You've Got to Be Kidding!: How to Keep Your Job Without Losing Your Integrity

Nan’s Warning

I have one single mantra: quite simply, anything you say, tweet, text, e-mail, blog, or post can—and will—be used against you in the court of public discourse. Look at it this way: everything you put out there electronically is now the equivalent of DNA evidence. You can delete or erase all you want, but whatever you release into cyberspace has the potential to come back to bite you today, tomorrow, or 20 years from now—when you apply for a job or run for president.

We have morphed into a world where electronic exchanges are the norm, and any thoughts, conversations, or information exchanged via technology are tracked, preserved, and may be shared (even out of context) with anyone—at any time!

• Adapt a “fishbowl” state of mind. Life in the workplace was much simpler in some ways when the only form of communication was the written or verbal word. We didn’t have the conveniences that came with e-mail, voice mail, texting, and instant messaging, but we didn’t have the burdens, either. Although the written word would be difficult to deny (you could always claim forgery), the verbal word—short of being recorded—could be outright denied due to lack of proof! Not today! Today’s threats to a company’s security come from coworkers who are living in a digital fishbowl but don’t realize it.
• Remember that Big Brother owns the big browser. All office equipment is the company’s property, period. By extension, everything you do with that equipment is under the company’s control, ...