Hey everyone, my book is finally here. I just got advanced copies of “From the Sandbox to the Corner Office”, (http://www.sandboxbook.com) which includes 55 interviews I did with CEOs and leaders from all walks of life about the screw ups and missteps they’ve made during their careers, and the lessons they learned during childhood from parents who spanked them and the first jobs they held.

It’s weird finally having the book in my hand. It took about two years from the time I came up with the idea to right now – me sitting here, holding this book in my hand. Am I dreaming?

A book, with chapters, and a tiny photo of me. I’m going to be in the library some day. Cool!

My dad’s birthday was this past Monday and this book would have made an awesome gift for him if he was still alive. He was always my biggest advocate, pushing me to try harder, to go after my dreams. I wish he was here to give me one of those I’m-so-proud-of-you hugs, the kind that stops your breathing for a second.

There’s a lot in the book that makes me think about my own childhood and work life.

I have a whole chapter in my book about how the CEOs survived bad bosses during their careers. And yes, I have quite a few of those stories myself. One of the worst bosses I have ever had comes to mind right now as I look at the book sitting atop my desk. He was a mean-spirited unhappy individual who was a tyrant to his workers, but bleated like a sheep whenever the higher ups said Boo.

When I finally decided to leave that job, because I realized I could not outlast the man, he asked me why I was leaving. I said, “Because you’re an idiot.” No, just kidding, I didn’t say that. I decided to take the high road and figured if the higher ups didn’t realize what a jerk he was they deserved him. I said, “I want to pursue a freelance career and also write a book.”

His response, in an ultra snide tone was: “Do you think you have a book in you Eve?”

Well buddy, turns out I did.

Lesson learned – Don’t listen to naysayers. Just follow your dreams and let them eat cake.

Epilogue: Just in case the bad boss didn’t catch my book on Amazon.com, I had my publisher send him a copy.

OK, I’m about to admit I watched one season of “The Apprentice” with Donald Trump. It wasn’t bad. But not quite enough to keep me coming back.

I was, however, intrigued when Trump fired his blonde sidekick Carolyn Kepcher last month. There are tons of rumors flying around about the reason for the axing – Her head got too big for her breeches; Trump wanted to bring on his daughter Ivanka; or the popular, Trump was jealous of Kepcher’s success.

What ever the reason, it just shows you that anyone can get fired, even cool cucumbers like Kepcher, whose on air persona of confident Carolyn made you almost think she was invincible.

One of the best things that ever happened to me in my career was when I was fired from a restaurant trade publication. The magazine was letting a few people go as part of general budget cuts and there I was, last person hired. The editor who dropped the ax on my head was the nicest guy ever. I swear his eyes welled up when he gave me the news. He felt so guilty that I used him even years later for job recommendations, even though I had only worked for him a few months.

The main thing I learned from losing my job was that there are no guarantees. I had little savings at the time and struggled paying rent so when I finally got a gig, about two months later, I changed my ways. I started putting aside some money just in case, with a goal of having at least three months pay in the bank when another pink slip slipped into my career mailbox.

Now I’m sure Kepcher doesn’t have to worry about rent these days. Word is she’s getting $25,000 a pop for speaking engagements and she’s also doing endorsements. And she even wrote a book “Carolyn 101: Business Lessons from ‘The Apprentice’s’ Straight Shooter”, which I’ll plug here just in case I’m wrong and she’s eating Ramen noodles for dinner tonight.

Maybe her next book should be “Carolyn 101: How to Survive ‘You’re fired’”

OK everyone, look in the mirror. Get up from your desk and head over to a mirror in the bathroom, full length preferably.

What are you wearing? A pant suit? Sweats? Khakis with a tie? Jeans and a t-shirt?

Whether you think it or not, everyone is watching you, and everyone else. What you wear to work reflects upon how people perceive you. At least that’s the findings of a “Fashion in the Workplace” survey conducted by an online job search company called TheLadders.com.

You can dress casual, but make sure it’s put together and hip. If you can pull that off without looking schlumpy then people will think you’re creative. But if you’re looking to climb the Corporate ladder then a suit might be your best option.

Here’s a sampling from the survey:

“Business casual attire is currently the standard dress code, and a trend that will continue to grow at the majority of U.S. companies, according to 65 percent of executives surveyed. Employees who are dressed casually are perceived to be creative (36 percent) and more fun (31 percent), yet run the risk of being taken less seriously (49 percent).

