It occurred to me that this is the perfect litmus test when giving advice:  what advice did I personally find the most valuable, which I want to pass on to others when they find themselves in similar situations?  After giving my friend "the best baby advice," I wondered, what is the best professional advice ever given to me for being an effective manager and leader?  Furthermore, what do other managers consider to be the best advice that they ever got?

Does the keyboard still call to you?  Do you dream of a simpler life?  We all do at times.  Here's how to deal with those pangs.

It seems that I get more questions about the MBA degree than any other career development topic. It appears to hold a uniquely prominent space in the minds of ambitious managers and would-be managers among the IT ranks.

But the questions are usually of a rather black-and-white nature: Should I get one? Will it be good for my career? Will it be worth the money? Is it worth the time away from the workplace to do it full time? Are part-time MBA programs too hard to do while working full time? Is it worth going back for an executive MBA once I'm already in management?

We’ve all seen it happen. Self- destruction. Career-limiting behavior. Professional suicide. Some previously normal and capable IT manager suddenly starts acting strangely and destructively. He figuratively sets his hair on fire and runs around the building screaming of cabals at the top of his lungs. And we all stand by, watching the slow-motion train wreck, shaking our heads and whispering yet not knowing what to do.

If you are the supervisor of such a person, you’ve got a challenge on your hands. What do you do with a solid performer who seems to be going down a rathole and may take others with him? What do you owe the organization, the manager and the manager’s subordinates?

An interview with Karan Sorensen,CIO and Vice President, Information Management, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC.

Doubt plays an important role for client advisors who build long-term relationships. There are three types of doubt you need to cultivate.

In the 1960s, a journalist asked the great artist Pablo Picasso what he thought about mainframe computers. Picasso replied, "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." I am continually surprised at the power of good, provocative, unexpected questions-and by how infrequently we ask them.  Sometimes the simplest questions are sufficient to make us pause and reflect.

Let me suggest some questions for YOU to think about as you reflect on 2006: