I recently wrote a piece about not compromising in matters of principle. It was yet another of my self-righteous sanctimonious pieces where I preach the virtues of knight-like behavior. My fellow Camelot fans will know this as “C’est Moi!” behavior.
My attention was recently drawn specifically to issues of honor. There was an incident which involved an issue of honor, or the lack thereof, which I’ve written up in a nebulous fashion to protect the innocent. I look forward to posting it someday in the nebulous future. For the moment I’d like to discuss honor in sports. That should be safe.
My running buddy, Dave, sent a video link to me of a “wrong ball” trick football play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkA3nxuMJoM
The quarterback and center called out to the opposing team that the wrong ball was on the field. In a casual fashion the center handed the ball to the quarterback who walked it over to the sideline where the coach was calling for him to bring it over. All the other players stood in place on the field looking bewildered. Before the quarterback reached the sideline he started running for the end zone and a touchdown.
It’s humorous at first viewing, but disturbing when I take a moment to think about it.
First off, this was a recreation league football game for kids. Is a win in a kid’s league football game that important to a coach? It’s sad to pull a cheap trick like this just to win a low stakes football game.
Secondly, these are lousy values to be teaching a bunch of impressionable young kids. The coach is teaching that it is okay to use any means necessary to win. Isn’t this “the end justifies the means” philosophy; Machiavellian ethics for elementary school?
Thirdly, the write-ups on the web say this is actually an illegal play. The offense cannot verbally mislead the defense in this fashion. It’s a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. I didn’t know about that, to quote Forrest Gump, but I say amen.
I see dishonorable behavior all too often in sports. The baseball catcher claims to have tagged the runner out after a close play at home plate, and the runner claims he was safe. In football the wide receiver claims defensive pass interference and the defensive back claims offensive pass interference. In basketball the players claim that the ball went out of bounds after touching the other guy; likewise in soccer. It seems like the athletes and the coaches are constantly working the referees so the next call that is made will go in their favor. In the “ball” sports you cannot compete unless you cheat and press the border lines as much as the other team. Holding, unsportsmanlike conduct, moving screens, interference, hand checks, fouls, penalties, and trick plays; I get tired of it all.
Why couldn’t the base runner in baseball admit the truth when he knows that he was tagged out? Why do the football players have to intentionally interfere when catching passes, or intentionally hold the other player when blocking? Why couldn’t the basketball player signal that the ball should go to the other team when he knows the ball went out on him? Surely their parents taught these athletes honesty at home, so why isn’t honesty and honor also ingrained in sports?
When I examine my bias for cross country, track, road races, wrestling, and swimming over the “ball” sports, I wonder if my bias is based on the fundamental honesty and purity of these sports. Cheating is rare, and fouls are even rarer. Fouls are incidental and unintentional. There are no tricks, trick plays, or working the officials. The primary element is pure athleticism in head to head competition. That’s what I love and respect.
Again, as Forrest Gump would say, that’s all I have to say about that.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Wussy Sprinters
I was reading an article in the paper this week about the latest greatest high school football player. He was quoted as saying that when he was younger he could simply out-sprint everyone. He was lamenting the fact that he now had to work at it. I think that cuts to the core of why I’ve always had a problem with sprinters.
Sprinters are born with the gift of speed. They were born with a high percentage of fast twitch muscles. They can run quickly over short distances. Most of our games and sports require speed, so the sprinters excel at sports from their earliest days in school. They don’t work at it. They don’t practice it. They are simply born with the gift of speed, and everyone admires them for it. I fail to understand why society admires sprinters for a gift they were born with and have not earned.
On the other hand distance runners are born with the gift of slow twitch muscles and slow heart rates. These are great talents to be born with, but society does not admire them much compared to the sprinter. The ability to run a long distance quickly is just as rare as the ability to run a short distance quickly, but requires much more training and discipline. Yet society admires the sprinter. The choice defies logic.
In my high school days the sprinters showed up for track practice where they stretched for a little bit, practiced a few starts out of the blocks, never ran for more than 60 yards at a time, and then headed for the showers. The distance guys would warm-up for a mile or more, run 8 x 400 yards with a 400 yard recovery jog between each repeat, and then warm down for a mile or more. Our workouts were at least 6 miles or more. The sprinters were usually home watching cartoons before the distance guys reached the showers.
