Jonathan Feldman

Digital Business, No Human Sacrifice. Chief Information Officer, IT rehab coach, award-winning writer, public speaker.

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Run A Sane Team At A Crazy Company: 8 Steps

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"Enough Talk About My Job"

I used to think that if only I got the right job, at the right place, working for the right CEO, that all of a sudden, all of the “crazy organization” stuff — if you’ve worked for a large organization, you darn well know what I mean — would go away.  Bzzt!  Wrong answer.  In […]

Filed Under: Better Worklife, New Work Mechanics, Teams Tagged With: better worklife, company loyalty, Dilbert management, get a life, Grow A Pair, Jonathan Feldman, Larry Winget, leadership, process versus outcomes, work accountability, work credibility, work humanity, workaholism

The Most Important Thing About Your IT Budget

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Here’s something important to me and you. I just got the below reader email. I’ve taken out personally identifying information and changed his name, but here’s what it was: Hey Jonathan, I greatly appreciate your insight from your latest article, “How To Get More Resources For IT.” I work in ***, *** for a multi-billion […]

Filed Under: IT vs Everybody, Teams Tagged With: benchmarking, CIO, cost transparency, IT budget, it budgeting, teams

How To Tell Your Boss, “You’re Wrong!”

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Any smart boss is looking for pushback. Here’s why, and how you can push back in a way that’s good for everyone. When I coach new or emerging leaders, I often offer this protip: if nobody’s speaking up or objecting to your direction, it’s probably not because you’re perfect. It’s because folks feel like they […]

Filed Under: Better Worklife, Self Management, Teams Tagged With: bully boss, getting to yes, negotiation, pushback, Robert Fisher, smart boss, teams, william ury

How To Fix Workplace Cruelty

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Workplace cruelty is a central issue of our time. But it’s not for “the company” to fix, it’s for you and me to fix. We get outraged by factory production of puppies, as we should. Puppies are fellow creatures; they do not deserve the fear and pain of being mass-produced. Why, then, do we put […]

Filed Under: Better Worklife, New Work Mechanics, Self Management, Teams Tagged With: good to great, human business, humanbiz, institutional insanity, jim collins, nice companies finish first, people millification, people mills, peter shankman, work humanity

Why You Should Keep A “Smile File”

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A smile file is not only the time capsule of a future pick-me-up, it keeps track of whom you should work with in the future. My mom called it “the good guy” file. I call it “the smile file.” Whatever you call it, keep one. Even if you are a “piler, not a filer,” this […]

Filed Under: Better Worklife, Self Management, Teams Tagged With: bob sutton, good guy file, humanbiz, no asshole rule, smile file, thank you notes, workplace appreciation

Why Nobody Should Collect Mobile Phones At Meetings

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Handcuffs

Again and again, I hear folks talk about the “cell phone basket” at meetings, where everybody drops their little piece of electronic addiction into a basket so that they can focus on the task at hand. Except, it’s ridiculous to blame technology for the core problem: meetings that aren’t engaging. What’s next, taking away people’s […]

Filed Under: IT vs Everybody, New Work Mechanics, Teams Tagged With: cell phones at meetings, dysfunctional meetings, employee engagement, meetings, mobile phones at meetings

How To Say “I Love You” At Work

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Employees don’t stick around because of money. They stick around for love. The need for money is a given. It’s also at every job. That’s why it’s a job. But money is not why people stick around. All jobs have money. People stick around at a job because of connection and meaning. The human need […]

Filed Under: Better Worklife, New Work Mechanics, Teams Tagged With: employee engagement, employee retention, gratitude, meaningful work, workplace belonging, workplace cog, workplace connection, workplace engagement, workplace gratitude

Surrounded By Yes? Get The Feedback You Need.

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Leaders hear a lot of “yes.” How can you get the feedback you need? Yes is a lovely word. But you don’t always want to hear it. “Yes” can get in the way of “better.” Every boss finds him on herself surrounded by minions who are going to say “yes,” or “great idea.” But, who […]

Filed Under: New Work Mechanics, Self Management, Teams Tagged With: continuous improvement, public forums, public thinking, social media, yes man

The Dis(Honesty) Feature Film Kickstarter

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I enjoy Dan Ariely’s work, partially because he writes well, partially because he can be wickedly funny, and partially because his findings are based on ingenious psychology experiments. I was delighted to find that he and Yael Melamede of SALTY Features launched a Kickstarter to produce a film on the subject. I backed it several […]

Filed Under: New Work Mechanics, Teams Tagged With: behavioral science, candor, dan ariely, Honesty, Jonathan Feldman, Kickstarter, Salty Features, Yael Melamede

Top 5 Ways To Do Cool Stuff At Your Dorky Job

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I’m returning from Interop in Vegas, fresh from a talk about how to climb the career ladder, “So You Want To Be A CIO”; I thought I’d share a point that resonated with the audience: everybody wants to do cool stuff at work, but: “nobody trusts you to do cool things if you don’t have […]

Filed Under: Better Worklife, New Work Mechanics, Presentation Report, Teams Tagged With: Bill Treasurer, customer service, Interop, Jonathan Feldman, meaningful work, Prince Charming, seth godin, work candor, work courage, work fear, work honesty, work relationships

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Copyright © 2025 Jonathan Feldman. All opinions expressed are his, not those of his associates or employer.