Not Suitable For Work Podcast

You would be hard pressed to read a business article or book that doesn’t stress the importance of building relationships with co-workers. When you have a good rapport, it’s easier to collaborate, share ideas and provide feedback. The vibe in the office is better, it’s more relaxed, people start to kid around. To cultivate these relationship, we often connect through a shared interest. Depending on your co-worker, finding theses shared interests is often easier said than done. Shawn Farrell thought he struck gold when he found a common interest with his co-workers until he took it one step too far.

Today there is hyper awareness around creating work environments of kindness and collaboration. All for one and one for all. Rising tides lift all boats. You catch my drift. To what lengths would you go to help a colleague in need? Are there limits if it could impact your career. Our guest, gives the clothes off of her back, even if it may be at the detriment of her career. 

In an earlier episode, we discussed how company’s scour a candidate’s social media activity as part of the interviewing process. What about once you’re an employee? Should employers be tracking their employee’s social media activity? And do they have the latitude to ask that a post be altered or removed? Let’s take a listen to Kirk’s story.

What are the chances that a guy’s guy from West Lafayette Indiana, with no background in woman’s fashion, would find himself scouring the Los Angeles garment district in search of the perfect little black dress? Well my friends, not so far-fetched.  Careers take unexpected turns. And that’s exactly what happened to Tony Dowell a patent attorney from West Lafayette Indiana.

Colleagues make frequent traveling companions. In a past episode, “It’s Show Time”, we got a glimpse of what it’s like traveling by car and train with colleagues, for hours on end. In this episode, we take to the air with the CEO and Executive Vice President of a global advertising agency, as they criss-cross the country to meet with two very important clients. Listen to what happens as their best laid plans come undone.

From time to time people make significant life changes in their careers. They move to new cities. They take on impossible assignments. And when you’re in a professional services business, you’ll work your ass off day and night to make the client happy. In this episode, Peter chats with Mike, who shares his story of being so fixated on retaining a client’s business that he forgets the most basic of necessities.

Most people have had the job before the job. That being the summer job in high school. The job that teaches invaluable lessons that shape and mold us before we begin our “real” corporate jobs and careers. In this episode, we discuss summer jobs beginning at the tender age of 15 and lessons learned (about work) that last a life time.  

In the second of our series on interviewing, Peter talks with Ryan, an attorney using some unconventional techniques to uncover a candidate's true character.

In the first of our two part series on interviewing, Peter chats with Brian, an HR professional who starts to get wind of inappropriate interviewing questions being asked by his colleague.  In this episode we go into the North American headquarters of an East Asian Tech company.  And cultural differences run deep.

The typical understanding of an office is on designed for companies who employ tens, hundreds or thousands of people who congregate without fail M-F, 9-5 to have meetings. More and more companies and people are working non-traditional office environments.  Our guest on this episode shines a new light on working and collaborating in a non-traditional office.

Loose lips, sink ships and when there is alcohol involved, they can also sink careers. Our guest learns when a drunk mouth speaks a sober mind to the CEO at a company-wide event it could lead to his undoing.

Our guest on Not Suitable for Work this week, has handled a myriad of challenging personalities and absurd requests in an industry that has few if any boundaries. Right out of college my guest experienced the oddities of working for a bumbling boss who never quite knew the right thing to say.

In this week's episode of Not Suitable, our guest’s interest is piqued when presented with a seemingly outsized challenge. Undeterred by his underdog status, he gleefully embraces the opportunity to demonstrate his creativity; defying the odds by over delivering on expectations and using every bit of showmanship and ingenuity he can muster even in the face of adversity.

In this episode, a new boss quickly finds himself on the hot seat.  After just two weeks, his job and reputation are on the line when a sequence of events involving his new direct reports don’t quite add up. Wanting to be seen as the “cool” new boss overrides a nagging suspicion that things aren’t quite what they seem. That’s when things unravel fast.

As a junior advertising account executive, nothing can be more unnerving than presenting to a room of senior executives. Or driving in a car with your boss and colleagues for six hours every single week? Not to mention the first time you have to give someone on your team “constructive feedback.” Words of wisdom come easy upon reflection. But when you’re living it, it seems like everything is do or die. One bad presentation or driving faux pas can be a career limiting move. Our next guest shares tales and tips from his twenty-year career in advertising and what he’s learning today from his conversations with millennials.

Have you been in a situation where you’re busting your ass working round the clock only to be surrounded by ungrateful leaders who are only thinking of themselves? So much so, you’re on the verge of quitting? It involves Kelly, a junior person busting her ass working round the clock, literally, while be confronted by senior leaders who are only thinking of themselves and could give a rat’s ass about the little people. Kelly Jones was just out of college and had started at a prestigious Advertising Agency in Chicago.  With that comes pressure, deadlines and a whole bunch of egos on an average day.

Career success can be precarious. When asked to take on the impossible is it better to enthusiastically say yes or bow out gracefully. When you’re a young gun eager to make your mark, and prove your mettle there is only one answer. And no looking back. It’s all hands-on deck to retain a client’s business that’s going down the toilet, literally. At the helm is a newly promoted account director hand selected by the CEO to do the impossible. Pressure mounts as he and his team are running out of time to come up with a big game changing idea.

One of the joys of being a boss is approving expense reports. Psyche. No, it’s not. Someone is always trying to expense something that they shouldn’t. Why not, it’s the company’s money. In this next story, a boss has to deal with two employees who are taking liberties with their expense reports.

Have you ever been jealous that your co-workers are working on a project or client that seems way cooler than yours? Everything they do turns to gold. They’re having fun and getting all the accolades. And you want a sliver of that success.   This week's guest was in that exact situation. Feeling like he was missing out, he lobbied to work on his company’s most prestigious client. His wish was finally granted. But what he got was far more than he bargained for.