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From time to time, we try to give you a glimpse into work in our offices around the globe, so we are excited to bring you an interview with Erin McAuliffe, a Product Marketing Coordinator for Oxford’s online products. We spoke to Erin about her life here at Oxford University Press — which includes marketing a range of digital resources including Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford Islamic Studies Online, Oxford Competition Law, and more.

What is the most important lesson you learned during your first year on the job?

To be flexible when relying on others. I am a little bit of a control freak so learning to go with the flow was a challenge.

When did you start working at OUP?

I was an intern on the Online Product Marketing team during the Summer of 2010 and then returned as a full-time employee on the same team one year later in June 2011.

What’s the most enjoyable part of your day?

When all my meetings are over and I can sit down and check projects off my to-do list! Or when I finish a to-do list!

What’s the least enjoyable?

9:00 a.m. conference call meetings.

What is the strangest thing currently on or in your desk?

Four different pictures of Ryan Gosling and a cheeseburger mouse pad.

What was your first job in publishing?

This one!

What are you reading right now?

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd; it’s just okay.

What’s your favorite book?

This is impossible to answer but my favorite book that I have read recently was Columbine which is a non-fiction book written by journalist Dave Cullen who covered the Columbine shooting and its impact on the community and families over the next 12 years. It was the most honest, heartbreaking, and complex book I’ve read in a long time.

If you didn’t work in publishing, what would you be doing?

Probably working for a media or ad agency.

What’s the first thing you do when you get to work in the morning?

Put my lunch in the fridge and then scan Internet news while my email loads.

What will you be doing once you’ve completed this Q&A?

I will be coding the public page update of Oxford Bibliographies. I had to teach myself HTML when I started working here and now I love it. It’s cathartic and systematic and you get to be creative.

If you could trade places with any one person for a week, who would it be and why?

Probably Barack Obama. I think having that much responsibility and pressure would put a lot of things I worry about in perspective.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you take with you?

A book, some sunscreen, and a regenerating frozen drink cooler.

What is the most exciting project you have been part of while working at OUP?

Probably the creation of an interactive author map for Oxford Bibliographies. It was a project that I thought of, got approved, and executed in a short amount of time and it was something completely new and different for OUP and for the online products.

What is your favorite word? 

Rigmarole.

What is in your desk drawer?

Shoes, A Fondue Set, a stockpile of napkins, and a large amount of blank USBs.

Most obscure talent or hobby?

I can juggle, though not very well.

Longest book ever read?

IT by Stephen King, a little over 1100 pages. Close second is World Without End by Ken Follet which I think is just under 1100 pages.

Erin McAuliffe is Global Product Marketing Coordinator, Digital at Oxford University Press. She works across a range of online products including Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford Islamic Studies Online, Oxford Competition Law, and more.

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The post Getting to know Product Marketer Erin McAuliffe appeared first on OUPblog.

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By Susan David

We humans are funny. Often we create beliefs or engage in behaviors that seem to help us in the short term, only to discover they get in the way of the lives we really want to live, or the people we want to become.

Allow me to share the story of my friend, Erin. Over lunch one day, she told both her mentor and me about a division director job she had truly wanted. The role offered good challenges, the chance to develop her skills, fabulous travel, and unparalleled flexibility. It would have been “a dream come true”.

But then Erin began to recite a litany of reasons why she hadn’t gone after the job. She wasn’t good in interviews, having never received the coaching that so many candidates are privy to these days. She was overweight, which would surely make a poor impression. On top of all this, due to the economic downturn, many people more qualified than she would apply. She thought she’d be great at the job if she could have made it beyond the interview, but all things considered, she “knew” she hadn’t stood a chance.

“So I never applied,” she told us. “Instead, I sent the advertisement to a peer and encouraged him to interview.” She paused. “He got the job.”

How was it that this bright, hardworking, lovely young woman also had such an aptitude for self-sabotage?

There are plenty of smart, even gifted, people like Erin. They are bonded by a common behavior psychologists call “self-handicapping,” which involves anticipating a real or imagined obstacle that might get in the way of success, and using that obstacle as an excuse.

