Small Business owners – Managers or not?

Posted on April 2, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

When I’m asked to provide consulting services not inside our familiar corporate environment, but to small businesses and start-ups, I frequently find myself in a somewhat awkward position. You see, many business owners do not see themselves as managers.

As many people who start their businesses today have actually left the corporate environment to seek independence, it seems that severing all ties with their previous life is more important to them than the success of their business. Continue reading →

“Who said I cannot be Scientist and Artist at the same time?” – From Ask Anya mails

Posted on March 5, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

Following post “Craftsman, Scientist or Artist – who are you? Three approaches to Expertise”

“You presented a very interesting approach to Expertise in defining the Craftsman, the Scientist and the Artist types, however I cannot say I entirely agree with these strict constraints. I consider myself a highly qualified craftsman: with so many years of expertise in my domain I have clearly mastered all the critical tools and techniques. Does that mean I cannot be a Scientist discovering new approaches or an Artist who brings his soul into everything he does?” Continue reading →

Emotional Decision-Making: is there such a thing?

Posted on February 26, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

I’m completely sure that everyone reading this article had a following frustrating experience at least once in their life: during an argument you present the other side with all the possible rational pros and cons of your respective positions, and your own position appears much more advantageous. However the other side doesn’t seem to care about you being objectively right, keeping on saying that “It still doesn’t feel right!” Continue reading →

Comparing the incomparable

Posted on February 4, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

We all have been taught at certain stage that you cannot compare apples to oranges. What was usually meant by that is that the world is divided into clear categories and those categories should not be mixed up. There are Developers and there are Managers, there are First world countries and there are Third world countries, there are “winners” and there are “losers”. By conveniently dividing the complex reality into more simple and digestible parts this thumb rule clearly makes our life easier, but nevertheless – is it true? Continue reading →

Life without biases Part 1: Is it possible?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

The events of the recent years have clearly shown the repercussions of bad decision-making, both on a personal level when people were buying things they cannot afford; on a corporate level when companies kept pouring money into unsuccessful projects, neglecting all kinds of efficiency monitoring; on the national level when whole countries Continue reading →

Disaster Management – something to learn from

Posted on January 21, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

Let’s admit it: the crisis is no longer at our doorstep, it’s already making havoc inside the house. It’s not a question of falling or not falling from a “fiscal cliff”, it’s a question of having just further cliffs before you instead of straight road.

This may well mean that ALL MANAGERS IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS ARE GONNA BECOME CRISIS MANAGERS. Continue reading →

Happy New Year, everybody – let’s start it on the right foot!

Posted on January 7, 2013 by AnyaWorkSmart

For many of us these are the days of making resolutions for the coming year. As different as the resolutions of different people may be, there would always be something common between them – we all hope that following these resolutions will make our life better. And when something needs to be changed for the better – AnyaWorkSmart will always have something to say :-). Continue reading →

This is Sparta?!! – Since when did it become a norm not to achieve any result?

Posted on December 17, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

During one of my previous employments, a rumor came through the grapevine (you know how it is) that 300 people are going to be laid off next week. Putting aside what it did to the overall mood in the workplace, something bothered me about the number itself. Continue reading →

Learning to be Rational – From Ask Anya mails

Posted on December 6, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

Following series of posts on How good are you in making decisions.

Question:

“There are so many components to our decisions that I doubt the change in a decision making process can be achieved so easily. How can we become rational if we don’t always know when we’re irrational?” Continue reading →

Validating Skills on the interview – From Ask Anya mails

Posted on November 22, 2012 by AnyaWorkSmart

Following Post Thumb rule #1 for building your team

Question:

“I agree that ability to learn is really an important attribute. What would you consider a good indicator of this ability, i.e. how can you assess a candidate for that?”

Answer: Continue reading →