Anonymous Distributor
Today, on the news, I saw that a new international study says I shouldn’t be taking multi-vitamins. This week, I also read that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Board believes that I shouldn’t have a PSA screening test or worry about prostate cancer. This same board recently recommended that women shouldn’t get mammograms.
Is the world going nuts? Pardon me for getting emotional…but if my family had not taken mammograms and PSA tests, our cousins, children and grandchildren would be visiting our graves instead of visiting us in our homes. So excuse me, but this is really personal. I’ll go when it’s my time and the good Lord wants me, but otherwise if I have a choice to extend my life, there’s no doubt what my decision will be every time. Hopefully, you’ll make good decisions too, take your tests, stay informed, and live a long life.
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In October 2011 Outdoor Power Equipment magazine, I quoted a lot of opinions about the folly of what’s going on in Washington, D.C., and the antics of our elected leaders. We all share that pain. Recently, I came across this quote by Mark Twain that summed up his feelings about Congress back in his day: “There is no distinctly native American criminal class — except Congress.” I call that “humor with a punch.”
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It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t mention the recent passing of Steve Jobs. You know who he was. You know how he impacted our lives.
When you heard about his passing, did you experience the same feelings I did? Sadness? An empty spot in your heart for an iconic businessman you admired and trusted? A sense of losing a friend — one of the “good guys?”
Search on the Internet for a transcript of the commencement speech he gave at Stanford University in 2005 and read it carefully, especially the part about following your heart and intuition when you know it’s absolutely the right thing to do, even when others may think differently.
Thank you, Steve, for adding wonder and joy to our lives. We’ll all miss you.
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One of the best business blogs on the Internet is called “All Things Workplace” (www.allthingsworkplace.com) by Steve Roesler. Often powerful and filled with great ideas, “All Things Workplace” is a not-to-miss regular read for me. I want to share with you Roesler’s “Ten Life Lessons from Business” from a post on Sept. 25, 2011. There’s not enough room in this column for me to comment on each, but you can spend a little time reading and thinking about them. It’s worth it.
1) You can be in charge, but you’re never in control.
2) If you have a PowerPoint slide with a graph whose curve always points upward, you’re lying. Delete it.
3) If you look at people through your own eyes, you’ll judge them for who you think they are. If you look at them through God’s eyes, you’ll see them for who they can become.
4) You can’t be good at who you are until you stop trying to be all the things you are not.
5) Charge what you are worth. If you don’t, you’ll begin to resent your employer or client, even though you decided to take the assignment.
6) You can’t control circumstances. You can control your response to them. Those who learn to respond thoughtfully and peacefully are the ones who are accorded trust and power.
7) Overt displays of position power show weakness. Genuine humility shows power.
8) All groups aren’t “teams.” Often, they are just collections of people who work really, really well together. Leave them alone.
9) No one can know how to be an effective leader until they’ve toiled as a dedicated follower.
10) Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge applied with discernment.
For your homework assignment, pick a couple of Roesler’s business life lessons you really liked when you read them. Write them down, put them on your desk, and read and think about them every morning for the next few days when you come to work. Try it. You may find your fellow employees change in very positive ways.
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Contact the Anonymous Distributor at anonymous.distributor@gmail.com or read his blog at www.anonymousdistributor.blogspot.com.
