conflict can be good in a meeting
• meeting leaders need to encourage conflict...and drama in meetings
• not all meetings should have a set time to end

There are more included in this great fable. Again, the story helped add suspense and drama to this work, but some readers may not be as happy to spend time on back story. However, I felt that the recommendations in the meeting model to be very valuable: they are the usual meeting tips.

Recommended to everyone who has experienced "death by meeting".