This week, we conclude our conversation on the Manager Tools Annual Layoff Immunization Guidelines.

We received lots of comments and email regarding our show regarding the first rule of layoffs. While our recommendation struck some folks the wrong way - “finances rule??” - those who HAD been laid off told us we were dead solid perfect.

The fact is, we did not expect three years ago to get such positive responses to our casts and advice on careers and career management. We SHOULD have seen it, but we didn’t (and you’ll learn why in this week’s cast). But we are listening, and thus this week’s cast.

In the same way that “Finances Rule” when it comes to being laid off, PREPARATION makes the entire process so much easier. Both of these recommendations stem from a simple principle: decisions of import made under pressure are dangerous.

So, this week: our Annual Layoff Immunization Guidelines.

As part of Mark and Mike’s European trip, we will be hosting a Manager Tools Meet Up in London on Saturday evening, 2 February. Here are the basics:

What: Manager Tools Meet Up
When: Saturday, 2 Feb, 7:00 - 9:30
Where: Pizza Express, Haymarket
26 Panton House,
London, SW1Y 4EN
Telephone - 020 7930 8044
Google Map

This will be our first international meet up (if you don’t count the Amsterdam conference!) and we’re excited to meet our UK friends, listeners and members. We’re hosting everyone for dinner.

Please rsvp with your intent in a blog comment. We’d like to know how many to plan for. Wendii Lord is helping us with the venue.

Cheers!

As of this post, we have just achieved 20,000 Manager Tools members.

As Mike and I prepare to host the first international Effective Manager Conference, we’re humbled that our community has grown so large. We’re honored to be among a group of professionals working on improving themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

It’s a privilege to serve ALL of you.

In this cast, we complete our series on setting annual goals with Mark’s story of John and the Gate Guards.

Although “merely” a story, don’t fool yourself … there are valuable lessons in there!

Folks,

I apologize for the late notice, but tonight we’ll be doing a site upgrade and will be down for up to 2 hours staring at approximately 10pm Eastern.

The upgrade, assuming all goes well, will be a fairly significant upgrade in hardware — the first step in more upgrades to come. Although at first you’ll simply see a “snappier” website, we have plenty in more in store for the future … stay tune!

Thanks for your patience while we complete these upgrades!

Regards,
Mike

Jan 13, 2008 Update

9:19am EasternAlthough most functions appear to be working, we’re still working through a few issues (access to password protected RSS feeds and premium content links, for example). We think we’ve identified the issue and should have it working shortly.

1:15pm Eastern Thanks for your patience … with the exception of a few cosmetic issues, everything should be fully functional now. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you see any issues!

In this cast, we continue our conversation on setting annual goals.

Last week we discussed our general thoughts on Goals, and particularly our thinly-veiled disdain for SMART goals. Today, we continue our conversation and discuss our core rules for setting goals.

Next week, we’ll conclude the series with our story of “John and the Gate Guards.”