Use a ‘chipple’ and other grand 2019 career advice
Some of the best job tips don’t come plainly marked. In fact, with so many media outlets, today’s inspirationseeking employees can find interesting and worthwhile tidbits of advice in numerous places. We collected a few noteworthy quotes from various pop culture outlets that may provide direct or not-so-direct answers to some of your careerfocused quandaries:
Absorb and deal: When discussing the double standards and sexism at play in politics and the workplace with Howard Stern in December, Hillary Clinton openly discussed ways she dealt with it during the 2016 election and how she deals with it today. “If you want to compete at the highest level you have to figure out how to absorb it and deal with it,” Clinton said.
Family tree: On the penultimate episode of the final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Varys, the Master of Whisperers and somewhat trusted ally of various kings, queens and dignitaries, explains the harsh reality of a change at the top for any non-family member who has ever worked for a family business. “They say every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath,” Varys said.
Open relationship: After a few followers asked cookbook author, TV host and Twitter monarch Chrissy Teigen about her enthusiastic tweets for shows not offered on Hulu, for whom she serves as a spokesperson, Teigen tweeted about Hulu’s simple yet surprisingly uncommon approach to her personal promotion of other brands. “I very much work for Hulu but what I love about working with Hulu is that they’re very okay with me also watching and talking Netflix. Hulu is awesome and not many other companies (actually, I can’t think of one) allow this kind of banter. … Every other brand I work for would kick me in the face. “FOR TWO YEARS YOU ARE NOT TO BE SEEN DRINKING ANY OTHER DRINK EVER. WE ARE ALL YOU KNOW NOW.”
Negatives to positives: In an interview with Matt Brennan of the Los Angeles Times, David Chang, chef, author and host of “Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner” on Netflix, suggests he doesn’t pay much attention to positive reviews of his restaurants and TV shows. Instead, he’s more interested in the negative comments than the praise, offering a lesson for how today’s employees could approach constructive criticism. “I tend to only focus on the things that are negative. Things that we could do better. That’s just my own neuroses. When I worked for Daniel Boulud, the whole idea of praise in the kitchen, praise is the absence of criticism,” Chang said. “I’ve actually turned that into, the only thing that I really want is criticism. It’s weird. And it’s something that, from my restaurantchef perspective, I’ve learned to — and am trying to get better at — not let that affect what you’re trying to do. … I do think that there are ways to make things better, and we wanted to have an opportunity to explore how to make things better, however slight they may seem.”
Pay attention: In “The Irishman,” the Jimmy Hoffa film by Martin Scorsese, Frank Sheeran — played by Robert DeNiro — has potentially applicable advice for any employee who ignores the seriousness of a situation because of a manager’s seemingly casual awareness of the problem. “Whenever someone says they’re a little concerned, they’re very concerned,” Sheeran said.
Know when to go: While many would disagree, David Letterman — as a guest on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” — says in retrospect, he realizes he should have balanced the personal and professional elements of his life earlier in his career. “Here’s the mistake I made — I stayed on TV way too long. And I’ll tell you what happened. Turns out, nobody had the guts to fire me. And I should have left like 10 years ago. You want to make sure you have some energy to direct toward other things. … All I cared about was myself,” Letterman said. “And then the show was gone and so I had to realize ‘Oh, I’ve been looking through the wrong end of the telescope.’ There is more to life than ‘so, tell me about your pet beaver.’”
Come and go: In a harsh critique of WeWork and former CEO Adam Neumann, the Guardian’s Ross Barkan puts a fine point on the perils of running a large shared-workspace company. “The business model, if it can be called that, is vulnerable to economic downturns, since WeWork is locked into long-term leases with its landlords,” Barkan wrote in a November column. “Tenants of WeWork can more easily walk away if business goes sour. But WeWork can’t exit a 10-year lease from an office building if a space suddenly goes vacant.”
Reasonable commute: “People” magazine shared model Winnie Harlow’s Instagram response to criticism of a photo she posted showing her sitting in coach on a recent flight. “If I can post pictures in business class and be proud, I can also take pictures in coach and be proud. Proud that making it to work is more important to me than how I got there. That is the message. Like I said, ‘the grind never stops.’ Put that in your headline,” Harlow wrote.
Get past the “chipple:” In a November episode of the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” guest Tina Fey complimented O’Brien for his invention of the word “chipple” and noted its positive potential application in workplaces across the country. O’Brien urged staff members to use “chipple” when they would preface a complaint or concern about writer and performer Robert Smigel. “They would say ‘Robert’s a genius and he’s fantastic and he’s the most prolific comedy writer I’ve ever encountered,’ and they would go on and on for five minutes and they would say ‘but the studio’s on fire … .’” After tiring of listening to the usual preamble to the problem, O’Brien suggested using the word “chipple” instead of the “Smigel is great” intro and then getting right to the “but” portion of the conversation.
So the next time you want to tell your boss that you really respect Paul from marketing and you know how hard he works and you appreciate his great ideas but he’s been stealing your lunch, skip the “really respect” part, offer up a “chipple” and get right to your complaint about your missing leftover eggplant parmesan.