UDATE SNOOKI MADNESS

Her head in her hands, it seems Snooki realises this time she's gone too far.



The reality TV star was handcuffed and thrown in a police cell yesterday for drunkenly causing a 'public disorder' as she partied in New Jersey.



The Jersey Shore star spent several hours behind bars, sobering up, before being released.

Its' all about the Snooki

he programmers at MTV must have pumped their fists when the overnight ratings for “Jersey Shore” arrived on Friday. (Although they might not have been so thrilled Friday afternoon after seeing reports that one of the show’s stars, Nicole Polizzi, known as Snooki, had been arrested in Seaside Heights, N.J., and accused of disorderly conduct.) The premiere of the second season of “Jersey Shore” attracted 5.3 million viewers on Thursday night, according to Nielsen, the network’s biggest season premiere in more than seven years. The series about young people partying at the beach — it’s really that simple — was a sensation last winter for MTV, peaking at 4.8 million viewers for the finale. But Thursday night’s ratings indicate that the show has legs, even in the summer. Among MTV’s core demographic of viewers 12 to 34 years old, the season premiere is the No. 1 cable telecast of the year. The series will follow the cast’s exploits in South Beach, last spring in Florida; it is now filming their return to Seaside Heights this summer.

Housewive EXPOSED

Danielle Staub on POP EATER

1/2 Price Books

Kate Price working it at her Book sigining.I love to read these kind of books and we luv the eye candy in the back!
Check out Katie Price perform her new single. we love her hair!!!!!!

Madonna's New Face

Taylor Momsen `psyched` to be face of Madonna`s fashion line

'For one, it's Madonna so you know it's gonna be cool and working with Madonna and Lola has been an unbelievable experience.


The Pretty Reckless singer added: 'They have such great sense of style, each brought their personal touch to the styling for the campaign.'


Material Girl will be available in Macy's stores and on Macy's website from August 3.


On the same day from 5-7pm, the 17-year-old will make an appearance at Macy's Herald Square in New York and perform live.
NYC. - Johns PkI / Splash News

A Taste of Nicola

Britain’s Next Top Model reject Harleen Kaur Nottay has praised guest judge Nicola Roberts.



The Scottish model, who exited the show on Monday, said that the Girls Aloud star was happy to spare her time when working with the contestants on an anti-bullying campaign challenge.



“Nicola was really, really nice. On the day she was quite constructive, saying, ‘Why don’t you try and do this, or try that’, changing it up a bit for me,” she told Bang Showbiz.



“As a judge I thought she was great, and a really nice person too. I sat chatting to her for about 25 minutes, while she was giving me advice.”



However, Nottay was critical of the show’s host and head judge Elle Macpherson, claiming that the supermodel was not being honest with the aspiring models during their tasks.



“I wish that on the day she’d given us a little bit of criticism,” she said. “She obviously had some, because at elimination she said she thought I was a beautiful girl, but not very photogenic, and I just wish she’d told me that. She would tell us in elimination, but it was too late then, wasn’t it.”

Brithday Girl!

HAPPY BRITHDAY Elizabeth Berkley (38)
here's our tribute to our lovley Nomi!!!!!!

A Dash Heartache

By moving to New York with her boyfriend, Scott Disick, Kourtney Kardashian is hoping for a fresh start — a new life together, far away from the Miami and LA clubs where Scott’s wild behavior so often broke her heart. But when the pair made their first public appearance in their new home in the Hamptons on July 24 — it seemed there was already trouble between them. “Kourtney appeared to be in good spirits, but Scott didn’t even flash the hint of a smile,” says a witness who ran into Kourtney. “Other than their first photo op, they didn’t touch and hardly ever seemed to even talk to each other.”

