In the next to last episode of “The Apprentice,” Donald Trump fired two of his final four candidates, based mostly on how they did in interviews with four top executives. The episode made it clear how even smart people make dumb mistakes in job interviews.The first to get dumped, Nick Warnock, made two big blunders. In one interview, he said, “I’m well-spoken, I’m smart and I have an effect on people that’s positive.”Rule 1...

Most of us are creatures of habit. Nasty habits are the monsters in our closet; good habits can be more elusive than Bigfoot.It usually takes people two or three weeks to develop a good habit of medium complexity, says Brian Tracy, a Southern California consultant and author who has written “Million Dollar Habits: Proven Power Practices to Double and Triple Your Income.” He’s talking about such basic habits as showing up on...

If you want to know why Achilles was lucky, what to do if you become an “accidental manager” and how even positive stereotypes can backfire, the answers are in three recently released workplace books.The most fun of the three is “Magic Words @ Work,” a collection of about 50 anecdotes and cautionary tales from authors Howard Kaminsky and Alexandra Penney that avoids buzzwords and has such catchy headings as “Achilles Was Lu...

Part of me wanted to smack Patrick Lencioni upside the head and yell something like, “You wrote an entire book about meetings? What on Earth were you thinking? Couldn’t you find something a little sexier — like root canal?”But one tenet of journalism is that it’s hard to smack someone during a telephone interview — unless you have very long arms. Besides, except for the physical violence part, Lencioni would have enjoyed it...

USA Today reported recently that of the 1,000 or so people 45 and younger who have wrestled professionally since 1997, at least 65 have died. At least 25 had coronary problems — an alarmingly high rate.Some had used steroids in an effort to build themselves up and heal more quickly. Some used painkillers and other drugs. Even though the theatrics are choreographed, it’s a brutal business.Certainly a few wrestlers get rich,...

When you have an incompetent boss who seems like a mere speed bump in your path to greatness, going over his head might sound like a logical and efficient strategy. But remember: Speed bumps can be dangerous. If you hit one the wrong way, you just might get thrown off the road. Take this tale from “Career Warfare,” a nice collection of advice from author David F. D’Alessandro, chief executive officer of John Hancock Fina...

In a terrific episode of “The West Wing,” the president’s staff wanted to replace a deceased conservative judge with a liberal on the Supreme Court. At the same time, the 82-year-old chief justice was ready to step down, but he was the court’s only liberal, and was afraid of being replaced by a moderate.They brokered a deal that probably wouldn’t work in our stubborn and partisan real world, but made good sense. They persua...

The forever young-looking Dick Clark, now 74, is the target of an age-discrimination lawsuit, alleging that he wouldn’t hire 76-year-old producer Ralph Andrews because Andrews was too old.Clark hasn’t commented publicly on the suit, but longtime game show producer Andrews claims that Clark sent him a letter that said young people are running the industry these days, and “people our age are considered dinosaurs.”We won’t kno...

In a sane world, Martha Stewart and Todd Bertuzzi wouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence. But because the homemaking entrepreneur and the star hockey player ran into the same basic problem, both might face a different sort of sentence — in prison.As Stewart went through an insider trading investigation, she misinformed authorities and ended up getting convicted of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and making false stat...

In a recent episode of “Survivor,” a naked Richard Hatch intentionally brushed against Susan Hawk during a competition, upsetting her so much that she quit the game soon afterward. By then, Hatch was already gone — voted out by teammates as a strategic maneuver rather than in reaction to what happened with Hawk.Hatch later apologized, although that wasn’t shown on “Survivor.” Even though he meant it as a joke, he was obviou...