National Boss (Ringmaster) Day

Today is National Boss Day. In Juggling Elephants terms, we would call a boss a "ringmaster." In celebration of this day, we thought it might be fun to highlight some interesting statistics about bosses from the October edition of Fast Company Magazine:

• According to a 2008 Yahoo survey, 43% of Americans don't like their bosses' management style.
• In that same survey, 55% agree that people don't leave companies, they leave managers.
• 32% of employees defy orders from their bosses although 86% of Americans give their superiors high marks.
• Companies with at least 3 women on their board averaged a 16.7% return, which is 45% better than the typical company.
• Last year, the highest paid CEO was Larry Ellison, who made 192.9 million dollars.
• The average US income in 2007 was $40,690. For CEOs it was $151,370, and for S&P 500 CEOs it was 8.8 million dollars.
• Of the Fortune 500 companies, only 12 have female CEOs.

Multitasking and the Restroom

Studies have shown that the brain is not "wired" to handle complete focus on more than one task at a time. Multi-tasking is truly the brain bouncing back and forth rapidly between two tasks. It is recommended that the most effective multi-tasking is when you are doing mundane or routine tasks that don't require too much thought. (Actually, I must admit that walking and chewing gum at the same time for me is a challenge.)

That being said, I must mention a multi-tasking pet peeve I am seeing way too often. I don't know if this is happening in the Women's Restroom but it happens all the time in the Men's-especially in the airport. Men will go into the restroom while talking on their phones and will carry on a conversation while taking care of business. (I guess you could say that some are taking care of business while taking care of business). I wonder what Emily Post would think about the etiquette of that? Multi-tasking should have some boundaries.

As a side, when someone is talking on the phone in the public restroom and I am next to them, I personally like to see how many times I can flush so that the person on the other end of the phone is wondering what is going on.

Humor

I believe that it was Groucho Marx who said, "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." I am sure there is some deep meaning in that quote somewhere but for me it is just funny.

It is important to have some humor in our lives and to not take ourselves so seriously. Laughter is important-it is healthy. There are a lot of things to worry about in life. Life can be very serious and stressful. Even so, we need to sometimes "clown around," tell some jokes and have fun. It sometimes takes work to smile and find something to laugh about. Maybe it is as simple as renting some movies by the Three Stooges. What can you do around the office to have some fun? Brainstorm some ideas with your coworkers.

So in the spirit of trying to get a smile, here is my attempt at humor (it made me smile):

"A sales rep, an administration clerk and their manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a genie pops out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.' 'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Puff! She's gone. 'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.' Puff! He's gone. 'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'"

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say. (Well, at least it wasn't a knock knock joke.) Have a humorous day.

6 Unpleasant Types of Workplace Performers

Whether you use these types as a guide of "who not to be in the workplace", as an analysis of your work team, or just for a laugh, they are quite insightful. Enjoy!

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_6_most_
annoying_coworkers_are_you_one-431

Some Humor For Your Day

While listening to the radio, a report was given about the dangers of individuals stealing your password and getting to your sensitive information at financial and social online sites. They said, "the report indicated that if you had any of the following passwords, you were in danger of having others steal your information." They were:

• let me in
• qwerty
• abc123
• 12345
• password

Somtimes simple isn't always best.