For Kourtney and Scott, 27, the move to New York could truly be the beginning of the end. By relocating to Scott’s hometown, Kourtney is coming face-to-face with her boyfriend’s past, which, In Touch has learned, is much darker than she could ever have imagined. “He was worse than anyone knows,” reveals an old friend of Scott’s, who describes shocking stories of hard partying, disgusting public behavior — and sex tapes with a number of women. “Scott and all his close friends were in this fake ‘gang’ called the Scummers,” the friend recalls. “They would do all these really awful things together.” The friend claims that Scott met girls at clubs and brought them home. “When he was hooking up with a girl in bed, his friends would be in the closet, videotaping what was going on. Sometimes, his friends would jump out of the closet. He’d try to let them join in.” Scott collected the tapes, which would be bound to humiliate Kourtney should they ever surface. And shockingly, the friend believes that the tapes still exist at a friend’s apartment in New York City.
Permalink | Posted: July 28, 2010

You Are Not The Boss of Me!

Jason-

Good stuff on dealing with a bad manager. Bad managers is probably a topic that we could spend a lot of time on and our Bad Managers Suck series could probably go on for a very, very long time. I think that a big part of the reason that things like The Office and Dilbert resonate with so many folks is that as ridiculous as they often are, they are also hit very close to home especially regarding our relationship with supervisors. There are a lot of things that contribute to bad management and we could spend a lot of time and energy cracking that issue open, but what about this…

Why don’t we just get rid of it? Why don’t we do away with management as a title, as a role, as a philosophy, as a source of so much unnecessary drama? In our manifesto we tell leaders to "get out of the way"...maybe they should really get out of the way?



What would happen if did some real “re-engineering” and let all managers go? We could of course allow them to apply for other open positions within the company, we’re not complete a-holes! Would things grind to a halt? I kind of doubt it. I am sure that there would be some initial confusion, but there would also be a lot less management related dysfunction.

What would a world without management look like?

What if “the organization” became a network of self-organized teams?

What if we went to an organization and took everyone that was in a supervisory role and we changed their role from supervision to resource coordination…they would have no authority over anyone but were responsible for helping the team that they were assigned to coordinate with other teams and access to the tools that they needed to be successful…whether it be budget, training, equipment, policy change, etc. Their purpose was solely to coordinate and make available resources and support for the department or team that they were assigned to.

What about, rather than fixing management, we do away with it?
-joe

Hott Archie

ALBUM COVER The Other Side Of Down (David Archuleta)

Selena's voice

Selena Gomez lost her voice and had to cancel some shows.She did make it to The George Lopez Show watch her her funny interview with no vloice.

Mega Python vs. Gatoroid - Sneak Peek

ITS FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!


Mega Python vs. Gatoroid - Sneak Peek

Bunny's Jump

Heidi Montag’s longtime friend Jennifer Bunney is moving forward with their reality TV show minus The Hills star. In an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, Bunney debunks feud rumors, reveals why she’s worried about Heidi, and highlights what to expect from the new show.

Originally, as RadarOnline.com was the first to report, Bunney and Montag were going to live together over the summer and film a reality show. Now, the show is going on without Heidi.“She didn’t directly tell me she didn’t want to do the show anymore. I heard it through other people. She’s just going through so much with her divorce and she just doesn’t want to do reality television,” Bunney said. “We had a big production meeting that was scheduled for two months and I ended up having to go to the meeting alone. They decided to move forward without her. The producers called me and said they were moving forward with or without her.”

"Ranting With Rizzo" on WDIS

This weeks show says a little about what can
be done to make sports a little less annoying
for the rest of us. Maybe the folks in charge
of some of this should take a closer look.

TUNE IN

Free at last!

According to jail officials, Neiers -- who was serving a six-month sentence for her part in the Burglar Bunch's heist at Orlando Bloom's house -- was just released after spending less than one month behind bars. - THANX TMZ

Fey's bun in the oven

Fey IS pregnant and IS getting married!She confirmed the news to Hola that she is with baby and will get married on September 4th.

Congrats!

With Attitude

Mcfly graces the cover of Attitude Magazine looking real fly.

J-WOWW

The sexiest storm ever to strike the Garden State, Jenni Farley is taking her J-wowza-ness down to South Beach for the second season of Jersey Shore. In between spray-tan sessions and getting her hair “hooked up,” this Long Island–born bombshell took time to show off her prowess with a popsicle, gab about guidos, and teach you fellas a thing or two about style skills.

