Career

10 Great Commencement Quotes

Anyone go to a graduation this weekend? If you didn’t know, it’s graduation season. Where I live near a college campus, the students are packing up and moving on to summer jobs. My favorite part of graduation – commencement speeches. When else do we have a ton of successful people, share their tips on success.Read… Read more »

Stop Talkin’ Bout My Generation

Generation Y, Millennials, Generation C (for Connected), sometimes even (perhaps incorrectly), the iGeneration. These are the labels that haunt the members of my generation. The large groups of people spanning decades before me are called Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and a wealth of other names, each with their own negative and positive attributes. “Baby BoomersRead… Read more »

Invite Failure – What the Innovative Agencies Are Doing Right

In order for an agency to be innovative you have to empower your employees and leave room for failure. So which agencies are doing that effectively? Dan Helfrich is a Principal at Deloitte Consulting. The Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte’s new Best Places to Work in the Federal Government analysis found that the vastRead… Read more »

Job Search Lessons from May’s Military Holidays

May is the month we recognize and remember several aspects of our military: Military Spouse Appreciation Day (May 10) is a recent recognition of their support.Armed Forces Day (May 18) recognizes those currently in service.Memorial Day (May 27) recognizes those who died in war. Memorial Day began as women, individually and in clubs, decorated theRead… Read more »

How the Navy Drives Innovation (and How You Can Do the Same in Your Agency)

This past Tuesday night during GovLoop’s Career Energizer Event, Steve Rowe, Innovation Campaign Division Chief for the Navy Center for Innovation within the Navy Warfare Development Command, gave a lightning talk on, well, innovation. Below is the slide deck from his lightning speech as well as a guide that he referenced, which the Navy isRead… Read more »

DHS CIO Richard Spires Exits – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: The drumbeat of low morale, budget cuts and pay freezes portray a dark vision of federal workers and the federal space itself. But in reality there is excellence brewing at every agency. The Partnership for Public Service highlights some of those great stories in their annual Service to America Medals. ClickRead… Read more »

Breaking Down the TSP in April – Plus Potential Changes to Automatic Enrollment

April was another good month for the Thrift Savings Plan. How good? Kim Weaver is the Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board. She told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program that every single fund was up in April. April’s Numbers: How Does the L-Fund Work? The L-Fund is made upRead… Read more »

On the Rocks: Best Icebreaker Questions for Meetings and Focus Groups

As a follow up to my post about Best Focus Groups Guides and Resources, here are some ideas about using icebreakers to get the session started on the right foot and not end up “on the rocks”: ABOUT USING ICEBREAKERS The Art of Icebreakers Excellent document about the use of icebreakers. FAST ICEBREAKER QUESTIONS TheRead… Read more »