Our Corporate Life
March 19, 2013   •   Volume 4, Issue 6   •   ISSN: 2154-3240    
In This Issue
♦   Feature Article: The Art of Handling Failure
Ask Amanda: Why am I getting an average rating on my review—the scores don’t add up?
♦   Practical Tips: Polishing Your Online Persona
 
The Art of Handling Failure

Given the pace and sheer volume of projects that most companies expect teams to handle, it’s logical to expect that there will be some failures in the bunch. Add in the pressure to be innovative and you’re almost guaranteed to make mistakes. Unfortunately our expectation—usually reinforced by management—is that we will consistently hit home runs. The anxiety created by these expectations can lead to bureaucracy, micromanagement, and ultimately, paralysis.

How can you avoid over-complicating and over-managing projects to increase your chances of success?
read more

Thought to Ponder

Pessimism stems from inaction.

  
Practical Tips: Polishing Your Online Persona

With social networks, information sharing, and online communication, chances are good that formerly private information—where you live, your income, and your marital status—is now public. Combine those facts with outdated material, and inaccurate or misleading posts, and you’ve got a profile that can negatively influence how searchers see you. Why should you care? According to an ExecuNet study, 90% of recruiters check out executive candidates online.
read more

    
 ask Amanda
Question:

I was rated "excellent" on more than half of the items in my performance review but I only ended up getting a "satisfactory" overall rating. WTF? V.H., Boston, MA

Amanda Mitchell
Answer:

Not knowing the specifics, I can only offer food for thought.

Most companies grade on a curve—this means that the number of “excellent” ratings any given manager can assign is limited. Also, the overall rating isn’t usually determined by averaging all the sub-ratings because some goals/activities/results are more important than others.
read more
    
     
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Recommended Resources

Check out Outspoken Media's excellent Online Reputation Management Guide for tips on how to assess, build, monitor and track your online reputation.

Read our Latest Book Review - Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected by Devora Zack.

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About Us: Our Corporate Life LLC (OCL) is a company that offers a new system for reducing unnecessary workplace suffering caused by the organizational, interpersonal, and ethical issues of our time. It is founded on the belief that adhering to core human values and achieving business success are always compatible. Working with both companies and individuals, OCL helps create solutions that enable corporate employees at every level to optimize profits while enabling them to thrive in the corporate environment. OCL was founded by Amanda Mitchell to help meet the needs of people working in corporate America during this transformative moment in our nation's history. The OCL system reflects her experience and insight gained from a 20–year corporate career working with Fortune 500 companies, and as an executive coach to senior–level corporate executives. Our Corporate Life
 
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