Any wuss can run 100 meters; elementary school kids can do that. But, only the most highly trained athletes can run 10,000 meters. So who are the REAL athletes that are worthy of our admiration?
Sprinters are born with the gift of speed. They were born with a high percentage of fast twitch muscles. They can run quickly over short distances. Most of our games and sports require speed, so the sprinters excel at sports from their earliest days in school. They don’t work at it. They don’t practice it. They are simply born with the gift of speed, and everyone admires them for it. I fail to understand why society admires sprinters for a gift they were born with and have not earned.
On the other hand distance runners are born with the gift of slow twitch muscles and slow heart rates. These are great talents to be born with, but society does not admire them much compared to the sprinter. The ability to run a long distance quickly is just as rare as the ability to run a short distance quickly, but requires much more training and discipline. Yet society admires the sprinter. The choice defies logic.
In my high school days the sprinters showed up for track practice where they stretched for a little bit, practiced a few starts out of the blocks, never ran for more than 60 yards at a time, and then headed for the showers. The distance guys would warm-up for a mile or more, run 8 x 400 yards with a 400 yard recovery jog between each repeat, and then warm down for a mile or more. Our workouts were at least 6 miles or more. The sprinters were usually home watching cartoons before the distance guys reached the showers.
Any wuss can run 100 meters; elementary school kids can do that. But, only the most highly trained athletes can run 10,000 meters. So who are the REAL athletes that are worthy of our admiration?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Black and White
When my dad was in the hospital in 1984 being treated for brain cancer, and ultimately succumbing to that disease, I was able to spend a week with him at the hospital. The Olympics were on TV that week and we had a great time watching all the events between radiation treatments. Just weeks earlier Dad had been in pretty poor shape, but he seemed to be back to his old self during my visit.
We took walks up and down the hallway with his rolling IV pole in tow. He had brain cancer, but he “wanted to stay in shape”. I don’t know why that is funny to me now; maybe because I would want to do the exact same thing. I’d want to run and walk repeats up and down the hallway as best I could. My family doesn’t go quietly into the night. If we have to go, we will go kicking, screaming, and fighting every inch of the way.
Anyway, I am way off topic. The memorable moment from the hospital came when Dad had one of his rare vulnerable moments. He told me “Tom, I always saw things in black and white. People kept telling me that there was gray, but I couldn’t see it, and it got me into trouble. There is gray out there. You have to look for it.”
When your dad is in the hospital dying of cancer you tend to pay attention to what he is saying. I have never forgotten those words, but I continue to struggle with the message. I don’t know if I came to the viewpoint through nature, or nurture, or both, but I have the same affliction my dad spoke of when it comes to black and white. It’s the way I generally see the world, and I wonder if it’s really wrong.
I can see that there is gray in cooking, art, and yard work. I can see that there is gray in a host of things that do not involve principle. It is in matters of principle that I lock into my black and white uncompromising viewpoint. I don’t see gray when it comes to principles, and I wouldn’t encourage anyone to wander into gray when principle is involved. It may seem self-righteous, but when it comes to principles like honor, integrity, honesty, trust, compassion, friendship, loyalty, fairness, respect, and justice, I think black and white rigidity is called for.
I apologize for preaching to the choir. I can’t imagine an unprincipled person reading or having any interest in this blog. What I want to point out is the increasing numbers of people who are wandering into gray in matters of principle, and that we as a society tolerate it and condone it through our silence. Remember that evil flourishes when good men do nothing? Well, we are doing nothing, and major and minor evils flourish.
I see discourteous behavior in malls, restaurants, schools, and theaters. I see it on sidewalks and on the roads. I see rude and aggressive drivers every day on the way to and from work. I see it at work. I see it in sports. I see devious and outright dishonest marketing practices by businesses. I see unprincipled behavior by our banks and investment firms. I see unprincipled behavior by our politicians, our political parties, and by lobbyists. I see articles in the paper on Medicare fraud, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, and tax evasion. I see articles about every kind of crime imaginable. I see all of this as the “Me First, Screw You” mentality of society today and it makes me sad.
