Ask a Manager

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I wrote to you a while back after a vague but negative performance review at a major health care organization, asking if my boss was trying to get me to quit. I learned that she was just not a good manager or a good person, and that the rest […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I work in a niche position for a large government agency that has a central headquarters and various offices around the world. When I moved to my current office location 4 years ago, my section had a unique mission to the organization and a large staff who supported that […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I just wanted to write in to thank you and the AAM community for helping me out so much. I started reading your site just after I started my first job after college, and it has been a great experience — I’ve learned so much and improved based on […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “For the past few years I’d been at a job that, for the most part, was fine. It was easy and low-stress and I had a great relationship with my direct manager, but the pandemic definitely brought out the ugliness in upper management. While all my friends’ organizations jumped […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “Add me to the growing list of readers who never thought they would be a part of the Friday Good News! I worked at a job for twenty years, moving my way up from entry-level to full-time staff member. I loved the majority of people I worked with, even […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I was working as a data analyst job for a few years before the pandemic hit. It was my first “real job” and I thought it was great at first, but I slowly realized that I was not in a good long-term place. It was (is) a small company. […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I’m a long-time reader of your site and wanted to thank you for your work. It has been a huge influence in my success as a manager. I am a woman without a degree, working in a departmental leadership role in higher ed. My department has been good to […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “My note goes out to all the women who have written in about gathering their courage to ask for a raise because their stories gave me the courage to ask for a raise! My organization approached me about job training for advanced work, along with bumping me up the […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “After many years freelancing part-time while being a full-time parent I decided to return to the workforce. Job-hunting is stressful and full of disappointment. I’ve been ghosted more times than I can count and I stopped counting how many jobs I applied to a long time ago. To say […]

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “I am so excited to share my own good news update with you. After twelve years in the same role, including six as PhD student, I reached burnout by the end of 2021. My job, though personally rewarding, had no opportunity for professional or financial growth and I didn’t […]