Self-handicapping allows us to protect ourselves from the pain of assuming responsibility for our failures, and people do it all the time. In a groundbreaking 1978 study, psychologists Berglas and Jones found that participants who “succeeded” at a test (that was really just luck-based) were more likely to choose to take a performance-inhibiting drug before taking a second test. In other words, they actively set themselves up for failure on the second try. By doing this, they could blame their subsequent poor performance on the drug, and also protect their earlier feeling of success.

In a more recent set of experiments conducted by psychologist Sean McCrea at the University of Konstanz in Germany, participants were asked to take several intelligence tests under a variety of conditions. The research showed that people who were encouraged to make excuses for their poor performance — blaming poor performance on loud noises, for example — maintained high self-esteem, but were also less motivated to improve.

This kind of behavior is often so subtle and habitual that we don’t notice we’re doing it. Think about the manager who has to give a big presentation and fails to practice ahead of the event, or people who procrastinate on work projects and wind up “not having enough time” to do a good job. In a 2010 HBR article, Jeffrey Pfeffer identified self-handicapping as one of three major barriers to building professional power: people avoid the pain of failure by never trying to build power in the first place.

What can you do to overcome self-handicapping? Here are four steps:

1. Watch for the warning signs. Drawing down your efforts, generating lists of excuses, or distracting yourself (music, alcohol, etc.) are signs that you’re engaging in self-handicapping. Everyone needs to take breaks and manage energy during the work day, but these activities can be clues that you are veering onto the trail of self-sabotage. A mentor or colleague can often help steer you back on course.
2. Use “what-ifs” and “if-onlys” to help you generate goals instead of excuses. Research shows that the thinking people engage in during self-handicapping can just as easily be flipped to be motivational. When you ponder what could have gone better, or recognize obstacles in your way, you generate valuable information. Identify factors within your control, and see what you can do about them. Erin, for example, could have responded to the thought “I’m not great in interviews” by researching the right skills, practicing them, and requesting support from her mentor.
3. Recognize and manage your negative emotions. Research shows that when we use our “if-onlys” to motivate rather than excuse ourselves, we will also likely experience negative emotions, such as disappointment and self-directed anger . If you can notice these emotions and be kind to yourself in working through them, you’re more likely to be able to move into positive, empowering behavior.
4. Go for mastery. Self-handicapping is most likely to kick in when we are trying to perform well in order to avoid negative feedback from external sources, such as criticism from colleagues. When we focus instead on developing mastery in a domain we care about, we tap into our inherent motivation to learn and grow. Recognize what matters to you, and brainstorm ideas to get yourself moving in that direction.

Going for what you really want takes considerable courage. Let’s face it, even when you put forth your best effort, things don’t always turn out as you would like. But by taking a risk you open yourself not only to the possibility of failure, but also the possibility of learning, growth, and real attainment. It’s up to you to decide which is more perilous: the risk of disappointment, or the risk of never reaching your potential.

Reprinted with permission from Harvard Business Reveiw.  This blog was originally published here.

Susan David is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Happiness (due out in January 2013) with Ilona Boniwell and Amanda Conley Ayers. Susan is is a founder and co-director of the Harvard/McLean Institute of Coaching and a member of the Harvard faculty. She is also the director of Evidence Based Psychology, a leadership development organization and management consultancy.

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The new Illustration Pages poster has proven to be quite a hot little item. IP readers have been downloading it like mad since I first announced it here on the site last month. If you would like to join in on the fun – follow the links below and download yours today. Print it out and hang it in your studio, cubicle, office, on campus, on telephone poles - hang it anywhere and everywhere to show your IP love.

To download the poster click one of the two links below. One file is setup as a standard 8.5 x 11 so you can simply download it and print it out. The other link is setup as 11x 14 which you can print to tabloid paper and trim it to the edges if you wish to have a larger size poster. Both posters are high resolution PDFs for the best quality print output so depending on your connection speed they might take a couple of minutes to download.



Thank you everyone and enjoy the poster.

Lou Simeone
Illustration Pages
creativity   community   culture

About Erin Klauk:
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Erin Klauk moved to NYC in 2002 to study illustration at Pratt Institute, where she received her BFA in 2004. She went on to receive an MA in illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2009. Her clients include Arthur Magazine, Crawlspace Magazine, The Boston Historical Neighborhoods Society, SBRA Architects, Gerard & Sarzin Publishing, Mark, and L’Oréal Paris. She creates gig posters, album artwork and music merchandise for a number of local bands such as Traveling Circle, Heavy Hands, Sorceress, Whooping Crane, Anorak, The Actual Facts and The Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet.

