When I interview people, it seems that men can state quite clearly what they think they are worth, and what they want to be paid. Interviewing women doesn't always get the same clarity. Money and promotions, especially, are difficult for many women to approach in a conversation with someone who is higher on the food chain at work. Sometimes, when women do ask, they come from a personal perspective: "My husband lost his job, and we really need more cash to pay the…

One of the wonderful things I am doing lately is teaching college. It really is a joy to work with college students, teaching Organizational Psychology. They are working on a semester-long assignment of forming work teams for a fictitious new gym. One of the students came up to me at the end of the class last week and asked me if I wanted them to do something theoretical or something real. I told her that I wanted them to be practical and work together, as the team process is one of the very…

Amazing that here we are in the twelfth year of the new millennium (Anyone remember the Y2K fright?) This year has had a lot of hype, fear, hope, and excitement surrounding it. With the Mayan calendar ending, forecasts of profound endings and beginnings, I thought I would take a new direction in my column this month and talk about the future and work. In other words, 2012 and your career: what to expect, what you might focus on, and how to be the best professional you can possibly…

I was giving a talk last week, discussing how to manage and communicate with "challenging personalities." One point that I stressed was that, in conflict, it is more important to find a solution than to figure out who was wrong and who was right. This really upset one of the participants, as he raised his hand vigorously. "Don't you have to decide who is right?" he asked. I told him that maintaining that he was right would keep him in the conflict, because the other person would have to…