Take Your PTO

Hello, everybody. I’m headed home from a week in Ireland. I hate it when bloggers like me go on vacation and then use their time away from the computer as an opportunity to lecture you to take your PTO. “You need space and time to think,” they write. “Turn your brain off. Get away from…

Jobs of the Future

Jobs of the near-term future will have three components: dream, create, perform. Each part is interwoven and material to the whole.  Dreaming is the precursor to doing great things. What differentiates humans from bots and algorithms is our ability to imagine. While robots can be programmed for artistic talent, they can’t aspire beyond their designed consciousness.…

Why I Still Love the Premortem

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about failure, but not a day goes by when I don’t think about the concept of the “premortem.”  As a reminder, a premortem is an act of thinking about how you’ll fail before you do something. Modify your plans, and increase your chance of success. For example, you’ve got…

Rebooting My Punk Rock HR Career

“Another Ruettimann video?” Yeah, man, another video. I want to relaunch my Punk Rock HR speaking career without calling myself Punk Rock HR. Your interaction (or lack thereof) helps me to understand what works, what doesn’t, and how my fans consume media. It’s also practice. Over the past three years, I’ve worked on consulting projects…

Healthy Rituals

I believe in healthy, soothing rituals. I’m talking about behaviors and practices meant to achieve physical, spiritual or emotional comfort. For example, my husband and I try to have dinner on Friday night and then see a movie. Then there’s my grandmother, who had a cup of hot English breakfast tea daily and savored the…