For the employees who like to suit up, dressing more traditionally - in business suits and skirts - has benefits. More than 70 percent of executives surveyed said that employees dressed in suits are perceived to be more senior level, while 60 percent say those in suits are taken more seriously. The downside of being buttoned-up is that employees wearing suits are seen as less creative (27 percent) and rigid (16 percent).”

And forget about the following dress faux pas — revealing clothing, flip-flops, jeans, sleeveless shirts, sneakers and visible tattoos.

BTW, I’m wearing a sophisticated brown cotton slack with a yellow shirt and brown button-down sweater over it, with a wedge-heeled brown penny loafer. I look quite presentable. But alas, working for myself, no one will see me but the FedEx guy.

What are you wearing?

I’m not sure how many people have gotten to hear the new radio station GreenStone Media launched in July by a group of so called high-powered women, including Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda. You probably haven’t because it’s only in a few limited markets right now.

The whole idea of this radio brainchild is to offer women, a dwindling radio audience, a kinder gentler radio. With so much radio filled with argumentative political and moral chatter, Steinem and Fonda, two women who went out on a limb in the past bucking the status quo, want to offer something different, something Oprah-esque. The mission: “offer what is missing in talk today – radio that is thought-provoking, emotionally involving, believable and trustworthy.”

Steinem said in a CNN interview that women have run away from radio, other than listening to light rock, because it is “too hostile and argumentative and crazy.”

But I don’t get it. What’s wrong with being hostile, argumentative and crazy? I am sure that’s what many Americans thought when women were burning bras and yelling about how the didn’t have the same rights as men decades ago.

I caught a sampling of GreenStone’s radio programming on its website greenstoneradio.com. What I listened to was a morning show called the Radio Ritas. Their soft, nice-girl voices seemed anything but “believable” and their discussion was anything but “thought-provoking”.

The Ritas were discussing the shooting at a Montreal college last week and of the shooters one of the women said, “I bet you anything he played that crazy dungeons and dragons.” An another took a moment to share how “I don’t understand why they have to shoot people when they’re crazy. I don’t understand it.”

Hey, last I heard, crazy people are the ones who usually do the shooting. Hello.

Anyway, what is wrong with mixing it up and arguing a point? Dr. Laura, who is the antithesis of a shrinking violet, has some of the highest ratings out there. She yells at her listeners and tells them to quit their jobs and stay home full time with their children. And many of these listeners do what she commands.

Gloria. Jane. What about putting on an anti Dr. Laura who encourages her listeners to go out and get a job?

Maybe we should take a moment to remember Ann Richards, the former Texas Governor who was always raring for a fight. She died last week after battling esophageal cancer, and what people remember most about her was her spirit.

Maybe women, especially in the workplace, can’t really afford to be too touchy feeling, not yet. Women still don’t make equal pay for equal work; women still only occupy a small percentage of the CEO jobs; the daycare system…well, there really isn’t any organized daycare system; and women’s reproductive rights are continually under fire. The “radio-for-women” concept GreenStone espouses, unfortunately, is not the type of radio that will help women rise above the many challenges they still face today.

Maybe, at age 72, Steinem is coming to terms with her own mortality and may not want to face the reality that the women’s movement has only scraped the surface. Alas, we need to keep arguing.

Every year, employees have to face the possibility that their healthcare insurance coverage may change. That could mean big headaches, because often premiums go up and it’s a nightmare if your doctors or local hospital are not on the new insurance carrier’s list of providers.

So how the heck do companies decide which insurers to go with each year when open enrollment season comes along?

There’s a great story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today titled “Double Bypass: Health-Care Consultants Reap Fees From Those They Evaluate.”

Basically the story talks about how employers hire these consultants to find the right health insurance company to cover their employees, but often times these consultants are on the dole of the very insurance companies they are supposed to be impartially evaluating.

One guy hired by the Columbus, Ohio’s School District actually got steaks, and more than half a million dollars, from the health insurance company he recommended to the district. And so the teachers and other school staff ended up with coverage from a company that may not have been in their best interest, or in the interest of the district.

The excuse from such consulting services is, “there’s nothing illegal here” and “everyone does it.”

More and more today, I hear that, that it isn’t illegal. Forget about whether the practice is ethical.

Is it?

Just in case we forgot, the American Heritage Dictionary defines ethical as: “… the accepted principles of right and wrong governing the conduct of a group.”

