Some really, very good reading for you to kick start your week…

Cut the Cubicle Umbilical Cord: The Seven Traits of the Free Man (or Woman)

I love this post from Zen Habits!

If you want to wake up happy on a daily basis, you have to own your own time. You have to be the one that dictates what you do and when you do it. Otherwise, you’re at the mercy of your owner boss.

You may think that you should be grateful for your job, and you should. But when it comes down to it, you’re not going to hit a ceiling of happiness and purpose if you’re not working for yourself. (I know there may be a few exceptions, but let’s be honest, they are exceptions.)

The 2 Paradoxes of Identity in a Digital Age

From Maddie Grant

But realizing that this is WHY you have to forget about control, this is WHY you have to be authentic, that’s what matters, I think. That the complexity of our organizational social identity will only continue to grow, but the more it grows the less control we will have. And the less control we have, the more our brand will be (as it already is) shaped not by us as the organization but by the beholder. So we really have no choice but to be authentic, because anything else will be impossible to maintain over the long term. But what does it mean to be authentic? Maybe it means facing the fact that you no longer have a value proposition in these social times. Maybe it means being more than just relevant (more than “not dead”). A very tough decision? Of course. But just think how easy it is now to start something new and fresh…

Semantics Matters: 3 New Words I’d Love to See

From Jason Seiden

I do believe that our perspective drives our behaviors, which in turn drive our results, and that changing our perspective will lead to new outcomes. But. I also believe that humans have not yet reached a point where we’re good manipulators of this process. We can understand it far better than we can do it.

This will happen with or without you

Nicely said Maren Hogan!

Content is not king anymore. Conversation is. And your refusal to participate will not change that. This conversation is happening with or without you, so my advice, as a PROFESSIONAL, is to get on freaking BOARD! You are not powerful enough to fight the onslaught that is coming your way. You will not shout loud enough to be heard in a stadium where no one sits. Your company can not make a widget grand enough to sell from the pages of a newspaper no one is reading. Your job descriptions will not be written well enough to jump off the pages of a job board that no one visits (except spammers).

Happy reading, and be good to each other.