Here are some articles from around the web that I enjoyed recently. I thought you mind find them to be interesting also.
Did we Gen Xers get the shaft? I’m a Gen Xer, a status that didn’t hold much meaning for me until I read Tammy Erickson’s HBR Blog article Gen X Hits Another Bump in the Road. Here’s a taste of what she has to say:
Here’s the bad news for Gen X: at each point thus far, you’ve drawn a pretty short straw. Your timing — at least in the context of contemporary generations, and through no fault of your own — could hardly have been worse. Not only did your childhood years coincide with social changes that significantly eroded trust and idealism, but during the early years of your adulthood, you have hit various economic landmarks at unfavorable points in the cycle.
Is anyone in charge here? Bill Carleton wrote a quick piece this week about the employee handbook of Valve, which apparently has an incredibly flat organizational structure and depends heavily on volunteerism. In last week’s Web Bits I linked to a piece about Netflix’s all-you-can-eat vacation policy. Both companies seem to rely a lot on having a motivated work force. Must be fun places to work.
Road map to Google+. I’m not a big fan of Facebook, as I noted a few months ago, although I use it frequently. So I was excited when Google launched a competing platform, hoping that Google+ wouldn’t annoy me in the ways that Facebook does. The problem is that people haven’t yet flocked to the site for their social media needs. Guy Kawasaki’s What the Plus! is sure to increase the adoption rate. Guy’s a Google+ power user and a standout among those in my circles.
Is boutique the key to success? Niche, focused, specific. Mindy Gibbons-Klein makes the case for keeping your business focused in Why your business needs to be niche on the entrepreneurcountry blog.
