[영어원서 읽기] Work Rules! - Laszlo Bock (1)

 

 

 

[Impressive Sentences]

- I determined that I had two paths to choose from. The first was to treat my teams better, improve their output, and hope that over time others would follow my example. The second path was to find a way to influence how entire companies treat people. I chose the latter path because I believed it would give me the greatest chance of affecting the most people, and decided to find a job in human resources.

- Welch and Conaty had implemented a 20-70-10 performance ranking system, where GE employees were sorted into three groups: the top 20 percent, the middle 70 percent, and the bottom 10 percent. The top workers were lionized and rewarded with choice assignments, leadership training programs, and stock options. The bottom 10 percent were fired. Under Immelt, the forced distribution was softened and the crisp labels were replaced with euphemisms: "top talent," "highly valued," and "needs improvement."

- Google is the most sought-after place to work on the planet.

 

 

[Words & Phrases]

- amass:  to gather or collect (something, such as a large amount of money) especially for yourself

• I amassed a random walk resume that could best be described as a guidance counselor's nightmare.

- stumble into: to start doing something by chance, without having intended to do it

- muster = collect

• muster enough courage

• They pushed the car with all the strength they could muster.

- stagnant: not flowing, active, changing, progressive

- toil: to work very hard for a long time

- alongside: at the same time as, together with

- posh: very attractive, expensive, and popular

• poshest university

• They live in a posh neighborhood.

• I stayed at a posh hotel.

- intriguing = extremely interesting, fascinating

• found my background intriguing

- nuts = crazy

• I was nuts.

• She's going to drive me nuts [=make me crazy; make me go insane] with her jealousy.

- latitude: freedom to choose how to act or what to do

• He gave me tremendous latitude to explore the company.

• We weren't given much latitude in deciding how to do the job.

• The judge has wide/considerable latitude to reject evidence for the trial.

- acclaimed: strongly praised 

• Her performance was acclaimed by the critics.

• a highly/hugely/widely acclaimed play

• the city's most acclaimed restaurants

- stringently = very strictly or severely

- lionize = to treat (someone) as a very important and famous person

- euphemism:  an innocuous(=inoffensive, harmless) word or expression used in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest something unpleasant (완곡어법)

- vaunted = very good

• The team's vaunted defense faltered in the second half of the game.

• falter: to stop being strong or successful = to begin to fail or weaken

- permeate: to pass or spread through (something)

• The water permeated the sand.

• The smell of baking bread permeated the kitchen.

• A feeling of anxiety permeated the office as we rushed to meet the deadline.

- secrecy: the act of keeping information secret

- disseminate: to cause (something, such as information) to go to many people

• The Internet allows us to disseminate information/news/ideas faster.

• The findings were widely disseminated.

- unprecedented: not done or experienced before

• Fortune has named Google the "Best Company to Work For" an unprecedented five times in the United States.

 

 

[Engagement Points]

- dot-com boom: The dot-com bubble (also known as the dot-com boom,[1] the tech bubble,[2] and the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble caused by excessive speculation of Internet-related companies in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.

- arrows in a quiver

• "You guys are all like arrows in a quiver. Every one of you is the same."

 

- Six Sigma: a set of tools to improve quality and efficiency.

 

 

[Relevant Articles]

1. Walk Me Through Your Resume

www.monster.ca/career-advice/article/walk-me-through-your-resume

Walk Me Through Your Resume - How to Answer