"My wife Jean and I stood in the reservation line at the Holiday Inn in Las Vegas. We didn't have a reservation, just stopped in on our way from LA back to Albuquerque. I had been to Las Vegas before and could easily do without it. Jean had not been there, and I thought she would want to stay. "
"My husband Tom and I stood in the reservation line at the Holiday Inn in Las Vegas. We didn't have a reservation, just stopped in on our way from LA back to Albuquerque. Tom had been to Las Vegas and he must like it because he suggested we stay the night. I could easily do without it."
Those two people stood in the reservation line at the Holiday Inn in Las Vegas. They didn't have a reservation, just stopped in on their way from LA back to Albuquerque.
Lesson: Don't put yourself out for others until you're sure others wish to be put out for.
The all-leather, NFL-regulation football, inscribed -- 1963 Chicago Bears
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
WORK IS NOT A FOUR LETTER WORD
My mission in life (if I choose to accept it) was to help people generate excitement for, passion about and commitment to what they do for a living. This is even more challenging than it seems when you consider the complexity of simply defining the meaning of "what you do for a living."
For example:
JOB -- a task, an undertaking.
WORK -- activity directed towards the production or accomplishment of something.
CAREER -- a chosen pursuit, life work.
PROFESSION -- an occupation requiring advanced study in a specialized field.
OCCUPATION -- an activity that serves as one's source of income.
TRADE -- occupation requiring skilled labor.
VOCATION -- occupation for which one is especially suited.
CRAFT -- skill or ability in something, especially in arts.
While the differences in definition may seem like pure semantics, I believe it to be more. Do you consider what you do for a living to be a job or a career? Does that difference make a difference in the excitement, passion and commitment you bring to what you do for a living?
Also why do you do what you do for a living?
In a recent study folks who today are 70-90 years of age said work meant survival. Forty to 70 year olds see work as a source of material wealth. Those younger use work as a means of self-expression.
So placed under the giant, multi-colored golf umbrella of "workers" are those who perceive they have a "job for dollars" and those who have a "career for self-expression" who are children and grandchildren of those who had a "trade for survival." All are or have been gainfully employed in the eyes of the statisticians but may not be equally excited, passionate, or committed to what they do or did for a living.
Lesson: Life is too short to live in a way that's not worthy of you.
For example:
JOB -- a task, an undertaking.
WORK -- activity directed towards the production or accomplishment of something.
CAREER -- a chosen pursuit, life work.
PROFESSION -- an occupation requiring advanced study in a specialized field.
OCCUPATION -- an activity that serves as one's source of income.
TRADE -- occupation requiring skilled labor.
VOCATION -- occupation for which one is especially suited.
CRAFT -- skill or ability in something, especially in arts.
While the differences in definition may seem like pure semantics, I believe it to be more. Do you consider what you do for a living to be a job or a career? Does that difference make a difference in the excitement, passion and commitment you bring to what you do for a living?
Also why do you do what you do for a living?
In a recent study folks who today are 70-90 years of age said work meant survival. Forty to 70 year olds see work as a source of material wealth. Those younger use work as a means of self-expression.
So placed under the giant, multi-colored golf umbrella of "workers" are those who perceive they have a "job for dollars" and those who have a "career for self-expression" who are children and grandchildren of those who had a "trade for survival." All are or have been gainfully employed in the eyes of the statisticians but may not be equally excited, passionate, or committed to what they do or did for a living.
Lesson: Life is too short to live in a way that's not worthy of you.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
LOYALTY IS DEAD, LONG LIVE LOYALTY
Loyalty on the job today is a slippery concept.
When I started with Megatel Corp. in the early '60s, loyalty came up in conversation about as much as the term "political correctness." If pressed for a definition of loyalty in the "old days," we would have described loyalty as: "You come to work on time, don't lie cheat or steal, do eight hours work, don't bad mouth the company and only take sick days when you're sick."
The loyalty we expected from the company was a decent wage in a safe environment and life time employment if we performed and kept our end of the loyalty pact.
Even more basically -- "You don't hurt me, I won't hurt you."
Organizations flinched. In the 1980s when the economy went south (figuratively and literally), we got to see the true organizational definition of loyalty.
Workers have good memories. The worker of tomorrow will never have the same loyalty as the worker of yesterday, and that's good. Today's loyalty is more truthful. I won't hurt me and you won't hurt you. It's every man, and woman for him, her and themselves (enter political correctness).
This seemingly self-centered approach will work just fine. What will keep us productive is the realization that working together is in the best interest of each of us separately.
But how you relate to others will change at a very gut level. For example, I contend that you should have an updated résumé or its equivalent. You should be answering want ads, talking to headhunters, attending job fairs and networking -- not so you will leave your current employer, but so you can leave.
When I was speaking and training and I mentioned this giant step toward independence to audiences inevitably someone would say, "Isn't it disloyal to take company time to work on a résumé or to go on interviews?"
My response is, "Do you believe management is waiting until after business hours to decide to get rid of you?"
