Listen to Lucy
Summary: Lucy Kellaway, the FT's management columnist, pokes fun at management fads and jargon, and celebrates the ups and downs of office life. You can find more of Lucy Kellaway's columns from the Financial Times on our website and listen to more episodes of Listen to Lucy on iTunes, Stitcher, Audioboom or Soundcloud.
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- Artist: Lucy Kellaway
- Copyright: Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2009. 'FT' and 'Financial Times' are trademarks of the Financial Times.
Podcasts:
The three things that really make most workers unhappy are actually rather basic - they are the work, the people and the general environment
Going backward: how the phrase 'going forward' has infected business conversation
This column is about strong language, which explains why it contains some. Swearing can be useful in the office, but there are some rules you should follow.
Imagine a brave new world where electronic tagging of employees brings the study of management out of the dark ages. Lucy Kellaway peeks into a frightening future as scientists strive to answer why some companies and managers are so good - and others so bad.
A new theory of happiness says the only reliable pleasures in life are the small ones. So what small pleasures can you find in an office?
Listening is really easy - any old fool can do it - so it can't therefore be a key skill for CEOs, argues Lucy Kellaway. So why do so many business leaders go on about it?
The problem with being truthful about missing work is the reason can be embarrassing or implausible.
The glass ceiling or labyrinth fall short of explaining why women don't make it to the top. Perhaps, argues Lucy Kellaway, women should look at themselves.
Long ago, before e-mail, the return from holiday was a leisurely thing
'We' doesn't imply teamwork or even people who like each other. It is just the mundane experience of office life
There are many reasons to be happy in the office in August - but needless e-mails from control freaks on holiday isn't one of them.
For people in any position of authority the ability to say no is the most important skill there is.
Being generous as a millionaire doesn't make you different to the middle classes, says Lucy Kellaway. An act of true generosity is a rare event whether you are a millionaire or not.
A corporate bollocking just isn't the same as it used to be: PR people have taken over and emotion has been outlawed.
Forty-one years ago, chairman Mao distributed 900m copies of The Little Red Book to the people of China. A couple of weeks ago, Deloitte distributed thousands of copies of The Little Blue Book of Strategy to its US employees. Apart from the difference in colour, the two books have much in common