6 Ways to Handle a Bad Manager

Joe,

As we've been talking about bad management behavior over the past couple of weeks, a question was raised by one of our readers, Chris Fleek, that I will paraphrase as this: "What do you do if you have a bad manager?"  He was specifically asking how you get a bad manager to read a blog post like those we've been writing lately in hopes that you can improve their behavior without getting yourself fired.  There are thousands if not millions of people all around the world who work for bad managers and who feel hopeless that change will come.  So, I thought perhaps I'd brainstorm a list of things you might do if you find yourself in this situation.

Below is a list of things you can do if you find yourself working for a bad manager.  Not every approach is going to work for every situation, but hopefully there's something here that might help.

1. Call out the bad  behavior.  Depending on your manager, just being courageous enough to bring up the behavior to her can result in some change.  Despite what we like to think, most of the time our manager isn't trying to make our life miserable, she is just clueless.  Help her out by sharing with her how her action had a negative impact on you.  Example: "The other day, when you did X, it caused some issues for me.  I'm sure you didn't mean for this to happen, but when you do that, it causes Y and Z to take place, which is really frustrating . . ." 
2. Clarify expectations.  Sadly, most managers have no freaking clue how to set goals or manage performance.  That means that we have to help them along with this.  It's important to ask your manager specific questions about his expectations of you.  Ask questions like:
• What do I need to do this year to be considered a top performer?
• What are the most important things that I need to accomplish this year?
• What things am I not doing today, that I should be doing to ensure you see me as one of your top people? 
• What am I doing today that's not what you'd like me to be doing?
3. Model the behavior you'd like to see.  Ghandi said that "We must be the change we wish to see" so another way to help your bad manager is to show him how it's done, particularly if you are a manager of people yourself.  Do the thing that you think is right and then share that with your manager and explain why you did it.  You don't have to suggest they try it.  If your way gets results, she will pay attention and just might try some of what you are doing.  This approach doesn't always work because many bad managers are not great learners, but it does work well in cases where you have a younger or newer manager who maybe just isn't that skilled at managing.  
4. Ask questions. Sometimes, asking a non-threatening question to seek further clarification on a decision or action can lead you into a productive conversation with your manager.  Generally speaking, managers do have reasons for what they do, but they aren't always good reasons.  Making them explain their reasons can help improve their decision making.  Example: "The other day, you did X.  I have been asked by a few others why you would make that decision and I wasn't sure how to explain it.  Can you share with me why you chose X as opposed to another option?"
5. Be a squeeky wheel.  If nothing else seems to work and there's a particular behavior from your boss that must change, bring it up frequently and pointedly to reinforce how important the issue is.  If there are others on your team who share the same concern, have them squeek as well.  This means sending emails with questions/comments.  Raising it in any one on one meetings you have with your manager.  It could mean leaving it on voice mail if you are getting the silent treatment.  Make the issue one that your manager can't avoid.  If you create enough discomfort, there will be motivation to change.  Note: in order for this approach to work, you have to be a top performer who's delivering the goods.  If you aren't pulling your weight on the team, the manager will fix the squeeky wheel by replacing it.  
6. Quit.  Sometimes, it's best to move on.  The reality is that most bad managers aren't going to change unless their managers make it important for them to do so.  And sadly, bad management is an epidemic.  So, you may need to move on and find a better manager to work for.  If you chose this path, invest time in thinking about how you will interview potential new managers to determine if they are the kind of person you want to work for.

Good luck out there!

Jason

AMAZING Christina Aguilera - You Lost Me

Selena's Day

SELENA GOMEZ's MOM will feel the heat when the teen sensation turns 18 on Thursday (22Jul10) - she's organised a barbecue bash for 250 people.

The Disney star will celebrate the milestone at her Los Angeles home, and her MOM, Mandy Teefy, is putting on a Texas-style grill to remind Gomez of her home state.

But Teefy won't have much time to enjoy the party - she's in charge of overseeing the barbecue meat and making potatoes for the huge number of guests.

She says, "We're throwing her a big BBQ bash, 250 of her closest friends and family are coming over to our place in L.A. and it's going to be so much fun.