So what’s the point, and how do I wrap up this rant? Thomas Jefferson wrote, “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
Dad raised an interesting point, and I’ve pondered it for years. I think the Thomas Jefferson quote cuts to the essence of the issue. The trick is realizing which issues involve style, and which issues involve principle. It is black and white when it comes to principles. If I get into “trouble”, like Dad, over a matter of principle, so be it. I only hope I have the wisdom to recognize the difference between style and principle.
We took walks up and down the hallway with his rolling IV pole in tow. He had brain cancer, but he “wanted to stay in shape”. I don’t know why that is funny to me now; maybe because I would want to do the exact same thing. I’d want to run and walk repeats up and down the hallway as best I could. My family doesn’t go quietly into the night. If we have to go, we will go kicking, screaming, and fighting every inch of the way.
Anyway, I am way off topic. The memorable moment from the hospital came when Dad had one of his rare vulnerable moments. He told me “Tom, I always saw things in black and white. People kept telling me that there was gray, but I couldn’t see it, and it got me into trouble. There is gray out there. You have to look for it.”
When your dad is in the hospital dying of cancer you tend to pay attention to what he is saying. I have never forgotten those words, but I continue to struggle with the message. I don’t know if I came to the viewpoint through nature, or nurture, or both, but I have the same affliction my dad spoke of when it comes to black and white. It’s the way I generally see the world, and I wonder if it’s really wrong.
I can see that there is gray in cooking, art, and yard work. I can see that there is gray in a host of things that do not involve principle. It is in matters of principle that I lock into my black and white uncompromising viewpoint. I don’t see gray when it comes to principles, and I wouldn’t encourage anyone to wander into gray when principle is involved. It may seem self-righteous, but when it comes to principles like honor, integrity, honesty, trust, compassion, friendship, loyalty, fairness, respect, and justice, I think black and white rigidity is called for.
I apologize for preaching to the choir. I can’t imagine an unprincipled person reading or having any interest in this blog. What I want to point out is the increasing numbers of people who are wandering into gray in matters of principle, and that we as a society tolerate it and condone it through our silence. Remember that evil flourishes when good men do nothing? Well, we are doing nothing, and major and minor evils flourish.
I see discourteous behavior in malls, restaurants, schools, and theaters. I see it on sidewalks and on the roads. I see rude and aggressive drivers every day on the way to and from work. I see it at work. I see it in sports. I see devious and outright dishonest marketing practices by businesses. I see unprincipled behavior by our banks and investment firms. I see unprincipled behavior by our politicians, our political parties, and by lobbyists. I see articles in the paper on Medicare fraud, mortgage fraud, insurance fraud, and tax evasion. I see articles about every kind of crime imaginable. I see all of this as the “Me First, Screw You” mentality of society today and it makes me sad.
So what’s the point, and how do I wrap up this rant? Thomas Jefferson wrote, “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
Dad raised an interesting point, and I’ve pondered it for years. I think the Thomas Jefferson quote cuts to the essence of the issue. The trick is realizing which issues involve style, and which issues involve principle. It is black and white when it comes to principles. If I get into “trouble”, like Dad, over a matter of principle, so be it. I only hope I have the wisdom to recognize the difference between style and principle.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Great Place to Work
We had another “caravan” tour of staff from other offices through my workplace the other day. We’ve done four of these in the last two months and I love having the visitors here. As the “Grand Pooh-Bah”, my self-proclaimed title, I typically do a welcoming spiel and then my colleagues conduct a briefing on the function of the office and a tour of the workplace.
During my welcoming speech I say a few words about how I started in 1975 for $8,400 per year and now make TWICE that amount. It always gets a laugh. I point out that every place I’ve parked my car here in the last 34 years they have built a new building, and to watch out for where I park next.
My favorite part of the welcoming chat is talking about who we are, and who we want to be as an office. Though it is an extemporaneous chat from some bullet points, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to put some flesh on those Who We Are bullet points here –
The Chat
I want my office, and that obviously means the people in it, and that means especially me, to be a place of values and principled behavior. The Great Place to Work Institute has identified the essential values for a model workplace, and I have become a disciple of their model.
http://www.greatplacetowork.com/great/model.php
We try to live and breathe the Great Place to Work principles of Trust, Credibility, Respect, Fairness, Pride, and Camaraderie. I’d like to take a moment to talk about each of those principles, stealing liberally from the Great Place to Work website -
Credibility - We have to be competent and consistent. No Duh! Talk the talk, and walk the walk. I have a hard time getting too excited about this one. It seems rather basic and obvious; essential, but obvious.
