Fortune Management & Career Blog » Stanley Bing

I, Robot?

2013-02-26T19:03:14Z

There's no way an automaton could do my job. Is there?

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE -- Ever since my Roomba carpet-cleaning robot ran over my foot and masticated my shoe, I have been wary of robots as substitutes for actual working persons. I particularly felt that my job in management was safe from the incursion of machines with friendly faces painted on the front of their heads, or whatever you call MORE

Are you going to keep your job this year?

2013-02-05T22:04:16Z

A scientific calculation of a critical personal metric.

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE — Now that we're through the lethal Christmas Firing Season, when corporations celebrate what should be the happiest time of the year by heaving people from the balustrades, it may be a good time to assess our chances of making it through all four quarters of the current calendar year. I believe I've stumbled upon a powerful mathematical tool MORE

Big questions in the Middle Kingdom

2013-01-16T21:25:26Z

My friend held an employee meeting in China. It was not business as usual.

By Stanley Bing

FORTUNE -- When it comes to doing business, it can pretty much be said that every place is different. I remember going to Irving, Texas, a long time ago, where I was greeted by a gray-faced, six-foot-tall woman dressed entirely in gray with a massive bonnet of steel-gray hair who smoked continually throughout the MORE

Get ready for ... Stupid Tuesday!

2012-12-21T10:00:22Z

The holiday season may come to an end, but that's no reason to stop shopping.

FORTUNE -- I'm a consumer and I love to shop. You can't give me enough excuses to hit the stores running, elbowing my fellow Americans, kicking old ladies down the escalator on my way to the next six-pack of boxer shorts on sale for one day and one day only. The problem is, in my opinion, MORE

Too much weather is bad for business

2012-12-05T10:01:45Z

Reduce carbon emissions? Move away from seacoasts? Or hunker down and wait for the next big blow?

FORTUNE -- I think we can all agree that there's far too much $!@#$ weather going on around here. It's one thing when you read about it or see it on YouTube or TV, the $!@#$ weather causing distress for people in faraway places. You can feel bad for them, send money to the MORE

Forget Wall Street. Let's occupy lunch!

2012-11-14T10:00:22Z

A survey finds that the lunch hour is becoming a thing of the past. It's time to take a stand.

FORTUNE -- My fellow employees, we come together today to defend one of the last remaining rights of those who work for a living: the right to have lunch.

This simple ritual during the midpoint of our waking hours has been an inalienable pillar of freedom since Nog the cave person struck MORE

They shoot horses, don't they?

2012-10-24T09:00:45Z

My friend outlived his usefulness. I'm having a hard time letting go.

FORTUNE -- This was a sad week for me. A good friend had to be put down. He got old, that's all. It happens to each of us; we've all got a SELL BY date stamped on our butts. But this was a tough one. It's hard for me to think about him, sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering MORE

Talking trash with my email

2012-10-09T19:46:49Z

Even the companies I love get on my electronic nerves.

FORTUNE -- I was sleeping the other night, which I do when all my electronics go mute for a few hours between the last text message and the first e-mail. Suddenly, I awoke. I felt as if there were somebody in the room with me. But no, I was alone, as alone as a person can be who sleeps with a MORE

The wizard of shareholder value

2012-10-09T16:50:00Z

Long term be damned. Give us layoffs, cut expenses, and don't forget all the cash you can fit into a sailor's trunk.

FORTUNE -- I went to see my friend Vronsky, who is trying to keep his corporation on a positive growth curve in spite of, you know, everything. These days that takes faith as well as strategy. So I knew where to find him.

There he was, precisely where I thought MORE

Do YOU play by the rules?

2012-10-09T16:50:34Z

Take this quiz and find out whether you are in step with the times.

FORTUNE — It's increasingly clear that the world is full of people who believe that the rules, in life and in business, do not apply to them. Every day you read tales of miscreancy in finance, politics, organized religion, and its cultural counterpart, organized sports. It's no mystery why trust in our institutions is at an all-time MORE