"We're ordering the BBQ meats but I'm cooking the cheese potatoes."

Gomez received an early gift during a meal with her family on Monday (19Jul10), when a group of fans serenaded her with Happy Birthday at the restaurant.

In a post on her Twitter.com page, she writes, "Went to dinner with my family and some fans sang happy birthday to me! What an awesome early birthday gift. Thank you."

Kardashian Produce

Kendall Jenner -- the 14 year-old half sister to Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe Kardashian -- is growing up fast.

Recently signed to Wilhelmina Modeling Agency, Kendall posed in a super-skimpy string bikini for a sultry photo shoot on the beach. Her big sister Kim, naturally, posted the shots on her blog.

"They turned out sooo gorgeous!!" Kim, 29, wrote of the photos taken by Nick Saglimbeni. "I am so proud of Kendall. She's going to take over the modeling world... you just watch!"


The daughter of Kris and Bruce Jenner, Kendall landed an ad campaign with American clothing chain Forever 21 in January -- and her famous siblings offered some pointers.
I looked to Kim for posing advice," Kendall told E! News. "[Kourtney] said to put my own style into the clothes that I was wearing. I was a little nervous before the shoot, but after I started taking a couple of pictures it just flowed and it was so fun. She looks like Khole is you ask us."Credit: Kimkardashian.celebuzz.com (2) Subscribe to Us Weekly

Cell Block 90210

Lindsay Lohan is in the jail cell next to 'Pretty Wild' star Alexis Neiers. Lohan who went to jail on Tuesday for violating her probation is being kept away from the general public and is serving her time next to Orlando Bloom burglar Neiers.

Lindsay Lohan arrived at a California courthouse on Tuesday to officially turn herself in and begin serving her jail 90 day jail sentence. Although no video, audio, or photographs were allowed to capture the moment Lindsay was handcuffed and taken to jail, as she was being transported a line of paparazzi and fans followed.

Lohan was booked into jail and then given a cell away from the "general public." According to showbiz spy Lindsay's cell is right next to reality tv star Alexis Neiers. Neiers, star of the E! Reality show 'Pretty Wild' was sentenced to jail after burglarizing actor Orlando Bloom's home.

According to reports from the Daily Mail Lindsay Lohan was cheered as she walked into the jail and headed for her cell. "Lindsay was crying when she came in. She was handcuffed but seemed calm," said prisoner Tiffany Hawes, who was being released from the center at the time of the actress' arrival. "We all started saying ‘God bless you Lindsay' and saying ‘Hi' to her and then she smiled at us."

Lindsay Lohan will reportedly on serve about two weeks of her 90 day jail sentence and will be allowed out of her cell for only one hour each day. Lohan and Alexis Neiers are doing their time at Lynwood which has held other celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Khloe Kardashian. "Hopefully Lindsay Lohan will come out a better person," said one Cleveland resident. What are your thoughts on Lindsay Lohan's jail sentence? Leave your comments below.

I'M BACK BITCHES

OK guys I am back from vaction i have been in vegas living it up.So I'am ready to dish once again.Sooooo much too catch up on.xoxo

The Return Of "Ranting With Rizzo"

This past Saturday was the return of my show on 1170am
WDIS in southern Massachusetts. It has a new day and
time, Saturday mornings from 11-11:30 AM right after
my former show "The Sports Round Table". When you
can't catch it on the radio you can tune in live to
WWW.WDISAM.COM or log in here to catch a
replay anytime later that following week. Here is
lats weeks show to get you started, and remember to
write in with your feedback atrizzo @wdisam.com or post
a comment here and tune in to here my response. Enjoy !

Bad Managers Suck - Chapter 4

Jason-

Enjoyed the “Chapter 3” post, and I especially like the four things that courageous managers do…I think those things are overlapping and go pretty well together.

My inspiration for this post comes from a comment on your post by Chris Fleek:

This is a good series of articles - well done Jason. The question is, will the managers who need to read these articles the most see them? And how can an employee tactfully direct their manager to them?

Good question. Really good question. It often seems that it is the folks most needing some additional insight, awareness and development that are the least likely to seek it out.

