Logo Stories

If you've ever been involved with the development of a company logo, you know all of the creativity and just plain weirdness that can emerge during such discussions.

This site gives a history of some famous logos. Very interesting stuff.

[HT: Adfreak and kottke ]

When You Don't Know

Andy Lester, who speaks fluent techie, has some eloquent responses for when you are in a job interview and are asked about something you don't know.

And no, he doesn't recommend, "I don't know but I'm a quick learner!"

[True story: My favorite interview answer was from an applicant in Alabama. When asked about his weaknesses, he replied, "Fried chicken."]

Back in the Desert

I taught a class on Equal Employment Opportunity up in the north country today. Nice people, great questions, and snow on the peaks.

Back in the desert now and in full blogging mode.

Door or Bore?

Liz Ryan has some thoughts on whether you should stay or quit your job.

While pondering that, it may make sense to read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

Self-Limitation

I read Rowan Manahan's post on career change several days ago and have subsequently found its echoes during some business meetings.

His point about the pigeon holes of careers and businesses reminds me of the observation that if the railroads had known which business they were really in, there might be an airline today called Union Pacific.

Ten Ways to Botch the New Employee Orientation

1. Let seniority, not speaking ability or knowledge of the organization, be the main criterion for selection of the session's speaker. That way, the new employees can get a clear look at what prolonged exposure to your workplace can do to what was once a dynamic individual.
2. Hold the session in an unattractive location; preferably a basement or a messy conference room. A few hours there and the rookies will be eager to return to their work stations.
3. If the size of the audience is considerable, don't break it into small groups. Let "Large and impersonal" be an accurate reflection of your corporate culture. Besides, an auditorium with an ancient sound system will discourage questions.
4. Collect the pastries for refreshments during an early morning raid of the various break rooms.
5. Position a large clock behind the speaker so audience members can see their lives slowly ticking away.
6. Instruct the speaker that employee benefits and retirement plans are best described in a droning monotone...and at length. Have plenty of illegible hand-outs.
7. Make sure that your attorneys have inserted their favorite "Anyone can be fired at any time and for any reason" warnings throughout the employee handbook. Such material should be briefly mentioned at the end of the morning break and just before the "We are Family!" part of the presentation.
8. The generous use of PowerPoint slides is always advisable. Small font and many bullet points have been known to bring entire audiences to a catatonic state, especially if the speaker carefully reads the slides.
9. There is no reason why the session should lack humor. All jokes, however, must be lengthy and poorly told. Disaster is assured if at least one is in dialect.
10. Have an executive reluctantly stroll in at any point to welcome the group, but give prior instructions that his or her remarks must be no more than five minutes and void of any practical use.

Quote of the Day

Marta keeps telling me I should try to be more aware of things as they're happening. I think it's Marta who says that.

- Jack Handey

Management Mission Creep

The subject of management mission creep came up in our office yesterday. We were discussing how a project starts out with one framework and then slowly evolves into another with different goals, demands, and participants.

Our quick solution is to institute periodic review points so we can - along with the client - review the changing landscape and make appropriate adjustments.

If such points are not set and used, it is easy to wander into the deep forest and, like Hansel and Gretal, discover that your surroundings have shifted and not everyone is your friend. The project's title may be the same as last year's version, but the contents are dramatically different. If the original vision lingers in your mind it can create stress by conflicting with the conditions on the ground.

The simplest questions are the best and one to use against mission creep is the regular use of an old stand-by:

What are we doing?

Peace Corps with Guns

John Falk looks at the successful efforts against Islamo-fascist terrorists in the Philippines. An excerpt from the Outside magazine article:

It was the plan for the next morning's mission, an innocuous-sounding operation called the Upper Tanum Water Source Site Survey. Supposedly, in a hilly patch of jungle called the Tripod, there was a 50-year-old concrete cistern that collected water from a spring that was also Abu Sayyaf's main water source. The marines intended to construct a water system off the cistern to supply about 3,000 villagers downstream, people who had long supported the Muslim insurgents. Sabban wanted to flip their loyalties.

We were taking a spigot?

With a heaviness worthy of Staff Sergeant Barnes in Platoon, Larida described past encounters with Abu Sayyaf in the Tripod, units decimated and corpses mutilated in a jungle death trap of interlocking bunkers, booby traps, and spider holes. With well over a hundred killed or wounded out there in the past three years, the marines always went into the Tripod in large numbers, or at the very least at night. But this time, an undermanned company was going in at midmorning, lightly armed, with no artillery or air support. He handed me a black leather pouch.

"My .45," Larida said. "Take it tomorrow."

Was he kidding? It was hard to imagine being blown to pieces on the set of a Corona ad.

"If we get overrun by Abu Sayyaf," he warned, only half joking, "I put two clips in there, 14 bullets. Save the last one for yourself."

"Come on," I said.

"You're American," he said gravely, all but channeling Tom Berenger. "They'll skin you alive."

[Execupundit note: Robert D. Kaplan in Imperial Grunts - see the link at the right side of this page - examined the "Peace Corps with guns" approach that the Green Berets have adopted.]

Quote of the Day

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

- Oscar Wilde