Companies seem to still be determining what respective value remote versus in-person work offer to their organization. Where any given organization lands on this issue depends on a number of factors, and though strong opinions abound, it isn’t an easy question to navigate.
From my vantage point as a financial executive in the healthcare industry, I believe virtual financial services offer tremendous value to organizations—to a point.
Read MoreBy Pamela J. Gallagher
I have been very fortunate with the bosses I’ve had over the years. On the whole, they have been people I respect and have been able to learn from. Who you work with—and for—can make or break a job. I have even seen colleagues whose entire careers have been upended by a terrible boss. Whether it’s a personality clash, a lack of management or leadership skills, or consistent issues with no improvement, how do you deal with a less-than-ideal boss, especially when you enjoy your work?
Read MoreBy Pamela J. Gallagher
Once, I was headed to a meeting where my team was in charge of providing dessert. On the way, I passed a bakery with a large chocolate cake in the window that was on sale. When I arrived at the office, I asked one of my colleagues to go get a cake from this bakery and gave him the money he’d need to buy the discounted cake in the window. When he arrived back from the bakery, he set down the carrot cake he had bought and told me I owed him $10. I questioned him about the chocolate cake I had seen on sale in the window display. It was only then I realized that I hadn’t told him which specific cake I wanted, only that I wanted him to get a cake from this particular bakery.
Read MoreBy Pamela J. Gallagher
When you are hired into a position after someone has left the organization, my advice is this: Don’t speak ill of the departed! You may not find things in good order, or the way you would like to have left them. However, don’t take the low-hanging fruit of blaming your predecessor for every issue that arises, and don’t accept finger-pointing from your new team either. In my decades of experience, there is always more to a situation than meets the eye.
Read MoreBy Pamela J. Gallagher
In my decades of leadership in healthcare, I have learned the hard way that not every person with a “C” in their title or who has been appointed to a board of directors understands what it means to lead. These deficient “leaders” are always looking for a magical solution to their organization’s issues, without considering that their insufficient leadership might be their common source.
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