Entry-Level Rebel

Daniel Pink, author of upcoming book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, gives this fascinating 18-minute TED talk in which he declares that sweet carrots (for example, “if you do well, I’ll give you more money”) actually stress people out and often decrease productivity. So what does work to motivate workers? Forget extrinsic motivators like carrots and sticks for difficult tasks that involve problem solving or creative thinking. Instead, focus on intrinsic motivators like:

• Autonomy, the urge to direct our own lives
• Mastery, the desire to get better at something that matters
• Purpose, the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

What are the implications for how managers should run their teams, and what sort of jobs will most motivate young people like you? Check out the fascinating video below. (Hint: Pink really likes ROWE.)

Hat tip to Presentation Zen for pointing us in the direction of the talk.

Maybe you’re reading this blog while simultaneously g-chatting with a colleague, absentmindedly scrolling through the headlines online and also occasionally noting down the odd idea for today’s meeting. If you would proudly offer this as evidence that you are a Gen Y multitasking ninja, you may be deluding yourself (more…)

It’s the height of vacation season and many city streets feel half-deserted as workers check out for their annual dose of rest and relaxation. If you’re set to be among them, take a moment out from pondering exactly what to pack and think about something a little less fun to consider: coming back. (more…)

Americans are going to university in greater numbers than ever before, but just because Gen Y is the most educated generation yet, doesn’t mean they’re the most prepared for the workforce. As Mark Twain famously said, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education”, and this distinction still stands: formal education and real-world training are two very different things. (more…)

As my colleague Stefan Deeran highlights this week on BNET Intercom, survey results show that nearly half of execs don’t like to be “friended” by colleagues on social networking sites like Facebook. It’s a great stat and suggests that plugged in younger workers should consider carefully before sending that friend request to the big boss. The post also taps into what appears to be a great deal of anxiety regarding how much your online persona and your at work persona should overlap. Articles and posts on the topic have abounded in recent weeks. If it’s an issue you’ve also been pondering, here are some of the best:

• Why shouldn’t you friend your boss? This story gives the worst case example of what can go wrong when idiocy and social media meet.
• Maria Elena Duron, writing on the blog of personal branding enthusiast Dan Schawbel, offers tips for the opposite scenario: your boss has invaded Facebook and is heading straight for you.
• Wired magazine plays Emily Post for the digital age and lays down the law on tech etiquette. Their ruling: friend your boss but not your boss’s boss. (The complete, thought-provoking article is here.)

(Round-up image by phatman, CC 2.0)

As group 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs pointed out in a Brazen Careerist blog post a few weeks ago, Gen Y has a strong incentive to take an interest in current legislative battles:

Youth are unemployed at a rate over 8 percent higher than the national rate, an average of $2000 in credit card debt, and $27,000 in student loan debt for recent graduates. In addition to these issues, young people are the most uninsured age group, with 30 percent not having any coverage due to high costs.

Many of us may lack insurance, but following the ups and downs of the health care debate can still seem like a mammoth task, especially when you see charts like this spelling out proposals. But, thankfully, good design and clear thinking can make nearly any subject relatively easy to understand. Dan Roam, author of well-received business book The Back of the Napkin, together with Tony Jones, MD, has applied both to the health care debate in the handy slides below, spelling out both how the current health care system works and the proposals for fixing it. Checking it out will make you sound smart and well-informed about current events and, as an added bonus, give you food for thought on the art of the excellent presentation.

Everyone knows the employment situation varies from place to place, but putting that information to use can be difficult. One reason is the hassle of packing up and moving. Sorry, there’s nothing we can do about that. But when it comes to the difficulty of knowing which cities have the least competition for gigs, job listing aggregator site Indeed.com has a tool that might help. (more…)

The last few weeks on Entry-Level Rebel have seen plenty of posts on what grads who fail to find their dream job should do as an alternative. Today the blog CAREEREALISM sticks up for a decidedly less glamorous route than finding wildly successful people who will let you work for them for free. What about the good old fashioned idea of getting your foot in the door as an assistant? Is this a sure way to waste your energies on filing and correspondence and rise slower than a thermometer in Alaska, or a valuable route to industry knowledge and a broad range of valuable skills? (more…)

Whether you’re considering taking a new a job, choosing who to work with on a project or making your way through the dating scene, the ability to spot a nutcase early can save a massive amount of hassle. Today on the American Express Open Forum blog Guy Kawasaki offers a very 21st century way to screen out the crazies. (more…)

All through his long and varied career as the founder of Fast Company, editorial director of the Harvard Business Review, and a political speechwriter, Alan Webber has been noting down business insights on index cards. Now he’s taken this lifetime’s worth of wisdom and converted it into his new book, Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self. Today he’s been kind enough to share some of these nuggets of wisdom, as well as offering practical advice on how young people can best put them to use in their fledgling careers. With no further ado, I give you Alan:

Rules of Thumb came out of 3×5 index cards you carried around for years. How did you use these cards?

About 20 years ago, when I was an editor at the Harvard Business Review, I was introduced to Professor Ted Levitt, one of the most creative and dynamic teachers at the school. It was from Ted that I learned about a brilliant management tool, the humble 3×5 card. Ted carried a small stack of them around in his shirt pocket, and in the course of the work day whenever he heard an interesting idea — whether at a meeting, on a phone call, or in something he himself said — Ted would take out a 3×5 card, write the idea down, and tuck it away in a pocket. Then at the end of the day, he’d bring out all the note cards and sort them out into different categories, depending on how he intended to use the idea later. I started to follow Ted’s example, and I’ve kept it up ever since.

Would you recommend young people carry some with them as well?

Well, these days they’re more likely to carry around an iPhone or a Blackberry, but whether it’s a card or a digital device, I would definitely recommend taking notes, and here’s why (more…)