Skip to content

Culture

Reviewing This Week on Make HR Happen – Watching People Everywhere

If there is a line between stalking and people watching, I probably test those boundaries from time to time. There is a library of characters in my brain, probably for that unwritten great American novel, that grows with every day. This week began with observing how people see different generations. If ageism is alive and well it is probably partially due to how people are perceived by another age group. Next we transitioned into a… Read More »Reviewing This Week on Make HR Happen – Watching People Everywhere

Do-It-Yourself People Watching Guide

People watching is like bird watching and can prove to be a contagious sport. My wife and I often take walks through Tarrywile Park in Danbury, a 722 acre municipal park that is absolutely a treasure trove of birds. She is an avid bird watcher and I have learned so much from her… after convincing my always complaining knees that this is a healthy activity for them. I have an app on my phone that… Read More »Do-It-Yourself People Watching Guide

A Job Search Requires More Than One Lens

All of us are people-watchers at one time or another. We can find amusement in watching people perform in their own one-act unrehearsed and unplanned play as they stumble through life unaware that anyone is watching. When it becomes necessary, we consciously, or maybe unconsciously, focus our observation on others in order to learn acceptable behaviors and successful patterns of actions. For a job seeker, there are many lessons to be learned about changing the… Read More »A Job Search Requires More Than One Lens

Rewarding Bad Behavior

People-watching gives us a peek into the thoughts of an individual by their actions. Watching groups of people as they interact with each other gives us clues to the culture they are creating among themselves. I have learned to be very cautious about applying the lessons learned in parenting and training pets as a somewhat inadequate solution to solving business problems, but there are some interesting parallels. Children cannot be expected to arrive with a… Read More »Rewarding Bad Behavior

Always Question Everything… Sometimes

A people watcher is a collector of observed behaviors. When I was a child, I remember watching my parents and wanting to say and do everything I observed. How quickly we forget. Fast forward to a quick road trip lunch stop at a nasty McDonalds in Maryland where now I am the daddy that is being observed by a toddler sitting in the restaurant-supplied high chair. Imagine my surprise when I heard that cherubic little… Read More »Always Question Everything… Sometimes