The French Fry Theory is the idea that you always have room to eat one more fry. It is easy to say yes to one more thing at work or to delegate something more to a team member.

I’m writing a Job Leveling Guide for a client today. It is a document that defines the different levels of jobs that an employer has employees performing.

There are usually 3 - 4 types of jobs like Support, Professional, and Management. For larger employers, you may have Executive level jobs (VP and above) as well.

“There's no place like home,” said Dorothy in the classic film, “The Wizard of Oz,” as she clicked her ruby red slippers and hoped for the return to the comforts of her own bed and her beloved Auntie Em and Uncle Henry.

What is home? Is it a place? Is it the people that love you?

It is normal to want to limit risk. And yet we can’t fully prevent the potential to be laid off.

What you can do as an employee is focus on what you can control.

*You can make sure…

When I was a child, my mom always made sure that my siblings and I wrote thank you notes if we received a gift. I continued that tradition with my kids.

And I write thank you notes now whenever someone does something nice. And I receive them from people who were taught this simple tradition.

Imagine the joy when …

I’ve been helping a couple employers set up retention bonuses for key team members they can’t afford to lose.

They expressed concern that if other employees found out about these special incentives and asked for something similar that they would have a difficult time saying “no” to them.

The quality of your questions determines the quality of your life.

What do you want? Why do you want that?

Who are you? Who do you want to be?

In the 1990s I remember wearing suits with bow tie blouses and matching high heels to work. The blazers had shoulder pads and I had a collection of colorful tights.

I worked at a large financial institution in my first professional job after college. I wanted to climb the corporate ladder and was sold on the idea of getting a promotion as fast as possible.

As I interacted with more executives and learned…

To live a happy life, one that's satisfying to you, you're going to have to disappoint some people.

Sometimes your boss. Sometimes your spouse or partner. Sometimes your parents.

What most of us do is…

Each business needs to have a competitive advantage to survive long-term.

Michael Porter’s book, Competitive Advantage, shares generic strategies, and they can be applied to products or services in all industries and to organizations of all sizes.

After being laid off, it can be difficult to feel valued.

You may have been “on the list” with oodles of other people but it hurts when you are told your job is being eliminated.

And in a work world that treats us as widgets instead of human beings it can make us feel disposable. Like we don’t matter.

Base pay is the first thing most of us think of when someone asks, “How much money do you make?”

The reality is that many of us also receive variable pay.

Variable pay is …

Oh, the chaos. Elon Musk and Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta/Facebook. Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX. Layoffs. Politics. Inflation. A probable recession.

As humans we like predictability. When we don’t have that, we feel unsafe and insecure.

And yet the world isn’t predictable.

I have talked to a number of employers in California who are worried about having to post their pay ranges.

Their current employees are going to realize how low in the range they are paid.

And the employers aren’t ready to answer the questions from employees.

When you see a pay range, first check to see if it makes sense. Here is a link to a variety of free pay data resources: Free Pay Data — Prosper Consulting, LLC (prosperconsultingllc.com)

Does the pay range that is posted align to what other employers are paying for the same job?

Imagine a triangle and at the points of the triangle are the words health, love, and money.

Anytime you make a decision you are making tradeoffs between these three things.

I love possibilities. I easily see the potential in myself and others.

And I am often disappointed because that potential is not achieved.

I'm thinking of the 18 to 28-year-olds who have options.

Options like a side hustle that brings in revenue.

They know how to be influencers, use digital assets, and pivot in a day.