The Productivity Guru

It's been a few years since the book and movie that made the fire-breathing Miranda Priestly come alive.  Meryl Street made her show us just how terrible this type of employer can be in the 2006 film, "The Devil Wears Prada" and Lauren Weisberger in her 2003 book brought her to life originally.  If you saw the movie, just think back to some of the more juicy scenes where Streep would literally tear the head off of the poor new hire played by Anne Hathaway.  How many bosses are there just like that out there in this world even today?  I daresay more than we want to admit to and literally more than they themselves realize.  And do they realize what they are doing to the people who work for and with them?  To their work lives?  To their personal lives?  To their producitivty and that of their firm?  Again, I doubt it and probably in most cases, I doubt they care.  A recent article in "The Washington Post" brings this subject up again.  Written by Teresa Amabile a

The Wall Street Journal had a tremendous lead-off piece on their "Journal Report" this week on Monday, April 2, 2012.  It was entitled "Employees, Measure Yourselves."  The introductory picture for this article needs to be seen to be understood, so I have included the link and the article below, but as part of the picture in the newspaper version, 5 questions are asked as part of the picture, that are NOT   included in the picture below as part of the digitized version.  These questions are:         "How much time do I spend on Facebook?      How's my pulse when I get close to a deadline?      How often am I distracted?      Does my work improve when I sleep better?      Do I get more done if I exercise before work?"     All great questions which we would want to know if we are interested in our productivity.  I know I certainly would.  The article when you read it goes on to point out that there are software tools available right now that can