What films teach us about workplace relationships: The Devil Wears Prada

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prada2The Devil Wears Prada is an entertaining film which tells the story of the boss-from-hell and her young assistant.

Set in the high-octane, self-reverential world of fashion, it follows a comforting and familiar trajectory of antagonism, acceptance and re-assessment, in which eventually the values of kindness and humanity prevail over the evil forces of ruthless ambition and over-estimating the importance of Jimmy Choos in the grand scheme of things.

But the film does have some lessons for us all in considering relationships in the workplace.

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My Smart Girl’s Guide gets an ’empowering’ review from Publishers Weekly

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My new book, The Smart Girl’s Guide to Getting What You Want, has received a great review from Publishers Weekly, the bible of the American publishing and bookselling business, which calls the book an “empowering tome”.

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You can read the full review at Publishers Weekly and the book can be pre-ordered in print or ebook formats at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

The Smart Girl’s Guide to Getting What You Want explains how to be assertive with wit, style and grace and will be published in April in the US and UK by Osprey Publishing and Watkins Publishing.

What your office jargon says about you

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blueskythinking1jWorkspeak has taken on a life of its own, often devoid of sense and clarity.

Going forward with our blue sky thinking, actioning and incentivising as we head for close of play on our shared journey, we offend in two major respects.

In the first place, we show linguistic insensitivity. We cobble together incongruent images, create ugly hybrids, use nouns and adjectives with cavalier disregard for their grammatical function.

The English language is continually evolving. It is robust and flexible and can take a hammering but the use of jargon ignores the wealth of possibilities in its vast vocabulary and ducks the challenge of finding clear and forceful expressions and developing images with the power to illuminate and to delight.
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How to write a complaint letter that gets results

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complainsign1Your fingers thump the keyboard or your pen digs into the paper as you pour out your anger, disappointment, annoyance, rage, concern — whatever emotion it is that has propelled you to write to complain.

You finish writing, press send and sit back to wait for the response, which may or may not be to your satisfaction.

Putting some forethought and preparation into a complaint letter will raise the chance of you getting the kind of response you want.

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Why handwritten letters are back in style

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scroll1jWho would have thought in this digital age, that books containing collections of personal handwritten letters would be flying out of bookshops? Readers are buying Shaun Usher’s ‘Letters of Note’, a fabulous-looking collection of 100 letters written by people including Queen Elizabeth II, Iggy Pop, Gandhi and Einstein.

We also love ‘To the Letter’, Simon Garfield’s fascinating trawl through the history of letter-writing from the Romans to the present day. And then there’s a ripple of excitement at the discovery of 13 unpublished letters written by Mary Shelley, the author of ‘Frankenstein’.
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The One Rule You Need For Avoiding Christmas Arguments

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polarbearfamily1jSeason of goodwill? Not if you look at the stats about seasonal family stress and tension and the level of internet traffic to getyourdivorcehere.com and (genuine) related sources of information about dealing with relationships stretched to breaking point.

The ingredients of a ‘typical’ Christmas don’t augur well. Take a huge dollop of pressure to spend money which you may or may not have. Prepare a ticking clock. Add a never-ending list of things that need to be done before the Big Day, on top of, not instead of, all the normal demands on your time.

Throw in generous amounts of unfamiliar food which must be bought and prepared and which will be eaten in unfamiliar quantities and in digestion-challenging combinations. Sprinkle liberally with the obligation to drink copious amounts of alcohol at unfamiliar times of the day.
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No regrets: how to refuse an invitation

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acceptreject1It shouldn’t be difficult to turn down an invitation but it is. We feel that because someone has asked us, we have to say yes. We feel we have been put on the spot, put in a situation which gives us no choice.

Start by flipping that switch and telling yourself ‘It’s OK to say no.’

In fact, it’s more than OK. With some exceptions, of course, the right thing to do if you don’t want to go to something is to say so. To join in an occasion half-heartedly or grudgingly and moan about it afterwards as if it is someone else’s fault that you didn’t have a good time, is mean-spirited and unworthy of you. Here are some ways of dealing with invitations.
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