Hard Work & Hard hands

Hard Work & Hard hands

By Carl ToersBijns

 

“Hard-working Americans are increasingly faced with workplace conditions in which critically important safeguards are watered down, emerging problems are ignored, and enforcement is scaled back.” unknown

 

To many people, hard work is another dirty word. In my own experience in the last forty years I have found hard work to be a worthy challenge and once conquered mentally, easier to overcome than many realize. The truth is many more people will go the easy route and avoid hard work these days. After all, it’s the easier of the two choices before you. Why wouldn’t you join those lazy people and do the opposite.

 

Separating yourself from the horde of people wanting to be lazy is a much tougher challenge than anticipated. Tackling hard work is tough but in the long run, it pays off. Certainly, one must be prepared to make sacrifices but in order to get the competitive edge you need to be successful; you must dedicate yourself to hard work and persistent self-satisfaction or order to feel the rewards of such self-discipline and perseverance. 

 

Strong challenges often result in strong results. Not working with luck but rather opportunities opens the door to find better ways of self improvement and self development towards your goals of being a successful worker and not a fluke. Disciplining yourself along the way is very important. Your willingness to do something that is difficult is the key to personal achievement. One of the comforts of knowing you did some hard work is the feeling that it is universal and you are not alone. There are many hard working people out there that don’t by-pass easy street and dig in for the long run and looking for long term results.

 

Whether you are working full-time or part-time the challenge is to force yourself to excel and do better every time you are faced with a challenge. Working hard with little pay is disappointing but could very well be the catalyst that takes you on a new journey where the money is commensurate with the energy and self discipline you demonstrate to your employers and ultimately reap the rewards of your hard work by getting a raise or a better position.

 

It has been demonstrated that the harder you dig in the more potential you reveal as more opportunities will come about offering you new challenges based on your past record of being a strong asset to the organization. Taking this approach of working hard pays off for those that accept the fact there are no easy ways to get success fast and easy. Hard work builds self-esteem and confidence. It is a formula for setting goals, making plans and achieving what you envision to be your ultimate challenge in life.

 

In the end hard work is about acceptance. Accepting the fact that anything less is not satisfying and doesn’t fulfill your own personal ambitions, desires and goals. Never fear hard work and you will find the key to success as you reach a whole new level in your life.

How to choose your leadership style video

Choosing your leadership style video

How do you choose and develop a leadership style?

What kind of leader do you want to be?

Perhaps even more important, how would you be most effective as a leader?

What kind of leadership style would be of the most benefit to your organization, and would allow you to be the best leader you could be?

Here are a few things you can do to choose and develop your own effective leadership style:

Start with yourself. Use what you know about your own personality, and about how you've exercised leadership in the past.

 

Neither of these has to determine what you choose now - people can change, especially if they believe that what they've done before was ineffective or inconsistent with their values - but it's important to be honest with yourself about who you are.

 

That honesty has two aspects.

 

First, be clear with yourself about what your natural tendencies and talents are. If you want to be a collaborative leader, but you tend to tell people what to do, you have to admit that and think about ways to change it.

If you want to be a directive leader, but you have trouble making decisions, you need to deal with that issue. Not everyone can be charismatic, but almost everyone can learn to distill and communicate a vision that reflects the hopes and needs of a group. Knowing who you are is the first step toward both choosing a style and understanding what you'll have to do to adopt it. Being truly honest with yourself is a difficult task.

 

For most of us, it may take some time with a counselor or a trusted friend, or the willingness to hear feedback from colleagues, co-workers, and/or family members. It also takes an honest self -assessment, which can mean stripping away defenses and facing insecurities. These few questions are obviously just a beginning

 

Some questions you might ask yourself to start

How great is my need to be in control?

 

How willing am I to trust others to do their jobs?

 

How patient am I?

 

How organized am I?

 

How good are my people skills?

 

Second, acknowledge and be true to your beliefs. If you have a real philosophical commitment to a particular leadership style, it will probably be easier for you to change your behavior to match that style than to live with knowing you're betraying your principles.

 

Think about the needs of the organization or initiative.

 

Observe and learn from other leaders. Find a mentor.

 

Use the research on leadership. There are lots of resources available on leaders and on both the theory and practice of leadership.

 

Believe in what you're doing. If you've thought it through carefully, and believe in the way you practice leadership, that will be projected to others. If you believe in yourself, they'll believe in you, too.

 

Be prepared to change. Although this may seem at odds with some of the above, it is probably the most important element to good leadership.

 

In Summary: Leadership style is the way in which a leader accomplishes his purposes.

Some (very stereotyped) possibilities:

 

Autocratic - totally in control, making all decisions himself

 

Managerial - concerned with the smooth operation, rather than the goals and effectiveness, of the organization

 

Democratic - consulting with others, encouraging equality within the organization, but making final decisions herself

 

Collaborative - sharing leadership, involving others in all major decisions, spreading ownership of the organization.  

Silence is Cowardice?

This old adage that silence is golden is very much exaggerated if you ask someone that relies on feedback to validate a position or thought or even a political stand on some moral issues that impact our communities or society in some form or another. This viewpoint was worthy of me giving it another thought and determine whether silence is indeed golden or a mark of cowardice in mankind. It is often perceived to be a sign of being “yellow” and given a negative overtone that can't be defended at times.

