Paul Millerd
Forget your dream job and grab a beer: three tips to stay sane in the crazy, modern working world
How to manage your energy for long-term career success For me, hating my job has never been an option. I’ve always been motivated by finding work that excites me and helps me build a career that is fueled by my passions. Early in my career, I was fascinated by the business world and wanted to learn ... Read more
A quick ten question assessment of your own employee engagement
Figure out what is driving you Everyone has heard the statistic from Gallup that 70% of people are not engaged at work. This information is sad — but not useful in understanding how I can actually increase my own engagement. I’ve often been a fan of creating my own self-assessments to measure how well I am aligned with ... Read more
Asking Better Questions
I am curious about other people. I also spent a stint as a career coach where my role was to help people gain a better understanding of how they are driven and where they are going. The easiest way to help people open up is to ask the right questions. Human of New York is ... Read more
Skill-Organization Fit
A new way for thinking about your potential In the startup world there is a lot of focus on product-market fit and making sure that alignment is perfect. The better the fit, the more you will sell and the bigger your company gets. I’ve been thinking about how this applies to individual skill level and ... Read more
The Is-Ought Fallacy is Devastating to Progress in Modern Organizations
The is-ought “problem” was identified by David Hume. Also known as Hume’s Law or Hume’s Guillotine (I prefer this)— he noticed it was the logical error people would make connecting what “is” with what “ought” to be. This conclusion starts with his belief that all knowledge is the result of two things: Logic and definitions ... Read more
ABL = Always Be Looking (For Jobs)
I’m an advocate of dedicating a certain amount of time per week or month to looking for jobs. There are a few benefits: You know what kinds of jobs are out there You get a sense for what companies are hiring in your area You are prepared when you face an unexpected job loss or ... Read more
Beginner’s Mind: A Better Way to Solve Problems
I first read about the idea of the “beginner’s mind” — a buiddhist conception — while reading one of my favorite books — The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin. Josh was a chess prodigy at a young age and eventually became a world champion. He eventually took a break from chess, but re-focused his efforts on Taiwanese Push Hands — a martial ... Read more
Getting Reps: High-Performance and The Patriots
As a lifelong Patriots fan and admirer of any high-perfoming organization it would be hard to not comment on the Patriots win last night. Tom Brady has played in 34 playoff games with Bill Belichick. Thats over 33 hours of high-pressure experience. Matt Ryan has only played in 8 games and this was his first ... Read more
Skill building as a career strategy
Versatility is imperative in today’s world My goal has always been to be versatile and have flexibility in my career. In today’s economy it’s the only way I know how to prepare for the future. Many jobs that people have today didn’t exist ten years ago. My last three jobs didn’t exist before I had the ... Read more
Beware of the Default Path
The mistake that is holding back the working world I spend a lot of time mentoring and coaching college students. I was having a conversation with a student a couple months ago and he asked me “people that take this job don’t typically do X after, will this limit my options?” I get some version of ... Read more