Respect - We build respect through our care for individuals. For an office of 23 individuals we have a robust budget of $20K for staff development each year. I’ve made that a priority. We budget another $16K for professional conferences. We rotate the staff attending conferences each year. Every staff member attends at least one professional development seminar or conference each year.
We are an office of involvement and collaboration. Each functional area has a group meeting once a month with managers and technical staff to review business processes and collaborate on constructive maintenance of systems. The technical staff meet bi-weekly. We have a full staff meeting alternating weeks with a smaller staff meeting. At our staff meetings we share every permissible detail of the budget and the operation of the institution. We are as transparent as we can possibly be.
We communicate openly and fully. Without open communications we appear to be, and perhaps are, in fact, devious. Our numerous staff meetings insure that we communicate often and fully.
Fairness - In all of our personnel decisions we want to exercise equity, impartiality, and justice. We do play favorites when it comes to hiring and promoting smart people, who work hard, do good work, and have good ideas. But, that isn’t playing favorites; that’s justice.
Trust - If we build an environment of Credibility, Respect, and Fairness, the Great Place to Work Institute says that we will have also built an environment of Trust. The Institute says that “A great place to work ® is one in which you trust the people you work for, have pride in what you do, and enjoy the people you work with.” We want to be that place.
Pride - Each of these values supports the other, and the end result is we have pride in the job we do. We also have pride in each other as individuals, as a team, and have pride in our organization and institution.
Camaraderie - Finally, we want to have fun. Who wouldn’t have fun working with (not for) an organization that actively, not passively, believes in these values. My colleagues exhibit this by “winning” every party we attend. Just ask them. This is the most energetic and involved group of people I have ever worked with.
When I say the words “working with”, it isn’t an accidental phrase, neither is the word colleague. These people are NOT my employees, as if I had some slavish or despotic control over them. We are colleagues here. We are all working together towards the same goals. We may have different roles on the team, but we are working together as colleagues on the same team.
Getting back to the Great Place to Work values, I think that by talking about these values repeatedly over time, in staff meetings and elsewhere, by keeping them in the forefront of our consciousness, we find ourselves measuring ourselves, and what we do, by these values. By employing these values at every opportunity I think that even the most jaded and skeptical employee is engaged.
If I were to suggest, or do, something that is inconsistent with these values, I have my colleagues to hold me to these standards. I’ve asked my colleagues to take me to task if I ever start doing the convenient or the expedient. My daughter came home from West Point with a platitude about doing “the harder right rather than the easier wrong”, and I hope that phrase will bring me up short if I ever stray toward the dark side.
During my chat I take great pride and pleasure in reciting from memory the Boy Scout Law: A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Our visitors are visibly taken by surprise that I’ve memorized the Boy Scout Law. I recite it to my colleagues whenever the situation calls for it. I don’t think we can be reminded too often that we are trying to live up to the highest of standards.
We have a staff of 23 in our office. I am pleased to report that staff turnover has been light in recent years. The light turnover is an indication that my colleagues are relatively pleased with the pay, work, hours, benefits, facilities, and environment. Even so, given the amount of money we are investing in professional development and conferences, I would not be displeased if some of my colleagues left for “better” jobs.
I am from the sixties, and a bit of a hippy in spite of the short haircut. My generation grew up thinking globally and acting locally. Here is where I am at the moment, and Here is where I can make the world a better place. That may seem totally unrelated to what I am talking about, but here’s the deal -
I provide the best pay, work, hours, benefits, and facilities that I can to my colleagues. I provide professional development so that they can, should they wish, pursue another job. It is not up to me to decide whether this job, or that job, is better for one of my colleagues. It is their assessment that matters. I make that statement in my annual report to the organization:
When employees choose employment here, or leave for employment elsewhere, we celebrate these staff opportunities. Though we try to look out for the best interests of each employee, the employee is the better judge of what is best for them. The employee might have been looking for better pay, hours, duties, working conditions, or some other benefit. So when voluntary staff turnover occurs, we celebrate the occasion because it indicates that staff member has found a better job fit according to their wants and needs. If we truly want to make the world a better place, we are pleased to do it one employee at a time; be it in their coming, or in their going.