If you are supposed to be making unbiased recommendations to a certain party about another party, you can’t be biased. Eating steaks. Spending cool cash from that party makes you biased. Right? At least it doesn’t look good to be digesting succulent beef while you’re pretending to be dispensing advice on an empty stomach.

Employers need to scrutinize these so-called unbiased consultants more. And employees need to start taking more of a proactive role in which health insurance firms their employers hire. Ask questions. Tell your boss or HR staff if you think service is bad, or premiums are too high. The more voices in the mix the better. At least it may help drown out the insatiable carnivores.

The new CEO of Ford Motor Co., Alan Mulally has been all smiles. Why not, the automaker is paying him a bundle — $2 million in annual pay plus $18.5 million for just showing up for the job this year.

Ok, ok. It doesn’t sound like a lot when you think of the mucho grande payouts that so many corporate bigwigs get these days. But it’s sort of odd given Ford’s plans, disclosed today in the Wall Street Journal, to cut jobs and benefits for many of its workers as part of a restructuring effort.

Don’t corporate boards and executives ever learn? If you want the rank and file, and mid level supervisors to come along for the restructuring ride you have to be fair.

Let’s all play the history game. In 2003, faced with bankruptcy and general turmoil, American Airlines embarked on a $1.8 billion plan to cut wages, benefits and thousands of jobs. While this was going on, it turned out the top executives of the firm had quietly funded a pension trust to ensure their retirements and hefty bonuses, with the airline’s CEO Don Carty included in the payout. (The move led to Carty’s ouster.)

It was a slap in the face to the workers who wondered how they’d ever be able to trust the company again.

I’ve covered the airline and auto industry as a reporter, and people who work in these industries have some of the toughest jobs around. They can also be among the loyalist employees around, but they definitely don’t like being disrespected – asked to sacrifice while the top dogs are sipping 1995 Krug, Clos du Mesnil.(Really expensive champagne.)

Exactly when did it become the corporate credo that the head honchos of the nation’s mega firms had to be hooked up to the point that they’d be swimming in money?

If Mulally’s really worth the money, why not tie the big bucks to his ability to really turn Ford around?

Given the fact that he got $9.9 million in compensation in 2005 as the head of Boeing’s commercial jet building unit, he probably would have agreed to such a deal.

If he trades in his Lexus LS 430 for a Ford, like he’s been quoted as saying he’ll do, he’ll probably be okay. Sorry Alan, no Lincoln Town Car for you. How about a Taurus?

For years, employers have monitored their employees phone calls and computer use but I have yet to hear a corporate board member make hay over the practice.

Privacy rights advocates have been complaining about such spying for more than a decade but when the snooping involves employees the subject rarely gets the cover of Newsweek or top billing on TV newscasts.

Newsweek’s cover story this week “Scandal at HP: The Boss Who Spied on Her Board.” The story discusses how the head of HP’s board Patricia Dunn could allow the horrible practice of spying on other board members and getting access to their phone records to determine which one leaked company information to the media.

This afternoon comes word Dunn is out as chairwoman of HP, taking the fall for the scandal and the ire of board members.

“The invasion of my privacy and that of others was ill-conceived and inconsistent with HP’s values,” complains George Keyworth, the board member who it turns out was the company leaker, and who also resigned from the board.

Welcome to the world of employees George.

According to a 2005 American Management Association study, about 75 percent of employers monitored their worker’s web surfing and more than half spy on electronic mail messages. Employers often listen in on employee telephone conversations, especially when it involves customer service over the phone, but managers are supposed to hang up when they realize the conversation is personal. But that still means they can listen in long enough to figure out if the convo is personal or not.

I guess what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander.

It’s barely 10 a.m. and already I’ve gotten several emails from friends and colleagues about September 11th. Mainly the sentiment is that life goes by so quickly, and many of us are having trouble keeping away from the news coverage.

I remember when the planes struck the first Twin Tower. It was looking like a fluke so the workday looked like it was going to be like any other. Until the second plane hit…

After that no one continued working. At least is seemed that way. No one but the thousands of people at Ground Zero of course. We were all in a collective stupor. And in a less pronounced way many of us are in a similar stupor today.

It’s a perennial work conundrum – when a huge event unfolds, either on a national scale or in our own lives do we go on with the daily work grind? Should we?

Why not just shut down the computers and take the day off? Some day, Sept. 11 might end up a national holiday anyway.

