Stop the War of Politics & Personalities versus Principles & Performance Before It Kills You and Your Company
Contribute Your Story!
As of January 2008, I have received over 100 amazing stories! Thank you! Read below for the specific stories that we are looking to incorporate into the book - and then go to the bottom of the page to tell us your story!
Death of an Employee Stories Wanted
Developing a life plan in writing successes
Going in and out of balance: and how you solved the problem
Integrating your life plan into your calendar to achieve your goals
Getting a Coach to help you improve
Selling Your Soul to the Corporation: working 24x7!
Choosing the Wrong Type of Firm for your style and personality
Interview Horror Stories
Offer Letter Negotiation Horror Stories
New Hire Orientation/On Boarding Horror Stories
90 Day Plan Success Story
90 Day Plan Horror Story
One Year Plan Success Story
One Year Plan Horror Story
Performance Review/Merit Raise Horror Stories
Terrible boss stories
Death of a Manager Stories Wanted
Vision, mission, and value hypocrisy stories
Unrealistic goal setting horror stories
Stupid, illogical budget stories
Business review torture sessions
Poisonous peers!
Difficult Personalities
The Alpha Dog (pees all over everything first)
The Snake (self explanatory)
The Politician (if it is good for him, then it is good period)
Teflon Man/Woman (nothing bad sticks to this person)
The Tenured Professor (the manager who has been there for ever, is friends with the founder, and currently is retired in place)
The Cement Man (the answer is always no or that is not the way we do it)
The Puppeteer (this is the person with no backbone and does whatever his boss tells him; also known as the yes man
Corporate Events and Party disasters
Style versus Substance stories
Terrible boss stories
Death of a Leader Stories Wanted
Corporate strategy disasters
Declining value propositions and reduced competitive advantage stories
Market entry disasters
Go to market strategy mistakes
Product launch failures
Lack of understanding of marketing, category management, and branding
Lack of understanding of sales and channels
Channel conflict stories
Pricing failures
Stupid promotions
Political assassinations by your peers or bosses
Dysfunctional department stories: where going to work every day is like punching the time clock to hell
Departments at war stories: where more people are dying every day at your office than in all prior wars in the world combined
Inhumane layoff stories: please check your email or voice mail to see if you still have a job?
Lack of management processes
Strategic initiative failures
Terrible boss stories
Story Format Explanation
Goals: When you entered into the situation/project/initiative/job etc, what goals did you have? What were you trying to achieve?
Expectations: What were your expectations when you entered into the situation/project/initiative/job?
Strategy: What was your strategy to achieve your goals?
Near Death Experience: OK, so what happened? How did the train derail? How close to "death" did you come? How were you feeling when this all went down?
Lessons Learned:What did you learn? What will you do differently?
Light at the End of the Tunnel: With the passage of time, did it all work out for the best? Did it lead you down a different path? Are you in a better place today because of what happened?