The sucky management practice I’d like to shed the light on in this post is “Expertise.” I am not speaking here of any actual kind of technical expertise that could be of real value, but rather the belief that you do not need to be actively learning and seeking out new ideas, models, examples and candid feedback.

A couple of my favorite quotes speak to this well:

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
-Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all argument, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. This principle is, contempt prior to examination.”
-William Paley, Anglo-Israel

It seems to me that if you are serious about a body of work (whether it is management, farming or pottery), you have be committed to being a student of that work…for as long as you do it. When you stop being a student of your work, you stop learning about your work (and yourself in relation to your work) and then things start to get stagnant and dysfunctional.

A big part of this as a manager, is seeking out honest, candid feedback about yourself. This is probably one of the Jedi mind tricks for great managers and it requires a fair amount of courage and humility...which is probably why it tends to be fairly rare.
-joe

Perfectionist moms at greater risk for postpartum depression

An article came out yesterday on LiveScience.com reporting on a recent study that suggests perfectionism can put a new mom at risk for postpartum depression. I don't necessarily find this surprising. When I was a new mom, naturally I wanted everything to be perfect, and I totally bought into the Hallmark image of a glowing postpartum where I appeared blissful with my precious new bundles of joy while my pregnancy weight miraculously melted away.

Of course, things were far from perfect after my first pregnancy and I had absolutely no sense of control over anything that was happening. I had one baby barely hanging on in NICU, premature by three months and weighing only two pounds, and had to bury his twin brother a few days after their birth. On top of everything, only four months into my postpartum, I was stunned to find myself pregnant again.

So this article cites the study and states that: The link between perfectionism and postpartum depression was strongest amongst those who try to deal with perfectionism by appearing as if they don't have a problem.

I'm certain that I buried my depression while I was pregnant the second time around because I was terrified that the pregnancy would end up like the first. And I imagine I was still in shock from the horrible way my first pregnancy had turned out. I don't know that I was necessarily trying to deal with my perfectionism by appearing as if I wasn't suffering -- I think I was merely trying to survive an unbearable situation.

In any case, I think it's easy for new moms to fall into the perfectionism trap. Because it is definitely a trap. I've never known a mom who had it all together right after giving birth. Maybe there are some perfect moms out there, but I have yet to meet one. (Thank goodness, or that would seriously be reason to get depressed....) ;)

I think this study is interesting, although not rocket science. It would probably be worthy of being included in the "what to expect" handouts that OB's give out to prepare first-time moms. To check out the article, you can click here.

Bad Managers Suck - Chapter 3

Joe,

I have to admit, it's a little depressing how easily these posts are to write.  There is a lot of bad manager behavior out there to write about.  So far, we've written about:

1. The Silent Treatment
2. Illusion of Interest  

The next bad manager behavior I'd like to highlight is one of the most common: Being a wuss.  

Wuss may not be a technical term used in most of our formal management training programs, but I can't find a better word to describe this kind of behavior by managers.  Here's short list of the kinds of things you might be doing that would qualify you for the wuss list.

• Not confronting bad behavior by a direct report or another employee for fear of how he/she will react.
• Unwillingness to step up and fight for a promotion or raise for your best and most talented employees.
• Putting off actions to get rid of employees who shouldn't be on your team due to bad performance or, worse, a bad attitude.
• Throwing one of your staff under the bus when things go wrong rather than taking the blame on yourself.  
• Blocking your direct reports from building relationships with people higher up in the organization for fear of what they might say.  
• Inability to hold people accountable for what they committed to do or are responsible for

Each of these behaviors reveals a lack of courage.  Managers need to be fiercely committed to their people and demonstrate that commitment through their actions.  

In my experience, great managers are courageous.  They do these things really well.

