More to read

As the midpoint of summer fast approaches, it’s time to take stock of your summer internship and make sure you’re moving in the right direction. Unlike the reliable guidance you may have received from coaches and professors over the course of your college career, by now you may have found that mentoring in the workplace is a different story entirely. The reality, especially for summer interns, is that: a) there is no roadmap to tell you what your goals are for the summer and how to achieve them; and b) you are required to be your most ardent advocate — no one else will do it for you.

Not that it’s news to me, but it has come to my attention twice in the past two weeks that I’m a terrible speller. A reader comment on this very blog pointed out that I used the word “conscious” when I meant to say “conscience.” He added a “sigh” and a “really?” as if to say “shouldn’t you know better?” — and of course I should. Only the week before I had received an email from another perturbed fan about a misspelling on my own website’s homepage. Again, not my finest hour.

By now, most people have seen at least one clip of Speaker of the House to-be John Boehnershedding tears in front of the camera — on the House Floor, with Leslie Stahl on “60 minutes,” talking about our failing public education system, you name it. And perhaps you’re thinking to yourself that the rules of the game have changed: perhaps it is okay to cry at work. It’s not. Even though the highest-ranking congressman in the land does it, you still can’t.

My husband, Eric, is an armchair entrepreneur. He has ideated, seeded, started, funded, built, grown, and sold dozens of companies — 10 times over — all in his head. His best friend, Marc, is a finance guru. A whiz-kid investor who’s in it for the love of the game, not for the love of money. They are an unlikely pair: one a dreamer, the other the ultimate pragmatist.

Last week, I wrote a post on How to Ask for a Reference Letter which gave three steps for asking for (and getting!) a great letter of recommendation. The second, and arguably most important step, is to provide a template for your reviewer of what you’d like included in the letter.

In the 2009 film “Up in the Air,” Natalie Keener decides she can no longer stomach being part of a corporate firing squad and quits her firm. Her mentor, played by George Clooney, behaves as the magnanimous gent we all know him to be: he writes a glowing reference letter on her behalf, addressed simply “to whom it may concern.”In the real world, getting a reference letter is far more difficult and often a source of much anxiety. Whom to ask, how to ask, what to say?