Step Out. Step Up.
It’s not as if Jared Heyman isn’t a nice guy. He does look likeable. And, as a driven businessman and entrepreneur, his success deserves celebration in ways he chooses. But, his idea of a sabbatical as “running away,” curls my brain.
Taking into consideration that INC. needs to sell buckets of magazines, perhaps he did have a better message than [...]
While organizations disappear, wait out or struggle in this economy, you can guess a number of senior executives wouldn’t even venture a conversation about establishing a sabbatical program for their employees.
Apt responses in this group are: “Are you out of your mind?” “No way. We want them here and working, working working.” “Who’s doing that?”
So you might [...]
Our local food pantry executive director, Timothy Evans, wrote an eloquent essay, “Who Are You Gonna Listen To?” for the June Manna Food Bank-Pensacola’s newsletter. Evans ponders the obscure economic indicators celebrity economists use to discern the message of the economic recovery he keeps hearing about on broadcast news. He says he’s hardly encouraged since the message of [...]
By this time tomorrow, 11,000 more people will turn 60 and this blog has touted best-selling author, Daniel Pink’s declaration that a revolution is on the way – a demographic revolution changing the future of the workplace.
Realizing at sixty that they have another twenty-five years to do the things that matter most, this best-educated, goal [...]
Driving home from a recent business dinner, I struggled to figure out just how my three smiling dinner companions processed the current business environment with such remarks as “turning the corner,” “looking better than ever,” “full of promise,” and, (the corker), “my best year ever.”
All three highly educated, high achieving business owners seemed out of [...]
A good friend is packing up to move six states to the east – closer to the ocean where it won’t snow. Without a job for over a year, she figures her spirit will get a boost in new surroundings where the sun shines more days than in Cincinnati. In no time she’ll be inspired to tackle a future [...]
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, written by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter, outlines 20 habits to break to become even more successful. With an average of 4.5 stars from 288 Amazon readers, the book deserves your attention.
The 20 habits include clinging to the past, making excuses and winning too much. Goldsmith is “corporate America’s preeminent [...]
Mixing travel and good deeds is a always a great recipe for a sabbatical. Maybe you want to volunteer abroad but are skittish about taking a chance on a charitable organization you’ve never heard in a far-off place … like Mongolia.
Would the rock-solid reputation of “Habitat for Humanity” help you take the leap?
No one disputes the need [...]
Faced with the decision of moving toward a break in your career involves many moving parts. The negotiation with your boss, the planning and execution, and assuring positive outcomes for you and your company – all deserve to be well thought-out.
But spinning wheels over and over ideas are what some of us are really good [...]
As one of five finalists, I still drool over the almost-mine opportunity to accompany a two-time Pulitzer Prize journalist on a trip to the developing world. Winning that Win-a-Trip 2011 Contest sponsored by The New York Times offered by Nicholas Kristof meant time out of my everyday rat race to one of the most desperate places on the [...]
Who knew to call time out raising your kids a “parenting sabbatical”? Seems this touted option elicits opinionated responses from moms of the world.
In her column yesterday for the New York Times, Overcoming a “Planned” Sabbatical, Lisa Belkin features Barbara Hannan Grufferman’s suggestions for re-entering the workforce after taking time out to have a family. Ms. Grufferman [...]
Individuals planning sabbaticals often ponder the “giving back” opportunity. Some sabbatical-goers spend their entire sabbatical as a volunteer in their community or in a far-flung country; others carve out a portion of their time away to help others. If either of these experiences describe what you did or are planning on your sabbatical, we invite [...]
You’re thinking of negotiating a sabbatical and what you really want to do with your time away is satisfy your need for a first-rate outdoor adventure and physical challenge. But you’re in virgin territory, in a company where no one has ever asked for a sabbatical before …. and not everyone can appreciate your idea [...]
As more and more organizations investigate the best design for sabbatical programs, the sabbatical-by-application option could be the design that stands out. Already used in many universities, the by-application program means you will be in competition with your peers for the number of sabbatical slots available.
In a competition for a sabbatical, how can you make [...]
Plan B used to refer to the reverie of the life you could swap for the one that you were leading. The old Plan B was a lark that you could enjoy even if you never got past the dreaming phase. We dreamed a lot about Plan B – that life we’d lived after we [...]
Is the idea of a sabbatical program at your company a “squishy” one? Is there no perception that time out from a career boosts performance, career longevity and innovation?
Time to express your impatience with stodgy thinking and tell stories of how time off CAN result in extraordinary bottom line results.
From squishy idea to business strategy, [...]
Every sabbatical experience is a chance to design a slice of your life. No matter how responsible you are, consider doing a “crazy thing” like Rabbi Bob Levy who, up until now, has liked to simply peddle around Ann Arbor, Michigan.
A simple bike ride is far different than “this crazy thing like I’m doing,” Levy said. The Rabbi [...]
Sabbaticals associated with the academic world often receive a ho-hum reaction from me since the outcomes rarely seem to benefit anyone other than the professor and his/her career. But here’s a sabbatical with substantial payback and a project you can be involved in, too.
What do you know about the “third wave of feminism in the [...]
Last year IKEA announced their Life Improvement Project with the tag line, “Life Improved. Community Improved.” The possbility of a year-long paid sabbatical was an innovative contest idea, and this year’s winner proves that the whole sabbatical trend is not just about the person who is on sabbatical. Yes, this year’s winner will have a sabbatical year [...]
A few years ago, after two weeks of trekking in Patagonia and staying in refugios and tents, three of us took an overnight bus ride across Chile to Argentina. We were grubby – not quite presentable for the fashion-forward Buenos Aires crowd. We checked into the finest luxury hotel in the city. (Thanks to our friend Dee [...]
There’s no doubt that the nonprofit sector values the sabbatical experience for its leaders. Nonprofits also prove to be willing to reach into their pocketbooks to make sabbaticals happen.
The goal of the Alaska-based Rasmuson Foundation Sabbatical Program is to retain top-quality leaders in nonprofits by providing three- to six-month opportunities for rest, reflection and [...]
Thomas Metzinger, a philosopher, argues that the Internet isn’t changing the way we think, but it is attacking our finite commodity of “attention.” Feeling strongly about our “attention management,” the philosopher worries. “Attention is a finite commodity and absolutely essential to living a good life,” he laments.
Given that, you and I won’t be living our [...]