Zugunruhe: Helping great people get [good] things done: Zoog.un.roo.ee

Looking for a new career?

It seems that going to someplace new is on a lot of people's minds. That is, going to a new job. Almost a quarter of the folks subscribing to my newsletter say they’re interested in career change. Take our career change survey and share your thoughts. If you complete the survey, you’ll receive a free gift: a tip sheet on career change. Check back here in a couple of weeks for the results!

Last Minute Gift Shopping?

If you're running around looking for some last minute gifts, I wanted to let you know that I'm offering gift certificates for coaching services. I've also got a little special going: sign up for my newsletter and I'll give you 10% off.

Along with my eternal graititude, you'll get a nice little Gift Certificate like this one:

Interested? Email me to learn more.

Advent, Chocolate, and the Meaning of Time

It’s the holiday season. Shopping. Fellowship with family and friends. Food. Mmmmm….food. Because it’s December 1, it’s also the beginning of Advent. Liturgically, Advent begins on Sunday, December 3, but most Advent calendars start on the first day of December.

I always have an Advent calendar thanks to my mother-in-law. She sends me one every year for my birthday. This year, however, I have two. My “scenes from Venice” calendar, courtesy of my mother-in-law, and a second one that has chocolate treats for each day of the 24 leading up to Christmas. I bought this little treat-laden calendar to support the fundraising efforts of my church’s preschool.

Now that I’m contemplating consumption of little bits of chocolate as a daily ritual, undoubtedly leading to larger treats as the month goes on, I’ve begun to get concerned about gaining weight. Therefore, I consulted the back of said calendar to determine just how many calories each treat contains. Here is the nutrition label for your review (click on image for large print version). Please note that the serving size is the entire calendar.

There has got to be a metaphor here somewhere….

The Selfish Heard

In the US, job satisfaction--the feeling of enjoying one’s employment--keeps falling. Year after year, reports from various surveys show that people are less and less likely to be happy in their work. What would make job satisfaction improve?

According to the recently released Employee Review (conducted by Randstad) , workers want employment where, among other things, they feel valued.  But in today’s economic environment, can companies offer workers what they want? One company, up and coming software giant MySQL, seems to think the answer is yes.

MySQL is not your ordinary software mogul. For one thing, they give their product away. For free. Yet, it’s a profitable enterprise (to the tune of $40 million) and this impressively debt-free company is one of the most popular of its kind. MySQL, for those that don’t know, produces open-source software. Open-source means that the code running that program is freely available and transparent to everyone. The initials SQL stand for Structured Query Language; MySQL makes a suite of powerful database programs that allow users to keep up with and organize gazillions of bits of information on just about anything.

MySQL runs largely on home-based workers. E-commuters, so to speak. A reported 320 people in 25 countries. You’d think that letting people work from home, isolated from each other, invisible to the boss, and awash in distractions (think kids, TV, laundry) would be a bad idea. Yet the home-based workforce seems to be working. According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, the way that the MySQL keeps its employee herd moving in the same direction is, in part, by keeping people feeling valued and connected with each other. How? Communication between employees and management is open, frequent, and personal.

But MySQL doesn’t stop there. They encourage users of their products to chime in, too. When a user finds a fix or suggests an improvement, MySQL listens. As a result, users get a real sense of ownership over the software. Not only that, but if a genius shows up on the discussion boards, they hire ‘em.

If you’ve ever worked for a company that makes you feel, well… not valued, you know what a rare and lovely commodity the feeling that somebody gives a damn is. That feeling of being heard--listened to and understood--is priceless. And to give it to someone doesn’t cost a thing. Think about that the next time you talk to a coworker, your mechanic, or your thirteen-year-old.

Why Zugunruhe?

Zugunruhe is the migratory urge, the feeling that it’s time to move on. If you’ve ever felt zugunruhe, then you understand why I named my company what I did. As a coach, I work with people who are ready for a change. I’m also a biologist and I love language. The word zugunruhe is just so succinct, so accurate. I realize it’s a bit obscure, long, and hard to pronounce. But a brand name is an identity. It’s got to be unique and a little counterintuitive to be memorable. I believe that Zugunruhe fits the bill and symbolizes what life coaching can be about: the yearning that drives a change.

This blog gets its name from one of the great champions of bird migration: the Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea). Arctic terns travel thousands and thousands of miles over open ocean without ever really resting or even seeing land. Our logo is reminiscent of an Artic Tern in flight but is actually a graphic representation of another long distance migrant, a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica). I traced the image from a photograph then drew the rest by hand. Kelly Wildman rendered the scanned pen and ink drawing into a vector based graphic.