Emily F. Keller

Mentors Make a Business Better

    For workers who are seeking to change direction in their industry, climb to the next level, or adjust to a merger or structural change at their company, management experts say finding a mentor could be their best transitional tool. Where can an ambitious person find a mentor? Try retirees looking to give back or stay engaged, and business leaders seeking to improve their managerial skills.

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

Switching from For-Profit to Nonprofit

    Imagine quitting your job to move to an organization that has fewer resources, affords you less control over the product, and offers a lower salary. Sound enticing? How about throwing into the mix more personal satisfaction, a charitable mission, and a greater sense of community? Indeed, it all adds up to a winning proposition for the many workers in the for-profit sector who are making the transition to the nonprofit world.

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

A Tug-of-War at Habitat for Humanity

    Two years into the job, Habitat for Humanity International Chief Executive Jonathan T.M. Reckford is priming the homebuilding charity for a growth spurt. For more than three decades, Habitat has relied on a sparse, three-page document to outline its relationship with affiliates. But now it's putting the final touches on a 26-page agreement that Reckford says will protect the Habitat brand, create uniform standards and consistency among affiliates, and assure financial accountability to donors.

    The document, expected to be released in final form next month, marks Habitat's first move toward formalizing its relationship with more than 1,600 domestic affiliates. But it has led some in the Habitat community to grumble that Reckford—a former Walt Disney, Circuit City Stores and Best Buy executive—could be constructing far more bureaucracy than homes in his quest to sharpen and expand the organization, which has become a marquee partner of corporate social-responsibility programs. In its 31 years, the nonprofit Christian organization has built more than 225,000 homes in 100 countries.

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

Why You Can't Get Any Work Done

    Routine workplace distractions like frequent digital and cellular transmissions and water-cooler gossip can have a detrimental impact on productivity.

    Chuck Martin, president of NFI Research, a data analysis firm that tracks business, management, and informational technology trends, says work-related distractions like e-mail, company crises, and interruptions by co-workers are so common that 46% of business leaders arrive at work early in search of solitude. But their peace is often disrupted when their employees follow suit, seeking the boss's attention early in the morning or late in the day because there is less competition for it, says Martin, author of SMARTS: Are We Hardwired for Success? "What that does is it destroys work-life balance," Martin says. "They're basically extending the hours of the day." 

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

Real-Life Career Changers

    To Eric Green, co-managing a $50 million hedge fund in San Francisco isn't all that different from renovating a hospital in Estonia, which he did 10 years ago while in the Navy's Civil Engineer Corps. The Detroit native, who served for seven years as a lieutenant in the Navy before going back to school for his MBA, says skills he developed in his first career have transferred well to his new one.

    Green says that overseeing a 50-member construction team, and working with the local community to build support for the Navy's presence in the northern European nation, helped him understand the importance of attention to detail, and allowed him to develop the risk-management and people skills he needs in his current career.

    Karen Tuttle, who became a full-time pharmacy technician at CVS Pharmacy in Springfield, Ohio, three years ago, is also recycling the skills she developed in her first career. The former second-grade teacher, who propelled herself back into the workforce because she was bored by retirement, says her experience with parents prepared her to interact with customers. "

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story.

One Case Against Wal-Mart

    On June 19, Cynthia Haddad and her husband, Bill, walked across Wendell Avenue from the Berkshire Superior Court to the public library in Pittsfield, Mass., to talk. There they waited as a jury in the Park Square courthouse deliberated over the lawsuit Haddad had filed against her former employer Wal-Mart Stores for gender discrimination and defamation. As they exited the library hand-in-hand, the sun shone, filling Haddad with an impending sense of closure. "It was the first day of the rest of our lives no matter what the verdict," says the 45-year-old mother of four. "My story was told and I did the fight. My life would go on after that."

Shortly thereafter, Haddad was in tears. The jury awarded her nearly $2 million in punitive and compensatory damages. "It vindicated me," says Haddad. "It started to bring life back into me. Someone listened."

    Published at BusinessWeek.com. Read the story and view the slideshow.

Acing the Informational Interview

     Baby boomers pursuing environmental or personal interests after retirement, executives fleeing downsizing companies, and restless upstarts pushing for higher pay all have one thing in common: They are part of a trend of professionals starting second careers, a trend that recruiters and coaches now call "recareering."

    As companies struggle to retain talent and career changers chart unfamiliar territory, recareering is often facilitated through a series of informational or exploratory interviews. Loosely defined and malleable enough to fit a job seeker's desired profession as well as his or her unique circumstances, informational interviews can be as informal as trading contact information at a barbecue or as formal as lengthy office meetings that result in a job offer.

    This article provides networking advice to job seekers who are looking for new opportunities. The slideshow, Successful 'Recareering' offers additional tips. Published at BusinessWeek.com.