A friend of mine emailed me today about his first meeting for he and his wife with a financial planner. It didn’t go well. He says, “the plan is, I’ll be a greeter at Wal-Mart and she’ll latch on w/ Hooters. It should pay for our cans of tuna.”

Ok, ok. My buddy is a bit of a character but he, like so many other well employed Americans in their 40s are trying to figure out how the heck they’re going to retire in twenty plus years, and it’s a bit scary.

Most Americans have been dropping the ball when it comes to saving. “Americans’ personal savings rate dipped into negative territory in 2005, something that hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.” That according to an AP story earlier this year and based on Commerce Department numbers.

But most workers I talk to say they are just making enough money to make ends meet, and that translates into not saving enough for anything, let alone retirement. It could be that everyone is overspending, enjoying caviar lunches and weekends in Paris. Maybe the big screen TV wasn’t a good idea, or the kid’s birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese got a bit out of hand.

What ever is going on, it does not bode well for the masses of people heading for their golden years.

And forget about pensions. The latest big company to put the “whoa doggie” on pensions was DuPont, and more and more are jumping on the we’re-not-your-safety-net bandwagon.

There was, however, good news yesterday on worker paydays from the Department of Labor. Labor costs in the U.S. rose at the fastest rate in almost six years and the labor costs that companies dish out supposedly went into employees paychecks. Economists across the country were proclaiming these latest figures good news for the daily grinders out there.

Did you guys see that? Have your paychecks swelled?

The one thing the Labor Department’s figures were missing was how that money was divvied up. Was it paid out in the form of bonuses? Was it paid out to the top dogs at companies? That, we’re not sure about.

For the most part, economic data on wages has shown that most employees haven’t gotten their fair share of corporate profits in the past decade.

Maybe it’s time to meet with your boss as ask for a few extra shekels.

I suggested that to my friend.

To that, he responded that his company was “in a frozen shekel zone.”

Starting a new job is never easy. You typically don’t know anyone and you’re worried about making a good impression. But for most of us, the first few days are spent on a mellow note, hiding at our desks, filling out papers for human resources, and maybe being asked by new co-workers or the boss to go out for lunch.

Imagine if your first day at worked involved having millions of people watching your every move and then having every media outlet in the nation critique your maiden voyage. “For the New Face of CBS News, a Subdued Beginning,” proclaims the headline about Katie in the New York Times today. And an AP story really turns up the pressure by pointing out that Katie made a slip by saying “soil” when she meant “sole.” But the reporter was kind enough to add that she “quickly” corrected herself. Man! Who could take that kind of scrutiny?

Well, whether the nation or just one guy in accounting is watching you on your first day, does it really matter how you perform? Should it be a day when you show everyone around you what you’re made of, or do you ease into greatness by letting just a bit of your panache come out one day at a time?

I think you have to try to put your best foot forward and show everybody what you’re about…without, however, being an pompous ass about it. You can’t let the pressure of a new job, or your predecessor’s greatness or not-so greatness impact how you come across, even on that first day. People are fickle. They are big on first impressions and may think they can tune you out, in Katie’s case literally, but figuratively for the rest of us. Co-workers, managers may set their opinions about you that first day. Don’t be a wimp!

Unfortunately, Katie wimped out. At the end of her broadcast she talked about how people kept asking her how she was going to sign off at the end of her show every evening. With great signoffs from Cronkite and Murrow, how could she measure up? Instead of showing what she was made of and taking a chance on her own style, she played clips of Cronkite, Murrow and even Ted Baxter to lighten up the mood, but that kind of passing the buck and not taking a stand does not bode well for her future. (You see, I’m big on first impressions.)

She actually ended the broadcast asking for people to send in their ideas for what her sign off should be. Can you believe that? In this age of audience participation, I think Katie thought she was in Simon Cowell’s chair instead of one held by the great newsmen of our time. Did Cronkite do an email poll when deciding on his closer? Of course not, that’s a rhetorical question!

I’m assuming he came up with “And that’s the way it is” on his own.

Why did she even mention she was worried about the signoff? Why not just do one, trust her gut, and see where the pieces fall?

Why? Because everyone is nervous when they start a new job, duh. But the risks of starting off on the wrong foot are great, and can ultimately adversely impact your job. So shake things up, a little bit at least. And show them you have your own signoff.

And that’s the way it was…in my head. Good night and good blogging.