Listen

I have seen it in all businesses -
People get to big and forget where they started and they let- Power- get to their heads and they forget to listen to those around them.
My best mentor- Paul Arpin- had the gift of staying grounded, he always had the last word and the final decision but he always would listen to those around him that he trusted and took in all the opinions and then acted.
Power and titles are a funny thing- they change people.
Never forget-
Stay humble and LISTEN !

Hope vs Hate

Hope vs Hate

Is it possible to be tough and also have hope ?
Can you help people and teach them to help themselves?
Can you speak truth to power?
Can you respect, truly respect, other opinions and people of diversity?
Is life all about - more - more money, more stuff, more power ?

Bullying- liars - hypocrites

We all have many things that bother us or drive us-

For me it’s fighting against bullies and liars and hypocrites- and the funny thing is ( actually it is not humorous) most time these characters normally go hand in hand, if you find a bully they most likely are liars and hypocrites. It really annoys me when people stand up on a soap box to yell and point the finger at someone else while they are guilty of probably the same thing or worse- that is the height of hypocrisy.

I see it almost every day and it is all around me.

I saw it as a young man in the work place and it was what ultimately drove me to  take on more responsibility and eventually to Senior Vice President - it was , and still is, never about the money or power - it was my way to help keep the bullies and liars and hypocrites in check or out of power.
I watched as the VP before me ridiculed others, picked on the meek and straight up lied to everybody and it hate me up inside.
In order to conduct the change I wanted to see and I had to on more responsibility and start to form a real team and have a workplace where people respected each other and always were honest.
I am proud of what we were able to accomplish and the bonds that were made and hopefully was able to show people that you do not have to stab people in the back to succeed and that by working together you not only can accomplish some pretty amazing things you also make friends for life.

Get involved- if you do not like what you see or what you hear around you- Step Up!

Make a difference- you do not have to play their ugly games to win.

Just put your blinders on and do your thing - be honest- be sincere and respect everyone!

Humility

Humility makes a whole lot of things possible, -
None more important than a single humble question: “ What am I missing ?”
Good leaders constantly worry their limited ability to see. To rise above limititations , good leaders exercise judgement, which is a different thing from intelligence.
Intelligence is the ability to solve a problem, to decipher a riddle,  to master a set of facts. Judgement is the ability to orbit a problem or a set of facts and see it as it might be seen through other eyes, by observers with different biases, motives, and backgrounds.
It is the ability to take a set of facts and move it in place and time - perhaps to hearing room or a courtroom, months or years in the future - or to the newsroom of a major publication or the board room of a competitor.
Intelligence is the ability to collect and report what the documents and the witnesses say ; judgement is the ability to say what those same facts mean and what effect they will have on other audiences.

Urgency

How do you have a sense of urgency if you are not the one being oppressed?
How can you really appreciate what you have if you never experienced being without it ?

For example my daughter taught in a innner city high school with many kids that came from poverty and some from other countries, one young man was born and raised most of his life in a part of Africa where they had very little.
As a young boy he would get up very early every morning and do his chores and then walk miles , in all kind of weather, to have an opportunity to go to school and get an education.
Here in the United States we have public transportation to take our children to public schools and many of our children take it for granted and complain and resist getting an education.

How can you teach appreciation?

My grandparents grew up in a small house with no indoor plumbing and grew most of their food.
My grandmother had this cookie jar on the top of this metal cabinet and when I would visit as a very young boy it was a huge treat for her to hand me a cookie from this jar.
My aunt lived next to her sister, my grandmother, and was very poor and if my grandmother had a ham she would share it with her sister and her sister would take the bone home to make soup out it.

How can a child today ever really understand and appreciate what is in their kitchen and refrigerator if that is all they have known.

How can we install or teach a sense of urgency to help those less fortunate if we never really lived their lives and saw the world through their eyes ?

Shoe on the other foot

Always try to live by the “ shoe on the other foot “ theory.
Before you judge or you take your stand think about in in different terms -
What if whatever the situation is closer to home and more personal.
Don’t think about as THEM or something that does not or will not ever effect you -
Think about it as if it did effect you , as if it was your daughter, your son, your mother .
People speak of religion and most think they are “ good” people but they separate things and people very easily if it does effect them personally.
It is easy to be tough if it is not your child, your family or your life.
How will you be judged in the end ?
It is how you treat the needy , the poor and the defenseless that matters .
What if the shoe was on the other foot ?