How to you remain silent when the danger is imminent and is needed to preserve life? How do you justify your silence if your words may mean the difference between right and wrong? It all comes down to your own conscience and your ability to control your tongue when it it time to speak or say nothing at all. Thinking the tongue is only capable of speaking evil often justifies not speaking at all since the tongue has been known to whispering rumors, gossip, backbiting, lying, slandering and other negative behaviors or actions that may cause a liability of personal responsibility to be invoked.

Thus it could be understood why silence can be golden. However, exploring the other side of it being cowardice, we find this action of remaining silent in the face of danger, challenges or struggles as a sign of weakness and unwillingness to speak out to defend one self or others. Under what conditions is it proper to speak out and be proclaimed courageous and brave under such circumstances.

Treading the grave issues and problems facing society and workplaces today, it has become most difficult to speak out for fear of reprisals or retaliations that are protected by rule of law in some cases but left unprotected in many more. One should not merely speak out and warn others of dangers or difficulties just because they are afraid or fear others may be hurt. It must be done because of the values between doing the right thing and the wrong things in such circumstances.

Additionally one must not be silence because they fear condemnation, rebuke of their words or errors in their delivery . Breaking the silence should be prompted because rather than remaining silent, they chose to warn others of dangers or difficulties by telling what they believe to be the truth or their role in this particular situation demanded it was their duty to speak out and not shun their role responsibility as well as the trust put into them by others around them. Yet when it all said and done, there are many today are remaining silent when circumstances and conditions demand that they speak up.

What other options are there? Well you can become apathetic to the problems, or a fence sitter or the compromising individual that discards their personal responsibilities and refuse to carry the load or accept the obligation to help, support or build up others and encourage change or other actions that are righteous in content but carry condemnation with actions by the opposition or others not in agreement with your values or direction. Hence it still might come down to whether speaking up or remaining silent is a characterization of cowardice and not of courage for such person lends strength to the forces of evil and by failing to oppose can be considered and counted as the enemy as well for all practical purposes.

Actively or passively, they support the opposition with their silence and help create the abyss that divides the right way from the wrong way of doing things based on human morality values and norms. Speaking out won't be popular but it will support those who have an honest and good heart; and who have the courage and dedication to faithfully express the truth.

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Firing Someone Powerful

It takes courage to take on a system and powerful personalities that are at the core of corrupted practices and wrongful decision making in a government agency. In some cases, it takes more than courage as it puts you in direct conflict with partisan or even bi-partisan political systems often beyond your own control and may leave you at the mercy of powerful forces that manage to have an internal interest in the decision to whether or not to fire someone powerful.

The risks are great both professionally and personally. You must be aware of all the specifics that include the fact you must trust everyone involved to be at their highest level of ethical conduct while dealing with truthful and open communication styles which may give you the confidence you need to achieve your goal if you make a strong separation statement that is based on objective facts. It must also include the reality that you are in control of your own actions you can live with and not have to worry about being sued or settle for less than your expected consequences.

At stake are detailing the facts so that it is clear this person has not done his or her job according to their lawful positions or moral obligations to the public and public entities it serves. It must take a well prepared and deliberate confidential process to gather the evidence or proof to establish the reasons for such a extreme decision to ask for someone's resignation or termination as the toughest part of this challenge is overcoming political power to fall short and rescind your actions and allow the individual to survive this challenge to take the job away.

 

It is never pretty when someone gets fired or submits a resignation under pressure. The main reason for doing such an act is to seek improved conditions and remove the barriers of growth or success that have hampered designed successful accomplishments of the mission statement and public expectation that those in office or power behave accordingly to rule of law and do not waste government resources in their mannerism to run a large agency or government entity according to the statutory laws in place and public servant’s rules of expectations. Removing such barriers enables the restoration of liability issues and prudence with it comes to future litigation efforts when plausible deniability is claimed by a party involved. 

 

Whoever undergoes such a difficult endeavor must first hold the individual responsible for all shortcomings and failures identified by the outline of the complaint and secondly, they must engage in behavior that allows a stronger influence to step in and support the firing of this individual for the good of many and the public in general.

It must be made clear that this termination, resignation or removal would resolve many problems and restore the agency's reputation, credibility, strategies and leadership to the benefit of all stakeholders involved and that this decision outweighs any other decision that can be made. Regardless who it is, you must ensure the firing of a chief executive officer or an agency leader is well-managed, dignified and confidential process limited the actual hearings to those with vested interest to approve such an action.

 

It is never pretty when someone gets fired or submits a rewth or success that have hampered designed successful accomplishments of the mission statement and public expectation that those in office or power behave accordingly to rule of law and do not waste government resources in their mannerism to run a large agency or government entity according to the statutory laws in place and public servant’s rules of expectations. Removing such barriers enables the restoration of liability issues and prudence with it comes to future litigation efforts when plausible deniability is claimed by a party involved. 

Whoever undergoes such a difficult endeavor must first hold the individual responsible for all shortcomings and failures identified by the outline of the complaint and secondly, they must engage in behavior that allows a stronger influence to step in and support the firing of this individual for the good of many and the public in general.

It must be made clear that this termination, resignation or removal would resolve many problems and restore the agency's reputation, credibility, strategies and leadership to the benefit of all stakeholders involved and that this decision outweighs any other decision that can be made. Regardless who it is, you must ensure the firing of a chief executive officer or an agency leader is well-managed, dignified and confidential process limited the actual hearings to those with vested interest to approve such an action.

 

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