Skills on Shine

Is "old" a dirty word?

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Shortly after writing the post, "Are your work habits making you look old?," with Pamela Redmond Satran, author of the book, "How Not to Act Old," I got an email from Barbara Raab, a friend who works in television.

"What's wrong with acting "old" (a.k.a. one's actual age) at work?" she wrote. "I don't think you meant it to be ageist, but I really think this post IS ageist. You haven't told me WHY I should not look over 40 at work; you seem to take it as a given that seeming one's age, if that age is over 40, is something no one would actually want."

She continued: "How about wearing tight jeans and a thong that shows? Or coming to work hung over? These are also things that young people do? Why did you buy into the whole notion of acting younger at work?"

Barbara makes some excellent points. Being perceived as "old" in the workplace shouldn't be considered a bad thing. In fact, experienced (older, mature, choose your word) workers have tremendous value in the workplace and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise in that post. She's also correct that younger people make huge missteps at work that can often be traced to their youth or inexperience.

I wrote that post with full knowledge that ageism exists and that it is insidious. And those are the same reasons that Pamela Redmond Satran says motivated her to write her book, "How Not to Act Old."

Adult internships: Are they legal?

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After writing about adult internships as a way to explore career change or freshen up your skills, I heard from several people asking why I didn’t cover the legal issues around these arrangements. The main reason is that these issues are mostly of concern to employers, not to the people seeking internships. But since the question has been asked a few times -- and since it lets me flex some muscles I haven’t used for a while -- I decided it was worth answering.

Regardless of which side of the deal you’re on, it is is a good idea for everyone to be aware of potential legal concerns.

User post: 10 things women can learn from men in business

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by Karin Manske

While coaching male and female entrepreneurs over the past 15 years, one question has kept bugging me. How come women entrepreneurs, while having a higher rate at succeeding in business, earn 50%…

Five things you thought you'd never do to your kids

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Pre-child, I was righteous. I believed that while parenting was hard, I was going to manage to conduct myself well at least the majority of the time. Ha. Ha. Ha. Now I know that I'm more likely to high-five myself on very rare occasions of almost accidental successful parenting, than to...