Using your position...to your advantage...is STEALING...

Good Morning!

I bet you think that I forgot about this week's update!

No Way!

I actually got focused on some required deliverables that were needed to keep iTalentCafe on track for delivery!

It is really shaping up and I am so excited!

Building a system like this from the ground up is an interesting proposition!  Much of it is transformational...

Would you expect anything else from me?

I am hoping that you can share in its success...either in support of the effort...or use of the website...or as a part of the transformational team!

Enough said on this...more coming...help me make it happen!

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This is so cool!

This past week I was driving the kids around and as we were driving...a police officer passed us...

His rate of travel was probably twice ours!

No lights...he was just driving fast...

Rachel asked if I was driving at the speed limit....which I was...

Then she commented that the officer was breaking the law!

I said...she was right...but who was going to give him a ticket?

I barely finished saying that and she said...You know dad...That is stealing!

That got me thinking!

She was right!

When a person uses their position to their advantage...they are stealing!

We seldom notice it...we have grown calloused to that behavior...

Our society has become oblivious to self-serving behavior to the extent that they are blinded to its existence...

A rule is a rule...if it is meant for some...it should be meant for all!

I have been a recipient of that behavior...and you probably have too!

Being held to a higher standard...or

Having been given blame for something that you didn't deserve!

I have seen leaders...not step up and take responsibility for their own inadequacies....or poor performance and discipline or fire undeserving people...

They do this in an attempt to save their own position...

The only redeeming thing is that their inadequacies catch up with them...and they are seen for what and who they really are...

The sad thing is that most corporations seldom go back and make things better for the mistake...as a result...there are a many innocent victims!

Stealing takes on many different shapes and forms...

These unscrupulous people steal the livelihoods from many people...

Whether it is something as simple as speeding...or extra time off because you are the boss...or stealing extra employment time by shifting blame...it is wrong...

Some may argue that position has its perks...

I disagree...a person's higher position comes with a demand for higher responsibility and integrity...

RACHEL...thanks for the reminder and the great life lesson!

Enough said for now!

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The New Brass Ring - Update

My next book...The New Brass Ring:  Process Improvement for the 21st Century is approaching release.  I got word this week that the book is in cover design (the final step).  It seemed like forever to get there!

For those who are not aware...this book debuts my DMADD methodology.  I am hoping that it is pegged with the NBR label...You can help me with that...

Also...when it is released...please ask for it at your libraries and whenever you are traveling...please stop in at the book stores and news stands...at the airports...my vision is to have them available there...

Finally...please buy a copy of the NBR.  You will not be disappointed!  It is both entertaining and informative...or at least my reviewers think so!

Process Improvement is ripe for change...the conditions and the environment is also demanding a different strategy to address organizational issues...

We can not win the war on poor efficiency or effectiveness with a static strategy...

In the "Art of War" it is said that victory comes to the army that is able to adjust with the ever changing tides of the enemy's movements...

Effective leadership requires one to be adaptive...A static set of tactics (the same old methods...because they worked in the past) will only lead to frustration and failure...

All colds and flus look the same...but the fact of the matter is...they are caused by different virus'!  Once you have had a specific virus...the body's immunity system creates antibodies that keeps you from ever getting that strain of virus again...however colds and flus are an annual and semi-annual event for most of us...

That is because the virus has changed!  Even though the symptoms look the same!

Organizational issues are somewhat the same!

The symptoms may appear the same...but the causes are entirely different!

Just as the practice of preventive medicine includes ever changing vaccines...PI needs to create new and adaptive tactics to address these issues!

NBR is one of those new vaccines!

It is time for us to begin spreading the word!

I want this book to become a best seller...

You can help me by buying the book...if you are so inclined...and also by telling your friends about it!

Enough said!

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This magical thinking stuff...it doesn't work!

We want to believe that our existence is significantly deeper than we perceive...

We want to find deeper meaning and exert more control...

The fact of the matter is...it is not deep...and we have no control beyond our contribution to the causes and then we have to live with the effects and impacts...

I have wrote a lot on "getting real" about our existence and real impacts!

We are not important to anyone but ourselves...and in reality the only one who really cares about what happens to us is...

...Us!

Do not be deceived by these snake-oil salesmen who are selling Secrets...and  mystical secrets to success...

I agree that part of the equation is related to attitude...but that is just the foundation to success...

Wishing and dreaming is only the first step (the map)...proper attitude over the long haul is the fuel to success...but the vehicle is still and always be HARD work!

One of the immutable laws of success is "return on investment!"

You are not guaranteed greater value or a larger return on investment...or a profit...on what you give...

The most important question  that you have to answer for yourself is...

What am I Willing to pay for what I am getting?

If you are dreaming of (envisioning) getting something for nothing...or even getting more for a little investment...you are deceiving yourself...

Success requires hard work and sacrifice...

Enough said!

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My last thought for today is an explanation of what I really meant by a statement made on Twitter and linked to Facebook...

It said, "No eulogy is require for someone who simply does their duty..."

This was meant to be rather thought provoking...but it elicited no reactions at all!

The fact of the matter is...few if any people ever achieve their real potential...which I infer is their duty...(their responsibility)...

People work to create a eulogy...an epitaph...

But who can claim that they have reached AND exceeded their full potential?

Again....let's get real about what we are doing for (or perhaps to) this world and the people around us...

I would challenge you to leave every day better for your having been there...in every instance and interaction...

We all need to strive to be significantly more altruistic!

We need to realize that anything that we do for ourselves disappears when we die...only those things that we do for others exists beyond our exiting this world!

If it is lasting meaning that you strive for...you are best served by focusing less on what you do for yourself and more on what you do for others...

Like the speeding officer...any effort like that is stealing!

AND...I would bet that you (as do I) abhor thieves!

Call them out and at the same time...avoid this larceny at all costs!

Enough said...AGAIN!

Have a great weekend!

Pura Vida!