1. Great managers reward high performance handsomely.  They go to bat for their best people by fighting for promotions, bonuses and opportunities for them.  
2. Great managers confront bad performance immediately.  There is nothing more demoralizing than to work with an incompetent, unmotivated, slacker who isn't getting it done.  The quickest way to lose the confidence of your team is to allow these slackers to exist within the team.  Have the courage to hold these individuals accountable to the level of performance you expect.  You have to let them know that they either step up or step off the bus.  And you have to mean it.  Great managers have a zero tolerance policy for low performance.  
3. Great manager eradicate bad attitudes from their teams.  The only thing worse than a poor performer is a person with a bad attitude.  They are poisonous and destructive.  One bad attitude can destroy a team.  They need to go, even if it requires you as the manager to go out on a limb to get it done.  If you've ever been in this situation, you know that your team will be really grateful once the person is gone.  As uncomfortable as the process of getting them out might make you, I can assure you that they are making the people around them daily about ten times less comfortable.  Get 'em out.
4. Great managers will take a bullet for their people.  If you are encouraging growth and development of your team, they are going to take some risks.  Some of these risks will backfire and there will be failures along the way.  When this happens, courageous managers take on the responsibility for the failure themselves rather than passing that to their people.  When the call comes from a higher up in the organization with the message, "What the #@&! are you guys doing over there?" you have the opportunity to both protect your person and get feedback on what went wrong. This sends the message to your team that it's okay to take risks and fail.  This doesn't mean that you don't then debrief with your team on what went wrong and treat it as a learning experience.  It just means that you make sure that these failures don't derail the individual's career.

Managing requires a backbone and some guts.  If you can't look a person in the eye and tell them that they aren't cutting it, then you shouldn't be in management.  If you can't make the decision to let someone go, you shouldn't be in management.  Management isn't only about these tough conversations, but if you don't or can't take these issues on, none of the rest matters.  Don't be a wuss.

Jason

World Cup Tidbits

Diego Furlan has been a real star in this tournament,
and even though he's not playing in the final, I'm
glad that we get to see him at least one more time
in South Africa in the 3rd place game. He really
does have game and a killer leg to boot.(No pun
intended).

Yes the officiating was bad, BUT, are you really
surprised? It made me mad, scream, yell, bitch
and moan, and yet, I should have expected it.

Landon Donovan was on his game, but the rest of
the team needs to catch up, and when they do
I hope it's not too late for Landon, as World
Cup competition is cruel and old men don't get
to play far past 32. 32? Old ? ? YES, OLD !
The 2016 tourny in Brazil could be the last for him.

With that a note on my Italian WC Champ brethren.
YOU LOOKED OLD, but you'll always be those Champs.

Although it's fair to say that I picked England to
win it all, and I of course rooted for Italy and the
US, I still have teams that I root for to which I
have no connection. The aforementioned England is
one the and the "Oranje Crush" Dutch are another.
Now, though as I have stated previously that is will
be nice to see a new team win the Cup, meaning one
that's never one it before, I am still rooting for
the Netherlands. In my opinion, the Spaniards seem
better, but I'm still waiting for the real Spanish
team that has a history of choking in the WC to
show up, and yes though I know that this is a new
cast of characters, it does somehow play a factor
in teams psyche. This might be the ugliest team
the Dutch have sent in recent history, in style
and talent that is, and with that my head says the
more talented Spaniards will win. Remember the
Dutch have a little history of their own, 0-2 in
WC Finals Championship games. But I think that
the Dutch will do what the Germans failed to, and
that is be more physical, and punish the Spaniards.
They did it to Brazil, and physicality to me has
been a hidden trademark of this tourny, so I expect
it to continue to be a Dutch theme if they are to
throw the more talented Spaniards off, and walk
away with the trophy for the first time.

Breastfeeding Mom Thrown Into Jail Over a Restraining Order

I blogged about this earlier on my other blog, and I think it's relevant here as well.

Amy Shroff, a young mom in Denver, Colorado, went to her local police station because she's terrified of her ex-husband, who was following her in his truck at the time. She ran into the station with her restraining order in her hands and let a police officer know that her ex was in violation of the order because he continues to contact her. The police officer mistakenly believed that the ex was the one who filed the restraining order against her (?!?), so he throws her into jail for the night. How crazy is that?

