Marty Nemko's Blog, page 430

What It Takes to be a Great, Even Legendary Manager or Leader

How to become a great, even legendary manager? It all comes down to 9 things. That's the topic of my USNews.com piece today. HERE is the link.

Come to the Free Class I'll be Teaching: How to Land a Good Job in a Bad Market

I'll be teaching a free class, How to Land a Good Job in a Bad Market at Berkeley Adult School this Saturday, Sep. 7 from 10 AM to 1 PM. For information, click:HERE.

My Doggie Will be in Legally Blonde!

At the last minute, a professional theatre company needed to replace Rufus the Dog in the show Legally Blonde. Who came to the rescue? My doggie, Einstein.  He'll be making his first theatrical appearance, complete with curtain call.



If you're in the Bay Area, come see Einstein in the adorable show Legally Blonde at the beautiful Woodminster Amphitheatre in the Oakland, CA hills. For information and tickets, click HERE.

Ode to the Not Rich and Not Famous on Labor Day

I admire the brilliant and driven but as we approach Labor Day, I want to pay due homage to the average.



That's what I did in my AOL.com article today: It's an ode to the not rich and not famous. HERE is the link.

Are You Aggressive?

Do you consider yourself aggressive and do others think of you that way? I'm mainly talking about being aggressive at work and in relationships but not necessarily physically aggressive.



If that sounds like you, I'd like to interview you for possible inclusion in a book. Email me at mnemko@comcast.net. Include your phone number and the best times to reach you.

Assess Your Employability

Your answers to 12 questions can help you assess the likelihood of your finding good work and remaining well-employed. More important, your answers will point to ways you an improve your employability. My USNews.com article today presents those 12 questions.

A Case for Meritocracy over Egalitarianism

America is becoming ever more egalitarian: Make things more equal: from health care to education, money to media accolades. That has obvious appeal but in the end, is it a net good for America?







Will America get better because of our new practice of reallocating education resources from average-and-above kids to low achievers? That policy is now being taken to such extremes that even when parents in middle-class schools donate additional money to their kids' school, it's viewed as unfair--It's argued that that money should be distributed equally to low-performing schools. Despite what politicians and the media disingenuously assert, not everyone has the same potential to profit from instruction and to abet society. So to reallocate resources from those with the greatest potential to cure our diseases, start new businesses, and run government wisely can only accelerate America's decline. 




Will America get better by further taxing the top 20 percent, which already pay 70 percent of the taxes while the bottom 20 percent pay just 0.3 percent, even though the top 20 percent is far more likely to use the money to create jobs or to invest it so others can create jobs. For example, when middle-income people get to keep more of what they earn, they are likely to invest it, perhaps a stock, which enables the company to invest more in research and development. Or a person might put the money in a bank, which then has more funds to lend to home buyers which, in turn, creates jobs for home builders. Far less ripple effect accrues from taking money from the middle class to give to the poor. At best, that redistribution results in basic purchases. At worst, some of it goes for drugs, guns, etc., not to mention junk food, smartphones, and $150 sneakers, not exactly inspiring uses of your tax dollars. 




Will America get better if able-bodied welfare recipients, for not working, get more money than someone earns for working 40 hours a week at a $15 an hour job. That is the case in 35 states.






Will America be better when, per the egalitarian goal of single-payer health care, a person who has paid into the
system all his life and has otherwise contributed to society should get the
same level of health care as someone who hasn't? Are
features such as short wait times for non-emergency appointments, choosing your own doctor and hospital, a semi-private room, and electing to
have expensive unclear-benefit treatments things that should be equally available for both groups
of people? Even though that will result in excess morbidity and mortality to the contributory group? Or will, along with the egalitarian dream of making education and money more equally distributed, create major disincentive for people to work hard?





Will America get better when the culture demands that the accomplisher give credit to everyone but himself-- Think Academy Award speeches, political candidate acceptance speeches, etc.  "It was a team effort. Without all of them and especially my family, it would have been impossible."




Will America get better by its colleges having opened its doors to virtually all comers? As stated in the New York Times, "nearly everyone gets accepted by a worthy institution." In fact, our nearly open-admissions policy has resulted in dumbing-down higher education to the lowest common denominator, resulting in such frightening authoritative findings as that 36 percent of today's college graduates grew not at all in college in writing and critical thinking. Pity not the weak student but the strong one who could have profited from a not dumbed-down college education. Sure, you can get a rigorous education at the relative handful of highly selective colleges but only the tiniest percentage of even strong students can get admitted there. What counts is what goes on at the majority of our colleges. And let's remember that only
half of students graduate even if given six years.  Again, not a great use of our tax dollars,
which heavily subsidize even so-called private colleges.






Meritocracy yields more good--including for society's have-nots--than our Alice-in-Wonderland redistributing to and excuse-making for them. But even if you agree, I imagine you don't dare speak up. And that does not bode well for America.

Onramping: Explaining a Gap in Your Employment

You've been unemployed a long time. Perhaps you were a stay-at-home parent, were ill, in prison, or simply goofing off.



In this tough job market, how can you explain that to employers in a way that will get you hired over someone without a gap?



Onramping. That's the topic of my AOL.com article today. HERE is the link.

A Compelling Case Against College for Weak Students

In these egalitarian times, our leaders deem it more important to treat everyone equally rather than according to their individual needs or merit. In one of the more pernicious manifestations of this, we send millions of academically bewildered or apathetic students to college without even disclosing to them the enormous dollar cost, time cost, failure rate, and opportunity cost.



And of course, there's the cost to the qualified students who must endure a dumbed-down education. Alas,  today's egalitarian ethos makes it politically incorrect to worry about the impact of egalitarianism on society's Haves, even though they have the greatest potential to contribute to society.



This article, by Carol Christen, author of What Color is Your Parachute for Teens, presents the statistics more compellingly than I've yet seen. To read it, click HERE.

How to Land a Top Job at a Top Company

Want a great job at a top company such as Google, Goldman Sachs, or Pfizer? My USNews.com article today is, How to Compete with La Creme de la Creme.