Folks, it’s been a rough couple of years (yeah, I have a gift for understatement). And for every pressure you as a leader have experienced, your employees have probably gone through something similar, with the additional challenge of feeling they have less control over things. And well, we’re all feeling a bit mentally fragile these days, especially people working remotely. So let's talk about mental health!
With all of the political polarization in the world, it’s harder than ever to separate our work and personal lives. There are many thoughts on if and how we should talk about societal issues in the office. Either way, we can't be effective leaders if we ignore the mental health of our teams. And while some folks are showing up as they always have, others are devastated and some are happy.
Each week we send Bureau members a newsletter with the latest updates from our community of leaders, sharing tips and resources to make them better leaders and better people. I hope you’ll subscribe here. But if your inbox is already overflowing and even one more email per week will make you crazy, we’ve collected the best of the best from our June newsletters here for your convenience.
As we look at the roadmap ahead, one thing that’s clear is we’ve got to make some changes. One of those involves the amount of public content vs. member content we create. For example, the member community has asked for weekly roundups of Slack conversations. There are a lot of great insights every day, but if you don’t log in for a while it’s rough to try and see what you missed. So a weekly summary makes a lot of sense.
Probably the hardest thing to do when things get overwhelming is to not join the chaotic energy and go down with the ship. Remember that you can always pause and reassess where you are on any project when things feel like they're spiraling out of control. There are a few different reasons you might need to do this.
One of the biggest moments of realization for me this year was scrolling through the list of Bureau members and realizing how many I don't know on a personal level. I've seen them in the Slack channels and maybe had a nice email convo, but I'm clueless as to what makes them who they are. Even with Bureau folks that have been good friends for years, I still don't know where they need support.
Each week we send Bureau members a newsletter with the latest updates from our community of leaders, sharing tips and resources to make them better leaders and better people. I hope you’ll subscribe here. But if your inbox is already overflowing and even one more email per week will make you crazy, we’ve collected the best of the best from our May newsletters here for your convenience.
We talk a lot about what our teams mean to us. But sometimes things don’t work out and it stinks. It might be performance problems, a shift in the company's direction, or a downturn in the business. But it’s something every leader has to deal with at some point: letting someone go. So if it has to be done, let’s talk about how to do it the best way for everyone.
Last week we asked members a few questions about what it was like being in the Bureau Community and what could make it better. I'm excited to share their responses and what the next chapter of the Bureau will look like. Spoiler Alert: We've got growing pains! Read on to learn more about the symptoms and our plans to treat them.
Last week we asked members a few questions about what it was like being in the Bureau Community and what could make it better. I'm excited to share their responses and what the next chapter of the Bureau will look like. Spoiler Alert: We've got growing pains! Read on to learn more about the symptoms and our plans to treat them.
We don't know about you, but we're tired of talking about The Great Resignation. It's true that labor markets are incredibly tight and there's more competition than ever to attract and retain top talent. Salaries and benefits are going up, and increased competition in the market is squeezing margins causing a new level of anxiety for software development, digital marketing, and tech consultancy owners.
The web is a funny place, and I don’t just mean cat memes (but yes, I do also mean cat memes). It’s weird to buy a couch online and then get nothing but couch ads for weeks like you needed a second one. Or say something online and suddenly have a mob of people show up to tell you you're wrong when you were just talking about cats on a couch memes.
April showers bring May flowers…what does a month of fantastic conversation and resource-sharing on the Bureau Slack bring? If you were a member, you’d already know! But fear not, we round up some of those goodies in the newsletters (you’ve subscribed, right?) and share them on the blog every month!
I recently went off on how many bad brokers there are out there and wow did y'all chime in! From broken promises to manipulation and even one instance of outright lying. But these are the opportunists that move into any new market. Where are the good brokers? I'll share all we've learned about preparing for and finding the right broker for you. So keep reading!
I get it. I tried to sell my shop at one point and in my eagerness I made a huge mistake. I trusted someone who said all the right things. In the end it cost me money, friendships and hurt my family. The money sucked but the friendships and personal toll on my loved ones I still regret to this day. So when you read this know that is the experience of the person sending you these insights. I may be just a little jaded. So let’s start with why you want to sell.
Before we go any further, let's talk about the difference between vacation and paid leave. PTO is considered to be any time an employee is getting paid while away from work—it’s more all-encompassing than “vacation.” Think of it like this: all vacation is PTO while not all PTO is vacation.
We all remember the uncertainty of 2020. Many of us spent that year fixing and fine-tuning how we worked—addressing challenges and rethinking our services. It's a good thing too! Because collectively we saw a 25% increase in revenue growth in 2021. To find out more about how responding shops did last year and how they expect to fair in 2022, read on!
As someone who's been here from the beginning, I've seen the common sense learnings and the big breakthroughs that have shaped the way the Bureau community handles its business. And while I could write a book, I'll keep it to some tasty nuggets that we can dive into deeper in future issues.
You might wonder if the world is starting to pass you by, but when it comes to the important conversations we have in the Bureau community, we’ve got you covered. Each week we pull the best ideas from our Slack and send them out in the weekly newsletter. But never fear, we also collect the cream of that crop and include them here. Check out what you missed from our March newsletters!
The Bureau has over 8,000+ orgs of all shapes and sizes, and we all appreciate innovative work and sharing ideas. In this series, the Bureau of Digital’s (BoD) Carl Smith chats with members who make our community happen. This time around, we speak with Karim Marucchi, CEO of Crowd Favorite, a client services firm specializing in enterprise-grade digital strategy and elite Open Source development. Enjoy this cleaned-up, abridged transcript or view the video interview in its entirety.