Never mind that she's in jail for no good reason, separated from her baby and unable to breastfeed. The police officer, Frank Spellman, apparently didn't care, even when she pleaded with him to let her go home to feed her baby. The baby ended up being fed formula and became ill as a result.

In the end, the City of Denver now has to pay Shroff $175,000 for her wrongful arrest. Which, in my opinion, is way too little.

So when you have this kind of situation, where you're a victim of domestic violence, afraid of your baby's father and dealing with a crazy system where you can actually get arrested when all you want is protection, ... how do you avoid depression? Her postpartum cannot have been a cake walk with the issues and abuse she has faced from her ex. It makes me depressed simply reading this woman's story as it's spread across the wires the past few days.

You can read one version of her story by clicking here.

Ever since I started my Order of Protection Survivor blog, I'm hearing about new moms who are dealing with issues of abuse that can only serve to exacerbate postpartum-related stress. I honestly don't know how these women get through such devastating issues while juggling the demands of a newborn.

Bad Managers Suck - Chapter 2

Jason-

Bad managers…a favorite topic of mine. I got spoiled early in life by spending four years in the Marine Corps where not all, but most of the leaders I worked with were very good and a couple were off the charts amazing. I have not since seen a work environment that has as favorable a good vs. bad management ratio.

I have seen my fair share of the silent treatment that you mentioned and another one that I see frequently is the illusion of interest.

Managers who want to appear to be interested in what you have to say, but they actually could care less. For example, the manager who comes to visit with you about a pending change to “get your feedback,” but the decision has already been made. Or the manager who solicits input, but then explains away or disagrees with everything that is offered up, never really considering or exploring any options.

I personally am in favor of banning those managers from society, but that is probably going to be viewed by some as extreme.

The actual solution is probably a bigger piece of work. I think this is actually one of many symptoms of an underlying problem, and that is that we are still using a 20th century approach to management in the 21st century world of business, which is very, very different.

How we create value has changed, how we communicate has changed, how we organize resources has changed, but very little has changed about our understanding of and approach to management. There are some exceptions, certainly, but you and I both see a lot of command and control, manager as parent type of organizations.

Most managers are not truly interested in the ideas and perspectives of their employees because they have somewhere along the line bought into the belief that being management means that they know best.

Managers rarely know what is best. They might know the inside scoop from the board room and they might know the latest budget numbers, but they rarely know what is best. It is almost impossible for managers to know what is best because they are further removed from the front line products and employees.

If you are any good at hiring people, you will end up with a team that together knows far more than you do. This is just reality and you should not pick a fight with it or pretend other wise.

Managers that are not willing and able to really tap into and value the perspectives, ideas and questions of their employees will eventually quit getting any of them and that is horribly wasteful.

-joe

MLB All Star Voting. It Never Ends.

If you haven't heard the ads encouraging you
to vote your teams players on to the MLB
All Star roster then you obviously have missed
out on the chance to make your vote count.
Again, and again, and again, etc., etc.
What a JOKE !, as if the All Star game didn't
have enough problems. Who was the Bozo that
thought it would be a good idea to allow fans to
vote for each player up to TWENTY FIVE times ! ?
Baseball is very slowing but surely slipping into
the ranks of WWE, and though it may never fully
reach those depths, it's a shame to even mention
it in the same breathe. It just might be time
for a change at the top, just maybe.

Burlesque Beauties

Christina Aguilera, with hubby Jordan Bratman on her arm, was recently spotted in Cancun to promote her upcoming flick, Burlesque.

The movie, also starring Cher, focuses on the life of Ali Rose (Aguilera), a small-town girl who builds a new life for herself at a struggling L.A. burlesque club.

“It was a girl who had suffered and felt pain, been in seven foster homes,” Aguilera told USA Today. “She doesn’t let her past make her a victim. And that to me was so appealing.”

Stills of Aguilera in Burlesque surfaced this week, with the studio looking to whet as many appetites as possible. However, in the wake of lackluster reception to Aguilera’s most recent album Bionic, we don’t blame them for trying to plug this movie early and often.

Even though Burlesque won’t be released until late November, it looks like it’s never too soon to party in the name of promotion!

Photo courtesy of Screen Gems.