rituals

Rituals

Every Friday night is the same around here: I’m hungry, the internet has me down, and I demand an early dinner. For years, the husband and I earmarked Friday as date night. We grabbed a geriatric meal at the local Mexican place before seeing a movie. And, because my life unfolds online, I would bring…

feedback

Feedback at Work

As a rookie HR girl, I thought it was my responsibility to change the world and make everybody feel good about work. No tragedy was too big and no task was too troublesome to save me from my passion for getting involved in other people’s lives. Unfortunately, other people’s lives are messy. While working at…

The Journey of a Blogger

My blog has been baptized by fire and water. It began with a passion for understanding myself and has since become a passion for helping people better understand themselves and the role of work in their lives. It’s a fire that often overwhelms me, but I don’t run from the flames. I sit down at…

mushroom coffee

On Being an Adult Student

There are two types of people in this world: 1. People who like to learn new things. 2. People who don’t. I fall into the second category. It’s hard for me to learn new things. I’m not a good student, and I don’t have the attention span or the desire to sit through a lesson…

There is Good Stuff Online

I took a break from the internet, last month. I was having a love-hate relationship with my phone, which is totally offensive to the poor kids who work as slaves to make my device. Seemed like the right time to get my head out of my butt (and my eyes off my screen). The results…

Why Have HR At All?

The field of human resources took it on the chin, this week, with the sexual harassment claims from Uber and Google and Tesla and Sterling Jewelers. I’m not sure HR practitioners knew they were being blamed, but in talking to journalists and business leaders, one question kept coming up over and over again. “Why have…

laurie ruettimann wrigley field

The Start-Up Business

I don’t understand how this start-up business works. You have an idea. You get excited about it. Some people say nice things to you, and some people don’t say nice things to you. You build something. You test your ideas. You get feedback. Some of it’s good. Some of it’s bad. There’s a group of…