I won't hurt me and you won't hurt you.
Loyalty on the job today is a slippery concept.
Lesson: Organizational loyalty is still alive; it's the old definition that's dead.
When I started with Megatel Corp. in the early '60s, loyalty came up in conversation about as much as the term "political correctness." If pressed for a definition of loyalty in the "old days," we would have described loyalty as: "You come to work on time, don't lie cheat or steal, do eight hours work, don't bad mouth the company and only take sick days when you're sick."
The loyalty we expected from the company was a decent wage in a safe environment and life time employment if we performed and kept our end of the loyalty pact.
Even more basically -- "You don't hurt me, I won't hurt you."
Organizations flinched. In the 1980s when the economy went south (figuratively and literally), we got to see the true organizational definition of loyalty.
Workers have good memories. The worker of tomorrow will never have the same loyalty as the worker of yesterday, and that's good. Today's loyalty is more truthful. I won't hurt me and you won't hurt you. It's every man, and woman for him, her and themselves (enter political correctness).
This seemingly self-centered approach will work just fine. What will keep us productive is the realization that working together is in the best interest of each of us separately.
But how you relate to others will change at a very gut level. For example, I contend that you should have an updated résumé or its equivalent. You should be answering want ads, talking to headhunters, attending job fairs and networking -- not so you will leave your current employer, but so you can leave.
When I was speaking and training and I mentioned this giant step toward independence to audiences inevitably someone would say, "Isn't it disloyal to take company time to work on a résumé or to go on interviews?"
My response is, "Do you believe management is waiting until after business hours to decide to get rid of you?"
I won't hurt me and you won't hurt you.
Loyalty on the job today is a slippery concept.
Lesson: Organizational loyalty is still alive; it's the old definition that's dead.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
YOU CALLED ME A WHAT?
Wetback.
What does that word mean to you? It meant the end of a promising radio career for a local talk show host.
Mr. Talk Show's repeated use of the word on the air to make a point, made a point. The point he made was if you say "wetback" on the air in New Mexico, you're fired. Whatever happened to "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never harm me?"
This episode got me thinking, why do some words bother us and others do not? Some Mexican-American listeners were bothered not at all by the "w" word and others were aggravated to the point of picketing the radio station. It can't be the word itself; it must be what that word (or any word) means to each individual who hears it.
So if you are in charge of what words mean to you, can't you choose not be hurt by them?
Maybe words bother you most when you give them some validity. When I was a public speaker, if some one approached me after a program and told me I babble without obvious direction, I might be bothered at some level if I felt that might be true. But if the next person came to me and told me my head was blue, being called a "bluehead" wouldn't bother me at all because I know I'm not one of the colorful Bluehead clan.
It's not only the word, but who said it. If upon leaving a program, a domicilly challenged person sucking Ripple wine out of a bottle wrapped in a brown paper sack told me he heard my talk while rummaging through a dumpster in the alley outside of my meeting room, and I "stunk" even more than the dumpster. I guess I don't much care. But if the "stunk" word was laid on me by one of my peers in the National Speakers' Association, I would exhibit a distinctly different reaction to the same word.
Words by themselves mean nothing. You give words all the meaning they have for you.
Maybe the power of words for good and bad in your life depends on your sense of self-esteem? The better you feel about yourself, the tougher it is to find a word to hurt you.
Lesson: When you're offended by a word, it says more about you than it does about the word.
What does that word mean to you? It meant the end of a promising radio career for a local talk show host.
Mr. Talk Show's repeated use of the word on the air to make a point, made a point. The point he made was if you say "wetback" on the air in New Mexico, you're fired. Whatever happened to "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never harm me?"
This episode got me thinking, why do some words bother us and others do not? Some Mexican-American listeners were bothered not at all by the "w" word and others were aggravated to the point of picketing the radio station. It can't be the word itself; it must be what that word (or any word) means to each individual who hears it.
So if you are in charge of what words mean to you, can't you choose not be hurt by them?
Maybe words bother you most when you give them some validity. When I was a public speaker, if some one approached me after a program and told me I babble without obvious direction, I might be bothered at some level if I felt that might be true. But if the next person came to me and told me my head was blue, being called a "bluehead" wouldn't bother me at all because I know I'm not one of the colorful Bluehead clan.
It's not only the word, but who said it. If upon leaving a program, a domicilly challenged person sucking Ripple wine out of a bottle wrapped in a brown paper sack told me he heard my talk while rummaging through a dumpster in the alley outside of my meeting room, and I "stunk" even more than the dumpster. I guess I don't much care. But if the "stunk" word was laid on me by one of my peers in the National Speakers' Association, I would exhibit a distinctly different reaction to the same word.
Words by themselves mean nothing. You give words all the meaning they have for you.
Maybe the power of words for good and bad in your life depends on your sense of self-esteem? The better you feel about yourself, the tougher it is to find a word to hurt you.
Lesson: When you're offended by a word, it says more about you than it does about the word.
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