To see more of illustrator Erin Klauk's work visit her blog, Erinaceous Illustration, The Art and Design of Erin Klauk.

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Today I’m extremely happy to announce that illustrator Erin Klauk has completed work on an original Illustration Pages poster. This beautiful poster is available to download free, right here at Illustration Pages. Since its inception in December of 2009, the Illustration Pages community as grown considerably. To show my appreciation for everyone’s support and participation I collaborated with the amazing illustrator, Erin Klauk. Together we bring you this magnificent poster that you can download, print and hang in your studio, cubicle, office, on campus, on telephone poles - hang it anywhere and everywhere.

Erin creates such awesome posters that after featuring her work on the Illustration Pages site back in March, I knew I had to have a poster for the IP site.

To download the poster click one of the two links below. One file is setup as a standard 8.5 x 11 so you can simply download it and print it out. The other link is setup as 11x 14 which you can print to tabloid paper and trim it to the edges if you wish to have a larger size poster. Both posters are high resolution PDFs for the best quality print output so depending on your connection speed they might take a couple of minutes to download.



I already have my poster framed and hanging in my studio. Thank you everyone and enjoy the poster. Here’s to continued success in the future.

Lou Simeone
Illustration Pages
creativity   community   culture

About Erin Klauk:
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Erin Klauk moved to NYC in 2002 to study illustration at Pratt Institute, where she received her BFA in 2004. She went on to receive an MA in illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2009. Her clients include Arthur Magazine, Crawlspace Magazine, The Boston Historical Neighborhoods Society, SBRA Architects, Gerard & Sarzin Publishing, Mark, and L’Oréal Paris. She creates gig posters, album artwork and music merchandise for a number of local bands such as Traveling Circle, Heavy Hands, Sorceress, Whooping Crane, Anorak, The Actual Facts and The Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet.

To see more of illustrator Erin Klauk's work visit her blog, Erinaceous Illustration, The Art and Design of Erin Klauk.

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If you threw Heinz Edelmann's kaleidoscopic characters into the cosmic, psychedelia of Alton Kelley's world, and crashed it into the world of artist Klaus Voorman, the result would probably be the whimsical, morphing, twisting, textured land of illustrator Erin Klauk - phenomenal.

Erin Klauk is a freelance illustrator living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Each of Erin's posters take us on a journey through spinning, hand drawn type, curving lines and intense colors that move with the same rhythm as the music they promote.

What a pleasure it is to see such a talented illustrator working today creating original, stylized, hand drawn artwork that in all likelihood has been influenced by many of the great artists of the past.

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By Michelle Lana

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This mild to medium heat Cherry Pepper is small, round, and bright red in color. Its shape resembles a cherry (hence the name...) and is considered extremely good in processing and pickling. Cherry Peppers, like Chico, are perfect for the home garden, but you will usually see them in the commercially canned pickled state sold at your local farm markets and grocery stores.

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Grown mainly in Asia and India, these long, slender, and smoky Cayenne Peppers are a good source of instant heat. Cayenne Peppers, like Chi-Chi, are most often used in Cajun cooking and appears, in whole, in asian dishes. Seeds and veins are often removed in cooking because of its heat. Cayenne Peppers are thin-fleshed, acidic, and mainly used in powdered form (simply called Red Peppers).

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Originated from Mexico near the city of Pueblo, these mild, heart-shaped chiles is just one of those peppers with huge interiors perfect for stuffing delicious fillings (also known as picadillos). Some are filled with black beans, fresh steamed white corn kernels, cheese, garlic, onions, and many more...The poblano holds up well under grilling which enhances its velvety rich taste. Young poblanos such as Pepe, have dark green skin and mature to red or brown. Dried Poblanos are called Mulatos or Anchos and they are awesome ingredients for soup or sauces.

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A little burst of spiciness, dark smooth skin, and a joy to taste is what makes this cute little green pepper among the top favorites. Jay-Jay Jalapeno usually hangs out at the soup/salad bars, potato chip/nacho aisles, local sandwich and sub places, movie theaters, and more...It's pretty obvious why he's the most popular pepper among many cooks, chefs, and consumers all around the world.

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