A guide to life in the fast cycle lane

FromFT Listen to Lucy

Start listening View podcast show

A guide to life in the fast cycle lane

FromFT Listen to Lucy

ratings:

Length:

5 minutes

Released:

Nov 24, 2011

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Thinking strategically about your life isn’t necessarily such a great idea, says Lucy Kellaway For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Released:

Nov 24, 2011

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Financial Times management columnist Lucy Kellaway pokes fun at management fads and jargon, and celebrates the ups and downs of office life.

Skip carousel

Tone down the hatred and retain your dignity: This week, Lucy looks at rage, pettiness and rivalry between companies. by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Reasons for being miserable at work: The three things that really make most workers unhappy are actually rather basic - they are the work, the people and the general environment For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Private parties and shameless schmoozing: The crossover of business and private parties creates problems for the guest. It is helpful to know which sort of do you are at, so you can behave accordingly, says Lucy Kellaway For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
The ups and downs of the daily grind: Do you work well when you are miserable? Are happy workers the most productive? This week, Lucy keeps a diary to see how her moods affect her work. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
The real reason why there are fewer women at the top: The glass ceiling or labyrinth fall short of explaining why women don't make it to the top. Perhaps, argues Lucy Kellaway, women should look at themselves. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Take a bracing dip in September's overflowing in-box: Long ago, before e-mail, the return from holiday was a leisurely thing For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
I've found the worst employee handbook ever: Forty-one years ago, chairman Mao distributed 900m copies of The Little Red Book to the people of China. A couple of weeks ago, Deloitte distributed thousands of copies of The Little Blue Book of Strategy to its US employees. Apart from the difference ... by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Motivational memos must make their message clear: Lucy asks 'what is the worst motivational memo ever?' For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Why lies can save your office blushes: The problem with being truthful about missing work is the reason can be embarrassing or implausible. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Fleeting pleasures of August without the A-team: There are many reasons to be happy in the office in August - but needless e-mails from control freaks on holiday isn't one of them. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Just say No to the new managerial cult of Yes: For people in any position of authority the ability to say no is the most important skill there is. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Google will make recruits less frugal with the truth: Lucy sees reasons for cheer in the new 'world without secrets' For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Today's punishment is meted out with politesse: A corporate bollocking just isn't the same as it used to be: PR people have taken over and emotion has been outlawed. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Leisurely retirement? Think again: When it comes to retirement, are you Buffet, Gates or potato? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Express your anger - it is all the rage: For me work is one long rage opportunity - starting with the fact that the machine that dispenses hot water for tea is on the blink. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Indulgence is no way to manage a bleating luvvie: Artists are no different to any other profession; they need to be managed too, so they can go on getting better. Lucy Kellaway delves into the business-like approach that financier Guy Hands plans to take with musicians at EMI, and asks: should you be ... by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
The headhunters' disease: Saying anything that makes any sense at all is enough to disqualify one from joining what practitioners call the 'executive search space' For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Put real business on TV and I'll reach for the remote: Business telly, so the newspapers tell us, is 'the new rock and roll'. While it isn't exactly cool, it is increasingly popular. But is it really about business? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Some uncharitable thoughts on millionaire generosity: Being generous as a millionaire doesn't make you different to the middle classes, says Lucy Kellaway. An act of true generosity is a rare event whether you are a millionaire or not. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/pri... by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
A word in your ear: Listening is really easy - any old fool can do it - so it can't therefore be a key skill for CEOs, argues Lucy Kellaway. So why do so many business leaders go on about it? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
A year of breakthrough thinking from top twaddlists: Lucy gives out her 2007 awards for management nonsense For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
7 min listen
Strap on the sensors and step out into the future: Imagine a brave new world where electronic tagging of employees brings the study of management out of the dark ages. Lucy Kellaway peeks into a frightening future as scientists strive to answer why some companies and managers are so good - and others s... by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
We are not family: 'We' doesn't imply teamwork or even people who like each other. It is just the mundane experience of office life For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Leaders in need of a good idea: The title 'thought leader' offends for several reasons. And when the term is used there is usually no sign of any thinking or leading going on For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Trapped workers develop a line in doodling: It is wrong to see doodling as something to do when bored. Instead, it is what we do when we are forced to listen to someone else. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
The battle is lost, going forward: Going backward: how the phrase 'going forward' has infected business conversation For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Keep marriage counsellors out of the office: At work I'm a pussycat, compliant and pathetically keen to please. At home I am a tyrant, brooking no opposition from anyone. So why do people think there are parralels between good marriages and good colleagues? For information regarding your da... by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
The joy of fresh stationery, gossip and lattes with lids: A new theory of happiness says the only reliable pleasures in life are the small ones. So what small pleasures can you find in an office? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Reasons for effing and blinding: This column is about strong language, which explains why it contains some. Swearing can be useful in the office, but there are some rules you should follow. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Shock of BPC: before personal computers: To mark the retirement of Bill Gates, inventor of Windows, Lucy Kellaway decides to turn off her computer and Blackberry, and write and think with a fountain pen. Can she survive? For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen

More Episodes from FT Listen to Lucy

Skip carousel

FT readers, I will miss you most of all: After 32 years, you are still an enigma, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
How I lost my 25-year battle against corporate claptrap: The exponential rise of guff in business shows no sign of abating, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Apple's new grandiose office is for grown -ups: Apple's $5bn headquarters is the world’s most expensive office and Steve Jobs' last posthumous hurrah, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Don't listen to prigs: profanity is glorious: Shock over swear words exposes some misplaced prudery, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Let's have more 'womanterruption': Interruptions help cut short boring discussions. So instead of making men interrupt less, women should be made to do it more, argues Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Why the most successful people just say no: The main difference between yes and no is that one is easy and the other hard, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Paul Romer’s ‘and’ quota is a false economy: It was wrong to punish someone who tried to get his colleagues to write text that people might conceivably want to read, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
You heard it here first: hold fast to your antiques: The tables are turning on Ikea and the fashion for Skandi tat, says Lucy Kellaway. Image credit: Chris Tosic by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Amy the robot wants my job, but she's no match for me: Voice bot Artificial Amy would represent serious competition if what she produced was halfway decent, but it isn't, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
4 min listen
To say older workers lack energy is ageist and wrong: Modern fiftysomethings are perky, well-rested and free from domestic ties, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
There is nothing cute about innumeracy: Abbott’s difficulty with a simple sum is evidence of a troubling assumption, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Mondelez serves up 10 business clichés in one sentence: ‘Breakthrough’ is so stale it makes me almost feel sorry for the author, says Lucy Kellaway. Image credit: Chris Tosic by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
My speech was a car crash because I am too confident: Good intentions led to a tour de force of clangers, says Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Cheap ways to prevent executive burnout: Expensive ‘holistic’ leadership programmes do not solve anything, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
A masterclass in calling bullshit: Puffed-up nonsense has been deemed worthy of academic study, says Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
The dedicated office chatters are being forced out: Everyone will tell you they are too busy to talk — but it is not true, says Lucy Kellaway. Image credit: Chris Tosic by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Codes of conduct breach the principles of common sense: Codes of conduct breach the principles of common sense by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Robert Kelly’s children remind us how pompous we are at work: Viral video of domestic mishap shows the artificiality of the professional self, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
How I help my children navigate their incredible life journeys: Unlike Angela Ahrendts, I am not ‘on 24/7’, say Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Why do we let Warren Buffett get away with sexism?: The Sage of Omaha tells old and unfunny jokes without recrimination, says Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Death can bring your career back to life: A disrupter of habit, it stops the living in their tracks, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Should you ever trade on past glories?: Telling others what you did before can be a sign of mediocrity, says Lucy Kellaway. Illustration by Chris Tosic by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Sexy and super bland: the rise of the office uniform: What people wear to work at investment banks, management consultancies and top law firms is ridiculous. Individualism is to be avoided at all costs. says Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
How to ask for what you want — and get it every time: Start with please and thank you, then spoon on the flattery, says Lucy Kellaway. Image by Chris Tosic by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
I am a difficult person at work and proud of it: In the workplace and in life, being troublesome can be useful, says Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Why is work making us miserable?: Office life is better than ever before, but dissatisfaction is rising, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Writing clearly turns out to be not so easy after all: When handing out my annual guff awards last week I said clear language in business was perfectly possible if you tried hard enough. I now find it’s not as simple as that, says Lucy Kellaway. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Lucy Kellaway’s jargon awards: corporate guff scales new heights: Contenders for 2016’s gong ranged from euphemistic to ‘plain moronic’, says Lucy Kellaway by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
I’m leaving to become a teacher and I want you to join me: After 31 years at the Financial Times, Lucy Kellaway is leaving to set up Now Teach by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Skip the empathy, Mr Schultz, and focus on the coffee: Starbucks boss has no business sending a missive to staff to tell them how to be. by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen

Related podcast episodes

Skip carousel

Money’s too tight to mention if you have lots of it: It is surprisingly hard to be good at having money – harder than acquiring it in the first place. The perfect amount of money is when you hardly have to think about it at all, says Lucy Kellaway For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast... by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Some uncharitable thoughts on millionaire generosity: Being generous as a millionaire doesn't make you different to the middle classes, says Lucy Kellaway. An act of true generosity is a rare event whether you are a millionaire or not. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/pri... by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Must I remember my kids’ ages just to log on?: In the early days of computers I never forgot my password because the top secret word I’d chosen was ‘Kellaway’, which I found could be effortlessly recalled even in the most fraught moments, says Lucy Kellaway. For information regarding your data pri... by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
Strap on the sensors and step out into the future: Imagine a brave new world where electronic tagging of employees brings the study of management out of the dark ages. Lucy Kellaway peeks into a frightening future as scientists strive to answer why some companies and managers are so good - and others s... by FT Listen to Lucy
5 min listen
The worst since 1929?: Newspaper articles in these tumultuous, fatal, not-seen-since-the-Great-Depression times are so tightly packed with cliche that it is hard to do anything other than join in, says Lucy Kellaway. But she says we must be careful not to overstate things. ... by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
Taboo or not taboo? Some new office guidelines: A search for the sacrosanct subjects of the workplace was almost fruitless as most of the old strictures at work are on the way out, but there are still some no-go areas, says Lucy Kellaway For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/... by FT Listen to Lucy
6 min listen
True Meaning of Love by Natural Seduction - The Natural Lifestyles Podcast with James Marshall
13 min listen
Deutsche Bank disasters, HSBC succession plans and an investment platform for women: Patrick Jenkins and guests discuss Deutsche Bank's falling share price, succession planning at HSBC and in the US, Sallie Krawcheck of Ellevest tells Alistair Gray why women need their own investment platform. by FT Banking Weekly
17 min listen
What Are We Capable Of with Ben Stewart by Gaia Consciousness
19 min listen
Has the traditional CISO model outlived its usefulness? - Nathan Case - ESW #325: The traditional concept of the CISO may literally be 'too much', according to Nathan Case. It's based on systems of control and unrealistic assumptions that don't survive contact with real life. In this conversation, we'll discuss what the top... by Security Weekly Podcast Network (Video)
48 min listen
Has the traditional CISO model outlived its usefulness? - Nathan Case - ESW #325: The traditional concept of the CISO may literally be 'too much', according to Nathan Case. It's based on systems of control and unrealistic assumptions that don't survive contact with real life. In this conversation, we'll discuss what the top... by Enterprise Security Weekly (Video)
48 min listen
Delusion and the Uses of Not Being Rational: Being rational is an often-admired quality. After all, a rational mind allows us to calmly and carefully evaluate situations based on the facts rather than letting emotions cloud our thinking. There are times, however, when irrational thought has its ad... by Under the Cortex
20 min listen
Rationally Speaking #181 - William MacAskill on "Moral Uncertainty": Julia and William MacAskill discuss "moral uncertainty" and how to take multiple moral systems into account when making a decision, and how to deal with "absolutist" theories that insist some actions have infinite badness, like lying. by Rationally Speaking Podcast
54 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

A guide to life in the fast cycle lane

A guide to life in the fast cycle lane

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from FT Listen to Lucy

Related podcast episodes