The Cranky Middle Manager Show #312 The Future of the MBA Ken Starkey
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #008 – Should You Stay or Should You Go?
Posted on 31. Jul, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #008
Every middle manager at one time or another has gazed over the tops of our cubicles at people who work for themselves. We also know plenty of people who made a break for it and came scurrying back. Sure, the coffee is worse where you are, but the benefits are there and the checks don’t bounce.
Should you stay or should you go? (I would usually not quote The Clash for business purposes but since they’ve already sold their souls to advertisers I’m not going to sweat it. That sound you just heard was my last shred of idealism going up the vacuum cleaner). Today we talk to career coach Vickie Austin about the choices we make to stay or go. She will also give us a summer reading list of good books, if you can step away from your computers long enough to crack them.
0:00 Welcome to the show. We jump right in to the quote of the week, from a Stoic philosopher. Next time you come across that boss who tells you to quit whining, remember, she’s not a hard-case, she’s a stoic. It will help you cope and you’ll know what you reallymean when you say it.
4:00 Say hi to Vickie Austin from Choices Worldwide. She’s been there and made the leap to working for herself.
8:30 Not everyone is cut out to work for themselves…”freedom” is a misnomer. It’s also another word for nothing left to lose, but why drag Kris Kristofferson into this?
10:20 The first book on the list-The E Myth Revisited, by Michael E Gerber. Are you ready to be technician, manager and entrepeneur?
15:50 The 4 components of a career marketing plan: Goal, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics.
18:20 Can you have a foot in two canoes? Staying employed while planning to make a break for it.
25:00 A moment of “heaviosity”- networking is not about walking up to strangers with business cards.
27:30 More books: “Callings”, by Greg Levoy Poe Bronson’s “What Should I Do With My Life?”,
“What Color is Your Parachute? ” “The Brand You 50″ by Tom Peters- yes him again. “Love is the Killer App” by Tim Sanders from Yahoo. “Behind the Bottom Line- Powering Business Life with Spiritual Wisdom”
Happy Reading and don’t let the weasels get ya down.
Wayne
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #007
Posted on 22. Jul, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #007
The Problem With HR- Bill Hutter
Greetings once again from the Cranky Middle Manager Show. Through the wonders of technology I greet you from the wilds of Canada where I’m on vacation. Tracking vacation time of course, is one of the more glorious and universally praised uses for HR professionals.
0:00 Not everyone feels such a groundswell of love for those who toil in HR, Human Resources, Human Capitol, Cubeland….whatever you call your particular HR gremlins. That’s what this show is about.
2:20 Classic quote of the week- Sure Francis Bacon died in a silly way but he had something to say to us none the less.
3:10 We talk to Bill Hutter of Sequent, an HR consulting and outsourcing firm about why HR and Middle Managers don’t always see eye to eye. Apparently things were so much simpler when they were just “Personnel”
7:00 Sometims HR does what they do because the managers don’t know what they’re supposed to do. Let’s keep that just between us, kay?
12:30 Another guest grumbling about performance reviews and the whole process… is there a theme developing here?
15:30 HRs do have professional organizations. Check out The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and see what they’re up to. How successful they are is yours to decide.
17:00 In defense of HR folks…here’s the American Family Medical Leave Act… YOU explain it to your employees and see how it goes for you.
23:00 HR and Middle Managers can’t just assume good intent. It’s that “Communication” thing again.
Please let us know if there’s something you’d like to hear about or someone you’d like to hear from. Who’s the biggest person you can think of you’d like to hear on the show? Hey, all you can do is try.
Don’t forget to subscribe and tell your friends, don’t forget to link to us, and don’t let the weasels get you down.
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #006 Getting Behind the Numbers
Posted on 13. Jul, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #006
Getting Behind the Numbers with Cheryl O’Donoghue
Hello everyone and welcome to yet another Cranky Middle Manager Show, complete with bluesy theme music in honor of our being available on iTunes.
Speaking of iTunes, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to this podcast if you like it. You can subscribe through iTunes or any of the RSS podcast applications to the right of the page here ———> I don’t understand it either, but it works.
0:00 Our show this week is dedicated to Lichas of Lacedomon who represents all that is best in middle management and did it while wearing a toga and sandals- which is even harder than getting credibility on casual Fridays.
2:00 The classic quote of the week is from the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, not a middle manager, to be sure, but a pretty smart guy none the less.
3:00 Our guest is Cheryl O’Donoghue, brains behind www.getbehindthenumbers.com. One of the big problems middle managers face is working with consultants hired by their bosses….bold talk from a consultant.
11:30 A story for our times..
20:00 A less happy story- what happens when you only go by the numbers
25:00 How do you get behind the numbers by asking the uncomfortable questions?
Want to read this case study of intuition helping “get behind the numbers?” Email Cheryl O’Donoghue at odonoghue@ameritech.net and she’ll send you a copy.
Hey, if you want to check out my book, “A Philistine’s Journal- an Average Guy Tackles the Classics” and find out where the idea for the Classic Quote of the Week came from, click HERE
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #005
Posted on 06. Jul, 2005 by Wayne in Podcast
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #005
High Impact Middle Management is NOT an Oxymoron
Our special guest is Lisa Haneberg, consultant, supporter of this podcast and author of the book High Impact Middle Management.
0:00 Welcome to the show…. This show is dedicated to that icon of middle management, Admiral William Bligh- yes THAT William Bligh…wanna guess how my week’s been?
1:50 The quote of the week is from Cicero- anything said by a guy in a toga sounds smarter than whatever spills out of my mouth
2:30 Welcome the writer of the blog ManagementCraft.com and the book “High Impact Middle Management†Overall, I liked the book, but I started with the quibbles…
6:30 How did she make the move from the HR department to caring about Middle Managers
10:15 Where does a person start to become a High Impact Manager?
12:30 8 Principles of High Impact Middle Managers
22:00 Uhhh hate to break it to you, but everyone KNOWS how you’re doing as a manger…
34:00 Check out the worksheets and tools on Lisa’s Blog www.managementcraft.com