.

November 12, 2013 One of the most common questions asked by an employee of his or her company is, “What can I do to get promoted?” The thinking behind the question is obvious: The employee assumes there be some key initiative, some specific action, some high visibility project, or some critical role the employee should take on, and if they do, promotion is almost guaranteed. And maybe, just maybe, that is occasionally true. But there’s a much better approach. The key to advancing – whether professionally or personally – is not based solely on what you should do (although what you do is certainly important.) The key to advancing is based on what you should  be . Attitude informs action. Attitude informs behavior. Attitude is the driving force behind every achievement, every accomplishment, every success, attitude, where performance and therefore advancement is concerned, is  everything . Here are some of the attitudes and perspectives that inform the actions...

By   Claire Diaz-Ortiz Like many of you, I get a lot of emails. And, like many of you, a lot of those emails are asks or pitches for things. Some are good, some are not so good. This week, I got one of the latter kind. It wasn’t no-good-terrible-bad, but it had some key flaws. In response, I forwarded the email to a colleague outlining the problems with the pitch. I didn’t mince words. And then I pressed send. And even though I checked the “to” address, because this was the morning that gmail was down (again), I had to refresh the page. And, when the page popped up again,  it had repopulated with the email of the person who sent me the pitch in the first place , not the colleague I was trying to forward it to. And it was already sending. And I screamed. ( And then I tweeted .) I spent the next five minutes trying to figure out how to unsend an email in gmail. By the time I figured it out, it was too late. A person I respect had just seen my candid thoughts abou...

By Claire Diaz-Ortiz I’m learning to say no. Heck, anyone who’s word of the year is REST better start getting better at it, right? In attempts to practice my NO muscle, I pulled together a list of 50 ways to go about saying the dirty word. The important part about NO? It should be: truthful, firm, and not overly apologetic or explanatory (my particular weakness). Here goes… 50 Ways to Say No No. Nope. No thanks, I won’t be able to make it. Not this time. No thanks, I have another commitment. Unfortunately, it’s not a good time. Sadly I have something else. Unfortunately not. I have something else. Sorry. Apologies, but I can’t make it. Maybe another time. Sounds great, but I can’t commit.  I’m booked into something else. I’m not able to make that time. Thanks, but no thanks. I’m not able to make it this week/month/year. I’ve got too much on my plate right now. I’m not taking on anything else right now. Bandwidth is low, so I won’t be able to make it work....

November 14, 2013 A graduating MBA student in Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business this year nailed down a private equity job in the northeast with a total compensation package north of half a million dollars. This year’s highest paid Stanford MBA, who had a business undergraduate degree and three to five years of work experience before getting a graduate degree, reported receiving a guaranteed annual bonus of $337,500–a sum that does not even include potential tuition reimbursement, relocation expenses, auto allowances, profit sharing, stock or stock options. If that student received the median base salary in private equity of $150,000 along with the median signing bonus of $35,000, the person’s total first-year compensation would be a minimum of $522,500. The numbers are disclosed in Stanford’s recently published employment report for the Class of 2013. All told, Stanford MBAs reported median base salaries of $125,000–exactly the same as last year. But median...

Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan, CEESP/SDPI The Kalabagh dam is controversial for many reasons. A key reason has to do with the decision making process. This process is highly centralized, politically coercive --the belated decision for consensus notwithstanding -- and technically flawed. WAPDA, the administrative and technical authority, appears bent upon an ex-post vindication of a politically motivated decision. Regrettably, when the need is for broad-based stakeholder consultations, as a basis for informed and democratic decision making, the existing trend points towards even greater centralization. For instance, the rotating chairmanship of the Indus River System Authority has recently been converted into a permanent appointment, provincial resolutions against Kalabagh have been given short shrift, the Council of Common Interest (CCI) has consistently ignored the matter and community concerns continue to be met with blatant disregard. Small wonder then that the political leadership ...