Leaders

An excerpt from a book I am reading ...
Driving leadership into every corner and every communication-
“ We would teach that great leaders are -
(1) people of integrity and decency;
(2) confident enough to be humble;
(3) both kind and tough;
(4) transparent; and
(5) aware that we all seek the same meaning in work.
We should also teach them that
(6) what they say is important, but what they do is far more important, because their people are always watching them.
In short, we would demand and develop ethical leaders.”

Choose wisely

Choose your leaders wisely.
Do you run a department or crews ? Are you a boss or Director or VP ?

If you are in a position where it is your responsibility to make things work than you need to be sure you have the right people doing the right job.

You do that by paying attention, watching and listening- YOU need to take responsibility and do not procrastinate, if it looks as if someone is struggling fix it. You need to evaluate what they are good at and what are their weaknesses and either reassign them , encourage them ,  help push them up the ladder or if you have say good bye then do it- just don’t procrastinate.
You do harm to the process and the team and the person themselves if you are not honest.

Not every good employee is a good leader - that is ok, you do not need all leaders and some people either have it in their DNA or they don’t.
It is up to you to see IT and encourage it or move  things around.

And you need to understand is it the person or the process that is failing ?
Was the person trained properly ?

Honest discussions and moving people around or having tough reprimands are very hard but if you are not having them then YOU are the problem- maybe you are just not cut out to be leader.
That’s ok too - be honest with yourself is most important and will lead to you are not only doing a good job but being happy.

And at the end of the day isn’t that what we all want?

Choose Wisely

The Killing Stone

I heard a preacher man speaking on the radio
Remember thinking that I'd like to tell him where to go
Go back to that book that you've been waving around
Open it up, and go to that part about
You without sin, pick up that stone

He's turning it over, to the other side
He's turning it over now, ‘cause now you can't hide
All that lies beneath, all the lies beneath
The killing stone

Saw another fella talking on the TV show
Trying to tell me how to live and just how I should vote
He says he believes in the sanctity of life
100, 000 died
Tell me are you sanctified 

Now you without sin, pick up that stone
You without sin, pick up that stone
He's turning it over, to the other side
He's turning it over now, ‘cause you can't hide
All that lies beneath, all the lies beneath
The killing stone, 

We're all looking for redemption
But is it for our souls
You without sin, pick up that stone

He's turning it over, to the other side
He's turning it over, turning it over now ‘cause you can't hide
All that lies beneath, all the lies beneath 
You can't hide beneath
The Killing stone

Appreciate

How can you really appreciate something if you never not had it ?

I remember the first time my wife and I bought a car that had “ electric “ windows we thought we were big shots, it was probably a car already 10 - 15 years old but we appreciated power windows.
Then we bought a car with power windows and intermittent windshield wipers.... ooooh .. that was a bid deal and then the big one- air conditioning!

I actually still appreciate today the cars that I drive and all the extras , now they even have Bluetooth and hands free cell phones - cell phones another thing that this generation just takes for granted.
It was not that long ago that we worked without computers and cell phones and people take them all for granted- how can you really appreciate something you were just born in to ?

I guess my parents could say the same thing as they were born with no indoor bathrooms and very few had an automobile never mind “ power” anything.
They appreciated much more of the little things that I was born in to and took for granted.

Look around and appreciate everything around you - Yes- we are rich - try to take everything for granted and try to take the time to appreciate the little things.

What’s important

“ And every day , the world will drag you by the hand, yelling,
“ This is important!
And this is important! And this is important!
You need to worry about this ! And this! And this!
And each day , it’s up to you to yank your hand back , put in on your heart and say,
“ No. This is what’s important. “

Suits

Those that do the Lord’s work normally are not the ones wearing suits and ties.

The working man gets up every day and does his very best, he works to provide for his family and works because it is prideful. He enjoys not only the financial rewards but more important the rewards of putting in a hard days work and making a difference.

I have people that would back stab and lie and cheat themselves up the ladder because they wanted more money and more power but those people always failed in time because they just didn’t get it.
It is not titles that people respect or how much money you make , they eventually will see that person for who they really are and try to move away from them because people gravitate to the honest hard working man not the guy with the nice big office who has learned to smile as they kill.

Always be willing to get your hands dirty, to dig in and be a part of the team.

 To be a good leader you must also be a good team player, and actions speak louder than words.

Strength and Wisdom

Each day I pray for-
The Stenngth to Talk and Speak truth and
The Wisdom to Listen
Today and everyday we must all have the strength to speak honestly to one another but we must also know the importance of listening to other people’s opinions.
Sometimes you may be served best to address something at a later date if you feel passionately about it , you may also be best to really tro the “ shoe on the other foot” theory too.
Unfortunately everyone has become more tribal and with that they (we) have a tendency to react and not really listen.
Speak out and being honest does not mean to shout or be belligerent or vulgar- all you accomplish then would be to build up higher walls and you will lose your validity of the discussion- you will also never really get the opportunity to be heard or to have an honest conversation- so all is lost.
Speak your mind and be true to yourself and always open your heart - listen.

Stand Up

Each time a man stands up for an ideal , or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Robert F. Kennedy 

Action

A huge part of improving is simply- taking Action-
If something is not working then for goodness sake - do something about it.
It is amazing to me that people in “ power “ positions have so many meetings and just complain about what is wrong and then all the leave the room with no solid “ action” steps to take to try to correct the issues. So in essence all they become is an old lady sewing circle- do something.
First you need to observe and most important know what the heck you are observing, businesses today have leaders that never worked from the ground up so even if they took the time to observe, which most never their their closed door office, they could actually see what the issues may be because they never lived it.
But even if they did observe or “ caught wind” of the problem they then need to ACT on it and not put it off or push blame or procrastinate they need to ACT. Doing nothing is not the answer.
You need to do what is necessary and then continue to observe and listen and support the people that are actually doing the work.
Ignoring problems is not leadership and it can only fester negativity- open your doors and step inside and learn - it is alright to try something and fail but it is not alright to sit on the sidelines and criticize-
Take Action

People

Looking at some older pictures of Rhode Island today from the early 1900’s and comparing the same locations to photos of today I noticed a lot of difference - horse and buggies replaced by cars but also I noticed -People.

Back then the sidewalks were busy with people walking or standing around talking, today we have so much less interaction with each other and with modern transportation and cell phones and social media we hardly ever just walk and talk and meet the people around us.
Just watch the few people that are walking , they have their head down looking at their phone or watch people at an airport- I guarantee you 90% of them have their face on their phone or computer.
No one looks up.

I think overall it is unhealthy and I have said all along that you cannot stop technology and technology in itself is not a bad thing - it is how we use it and when we use it that is important.
It s the big challenge of this “social media “ generation that they understand the importance of shutting down and looking up and enjoying pure nature or even going for a casual walk - without your phone- imagine that?

Sometimes I think it was better back then when we had to keep our windows open at home because no one had AC and you hung out outside on your steps or your picnic table to cool off , you talked to your neighbors and if you were a kid you played outside.

My hope is that someday we know how to marry the two - technology and the simple life.
Look up - shut down - notice the People around you .

Numbers

When businesses start looking at pure numbers they begin to fail.

The most important asset for any business is not their building or equipment it is their people.
In today’s business world everything revolves around numbers, the bean counters say you need more numbers to profit -totally looking past their quality , their customers and their employees.

To profit and sustain profitability you need to have a nucleus of good people around you that trust you and enjoy working for you and know you have their back , giving them the freedom to be creative and to be responsible.

To profit you need to take care of your customers and build a positive reputation, if you look past them and just see numbers and think you will make it up in volume- you will eventually fail.

In the household goods moving business I dealt with a lot of very good hard working drivers and movers and the best ones always handled each move the same way - with total care for the family they were moving as well as their belongings. They moved a lot of military members and it never mattered rather the member was a private or a General, they did the same expert job - they got it.

You need to treat everyone the same, you need to care about each person, employee or customer-
After all we are each other’s customer too.
As a business, no matter how big or small you are, once you look past the person and see just numbers you are on the road to ruin.
And not just professionally but spirtually and morally.

You can actually do both- care about people and profit and in the end you will find your reward.