What Robocalling Means For Your Business
"Hi, I'm Steve Pagliuca. I'm sorry for this recorded call..."Such were the words that greeted me from my answering machine upon arrival home. In my mind, the next best possible words that could have followed would have been, "but you'll be hearing from me less frequently in the future." That wasn't what followed. Wha

Random Acts of Kindness
New York Magazine's blog, Daily Intel (one of my daily must-reads) called yesterday for stories about the kindness of strangers in New York City. This has inspired me to ask Bostonians for similar stories, because I will always believe in the innate goodness of most of humanity (Bernie Madoff excluded).Practicing random acts of kindness, aside from being a favorite bumper sticker, is something I try

Customer Service Gold Star: Citizens Bank
I switched my checking account to Citizens Bank from Bank of America almost 5 years ago, because I was sick of BofA's fees. I chose Citizens because there was a branch two blocks from my house, and I didn't think they were likely to be bought out. (This was after my BankBoston account became Fleet, which became Bank of America.) When I opened the checking account, I was offered a credit card with 0% interest for a year, and 12% after that. I was in

Mindy Grossman from HSN as a Boss Among Equals
I love the NY Times' column "Corner Office," and I particularly like the regularity with which they feature women executives. They cover a range of industries from military contracting (Linda Hudson) to academia (Drew Gilpin Faust) to e-commerce (Susan Lynne), and I always learn something new.The most recent column features

Economic Impact: Layoffs
I have worked in the non-profit field for my entire career, most of in at colleges and universities. I currently work in a large non-profit that functions more like a corporate services firm in the student loan industry.Because of the pending legislation surrounding student loans, my company has had to restructure itself. The FFELP program is being phased out, and as such, my company won't be in the origination business any more. Yesterday, over 100 people at this firm (17% of the workforce) were laid off.Universities and colleges don't do layoffs in the same way that corporations do, and as such, this is my first time in a layoff environment. I wasn't here yesterday