Jonathan Littman is the coauthor of I Hate People! Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job (Little, Brown and Company; June 2009), with Marc Hershon. Jonathan is the coauthor of The Ten Faces of Innovation and a Contributing Editor for Playboy. Visit his business blog: www.IHatePeople.biz.

Blog Entries by Jonathan Littman

Tiger's Brand Bogey

3 Comments | Posted December 4, 2009 | 02:02 PM (EST)


What's the real business lesson in Tiger's astonishingly precipitous fall from grace? In the age of the personal brand, one major misstep can cost you a fortune.

Tiger has given us all a great insight -- at a terrible cost to his own life and family. In a world with...

Read Post

Tiger's Seven Lessons OFF the Course

5 Comments | Posted December 1, 2009 | 05:06 PM (EST)


Tiger Woods is a great golfer. Arguably, the best who's ever lived. He's also human and, in light of recent developments, acting on lousy advice.

Woods' handlers deserve most of the blame for the way they've bungled his recent mishap. What's more, he and they have also provided a shining...

Read Post

Ten Least Wanted In The News: The Spreadsheet Suspect

Posted September 20, 2009 | 11:04 AM (EST)


Raymond Clark III, the only suspect in the horrific murder of Annie Le, a PhD candidate at Yale University, appears to have proven that unchecked obsessive behavior at the workplace can be deadly. It is a tale of office horror that recalls one of Edgar Allan Poe's most frightening stories....

Read Post

Five Ways To Not Be Stop-Signed In A Brainstorm

1 Comments | Posted September 16, 2009 | 10:35 AM (EST)


We've all been in brainstorms that have left us feeling like we got pelted with soggy snow. Sure we had great ideas, but others said them first -- or had a picture that drove home the point, and we ended up feeling and looking dull.

1. Talk about Stop...

Read Post

I Hate Customer Support

2 Comments | Posted September 8, 2009 | 12:04 PM (EST)


Toll free support fails customers for the simplest of reasons: There's no accountability.

Business owners everywhere know that there are countless reasons to dread September. The month not only signals the end of summer -- it's also when businesses must file tax returns.

The phrase "Customer Support"...

Read Post

Want Customer Love? Give A Tour

Posted August 27, 2009 | 06:00 PM (EST)


On vacation recently in Boulder, Colorado, I discovered what every business needs to be loved -- and not hated. A tour.

This summer I had two contrasting weeks that help you to clearly see business opportunities. One week I was in New York helping a venerable brand try to regain...

Read Post

How To Recharge Your Business Batteries

Posted August 19, 2009 | 02:57 PM (EST)


A great time to relax, summer is also the perfect chance to try new experiences. It's when you're out of the office and away from the workday grind that you may also discover your Soloist moment.

The summer break is often viewed as a timeout during the hectic business year....

Read Post

The Fall of the Flimflam: What Every Executive Can Learn from BofA's Sleight of Hand

4 Comments | Posted August 12, 2009 | 03:27 PM (EST)


This week we learned help may be on the way for shareholders and the public. Judges and Congress aren't going to stand for companies that hide critical facts from investors about billions of dollars. Smart executives are paying attention.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff of New York is my idea...

Read Post

Seven Tips to Impress the Office With Your Summer Vacation

Posted August 3, 2009 | 12:25 AM (EST)


Hurry up and collect the experiences and know-how that will wow your colleagues or get you a job come September. Don't you know that making the most of your fabulous Summer Vacation is the secret to getting ahead in your career?

1. Your Reading List
...

Read Post

Ten Interview Tricks to Get the Job

7 Comments | Posted July 27, 2009 | 03:41 PM (EST)


The ultimate gatekeepers to today's jobs are Human Resources professionals. That's okay. With the right pair of glasses, wristwatch and sweet breath you can dramatically increase your chances...as long as they don't spot your tattoo.

We call the folks in Human Resources Spreadsheets. They love rules, whether written, unwritten...

Read Post

Fighting Teamwork

Posted July 20, 2009 | 06:27 PM (EST)


Why that summer tradition of a Tug-of-War and a hundred-year-old French experiment proves the challenge of corporate teamwork.

This Fourth of July I stood on a spit of sand and watched teams of men and women pull a rope from either side of a narrow channel. This was more than...

Read Post

The Ten Office Disruptors

3 Comments | Posted July 9, 2009 | 10:56 PM (EST)


Summer time is here, and when you manage to make it into the office you find that the Disruptors get on your nerves even more than usual. The best defense? A coffee run, closing the door, or blocking your cube. Our favorite strategy: working from your beach shack.

1. Unprepared

Read Post

The Art of "No"

1 Comments | Posted June 16, 2009 | 01:46 PM (EST)


Why responding deftly to demands for your input, work and influence is key to your career.

All day long you have to say No at work. No to demands on your time. No to invitations to meetings. No to requests for your influence.

The rise of e-mail, cell phones...

Read Post

How To Dig Your Office Cave

Posted June 11, 2009 | 06:45 PM (EST)


Why a fresh approach to designing your personal workspace nourishes your talents and ambitions and increases your productivity.

Jobs and pay are being cut and slashed like the Brazilian rainforest, opportunities for advancement vanishing like the Polar ice cap. What's a smart worker to do?

Dig a Cave. Maybe two....

Read Post

Tips to Survive the Cubemate from Hell

3 Comments | Posted June 10, 2009 | 11:47 AM (EST)


The culture of phony corporate nice insists on respecting your cubemates and offering them endless second chances when they misbehave. Don't be a sucker -- there are other ways to thrive even while stuck in a horrid, open-office plan with the Cubemate you hate.

Playing nice won't deliver results....

Read Post