One of the major causes of strife between management and workers these days is the rising cost of health care — that is, assuming the employees even get health care anymore.It’s easy for us to point the finger at greedy executives or doctors or insurance companies, but a lot of the fat cats causing all the trouble are rank-and-filers. One crucial reason that medical costs are going up so much is that so many of us are so ov...

Michael Bloomberg almost certainly wouldn’t have become the mayor of New York City — or a billionaire — if the powers that be at Salomon Brothers hadn’t done him a huge favor in 1981.They fired him.Bloomberg and 61 other partners at Salomon walked into work one day and got the news that they were being dumped. The investment firm was merging into Phibro Corp. and, ahem, their services were no longer necessary.Bloomberg’s fi...

Although people obviously will buy the “Star Wars Trilogy” because they love the three movies, the fourth disc in the DVD collection also includes a fascinating story.Its documentary “Empire of Dreams” focuses on how the three movies were made — particularly the original. Now known as “Episode IV: A New Hope,” it was just plain ol’ “Star Wars” when it came out. And people like George Lucas and Harrison Ford were relatively...

In the first game of their playoff series against the Anaheim Angels, the often star-crossed Boston Red Sox seemingly were on their way to an easy victory when pitcher Curt Schilling misplayed a ground ball, leading to an Anaheim rally.In the second game, Boston’s Mark Bellhorn got picked off second base with the bases loaded, killing an early rally. And in the third game, Boston blew a huge lead, allowing Vladimir Guerrero...

Certainly we’ve all heard that United States workers put in longer hours than their counterparts in other countries, but a Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing released this month indicates that we’re happier about several crucial aspects of our jobs than workers in Great Britain and Canada are.The results are based on telephone interviews with more than 5,000 people in the United States and more than 1,000 people apiece in Canada...

If you have been a stay-at-home mom and you’re thinking of returning to the working world, author Loretta Kaufman has a suggestion for you: Make a pie.No, she doesn’t mean you should enter the Pillsbury Bake-Off or apply for a position at Sexual Stereotypes R Us. Draw the pie, then divide it into slices of varying size that are based on what is most important to you. What piece is the biggest: money, flexibility, profession...

The craziness of American politics has proven to be wonderful fodder for “The Daily Show,” Comedy Central’s mock newscast hosted by Jon Stewart. In this election season, however, “The Daily Show” has been seen as more of a major player in the appearance circuit, drawing recent visits from Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry and former President Bill Clinton. Many top Republicans have also appeared.All this has led so...

When the Gallup Organization studied 4,583 call center representatives from a major telecommunications company, researchers discovered that three representatives managed to alienate every customer on a single day — frustrating people so much that the company lost their business, possibly forever.When those employees call in sick, their bosses no doubt look to the heavens and whisper, “Thank you.”Co-workers and customers pro...

As a boss, all the spectacular plans and wonderful technical skills won’t make you a success if you don’t learn how to manage people. Here are the essentials: Sincere praise works wonders. When people do well, use it as a coaching opportunity. Spell out exactly what they did well and why, and personalize it; don't just give one-size-fits-all praise to everyone. Be careful of hyperbole - few reports are truly “spectacular” -...

Despite what you might have thought, most American Indians aren’t bothered because Washington’s football team is named the Redskins.In polling 768 Indians from every state except Alaska and Hawaii, the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey found that 90 percent considered the team’s name to be acceptable. Many sports teams, especially collegiate ones, have shifted away from nicknames that might com...