Week of 12/14/2008 - 00:00 to 12/20/2008 - 23:59

Rant on...

Well, true to its collective nature, Congress has voted itself another pay raise.  At a time when people are losing their jobs by the thousands, companies are shutting down factories, eliminating pay increases, 401K contributions, bonuses, etc, our Congress wags it's finger at Wall St. and Detroit, then flips off its constituents.

I've written about emotional intelligence a few times this month, and I just read this press release from the University of Chicago about "Asymmetric Reciprocity to Positive and Negative Acts".  Bascially, if you're nice to others, they tend to be nice to you, but if you are mean, they tend to be REALLY mean to you.

With another year wrapped up and a new one about to start, it's a good time to be thinking about expectations for yourself and your team.  Start the new year with a higher set of expectations.  Remember, people rise to the level of expectation.  Set the bar low, and that's what you get.  Set it high, and people will strive for it.  Some will make it, others will not.  If your team is like most, 80% of them are not delivering the results that they are capable of.