Well, that is the sum and substance of my spiel. It may seem long and sanctimonious, but that’s what happens when you believe deeply in what you are saying. I’ve gotten some compliments on my chat, and have had several folks ask if my office had any openings in the middle of the presentation. I think that is a huge compliment and proves that we are doing the right things.
During my welcoming speech I say a few words about how I started in 1975 for $8,400 per year and now make TWICE that amount. It always gets a laugh. I point out that every place I’ve parked my car here in the last 34 years they have built a new building, and to watch out for where I park next.
My favorite part of the welcoming chat is talking about who we are, and who we want to be as an office. Though it is an extemporaneous chat from some bullet points, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to put some flesh on those Who We Are bullet points here –
The Chat
I want my office, and that obviously means the people in it, and that means especially me, to be a place of values and principled behavior. The Great Place to Work Institute has identified the essential values for a model workplace, and I have become a disciple of their model.
http://www.greatplacetowork.com/great/model.php
We try to live and breathe the Great Place to Work principles of Trust, Credibility, Respect, Fairness, Pride, and Camaraderie. I’d like to take a moment to talk about each of those principles, stealing liberally from the Great Place to Work website -
Credibility - We have to be competent and consistent. No Duh! Talk the talk, and walk the walk. I have a hard time getting too excited about this one. It seems rather basic and obvious; essential, but obvious.
Respect - We build respect through our care for individuals. For an office of 23 individuals we have a robust budget of $20K for staff development each year. I’ve made that a priority. We budget another $16K for professional conferences. We rotate the staff attending conferences each year. Every staff member attends at least one professional development seminar or conference each year.
We are an office of involvement and collaboration. Each functional area has a group meeting once a month with managers and technical staff to review business processes and collaborate on constructive maintenance of systems. The technical staff meet bi-weekly. We have a full staff meeting alternating weeks with a smaller staff meeting. At our staff meetings we share every permissible detail of the budget and the operation of the institution. We are as transparent as we can possibly be.
We communicate openly and fully. Without open communications we appear to be, and perhaps are, in fact, devious. Our numerous staff meetings insure that we communicate often and fully.
Fairness - In all of our personnel decisions we want to exercise equity, impartiality, and justice. We do play favorites when it comes to hiring and promoting smart people, who work hard, do good work, and have good ideas. But, that isn’t playing favorites; that’s justice.
Trust - If we build an environment of Credibility, Respect, and Fairness, the Great Place to Work Institute says that we will have also built an environment of Trust. The Institute says that “A great place to work ® is one in which you trust the people you work for, have pride in what you do, and enjoy the people you work with.” We want to be that place.
Pride - Each of these values supports the other, and the end result is we have pride in the job we do. We also have pride in each other as individuals, as a team, and have pride in our organization and institution.
Camaraderie - Finally, we want to have fun. Who wouldn’t have fun working with (not for) an organization that actively, not passively, believes in these values. My colleagues exhibit this by “winning” every party we attend. Just ask them. This is the most energetic and involved group of people I have ever worked with.
When I say the words “working with”, it isn’t an accidental phrase, neither is the word colleague. These people are NOT my employees, as if I had some slavish or despotic control over them. We are colleagues here. We are all working together towards the same goals. We may have different roles on the team, but we are working together as colleagues on the same team.
Getting back to the Great Place to Work values, I think that by talking about these values repeatedly over time, in staff meetings and elsewhere, by keeping them in the forefront of our consciousness, we find ourselves measuring ourselves, and what we do, by these values. By employing these values at every opportunity I think that even the most jaded and skeptical employee is engaged.
If I were to suggest, or do, something that is inconsistent with these values, I have my colleagues to hold me to these standards. I’ve asked my colleagues to take me to task if I ever start doing the convenient or the expedient. My daughter came home from West Point with a platitude about doing “the harder right rather than the easier wrong”, and I hope that phrase will bring me up short if I ever stray toward the dark side.
During my chat I take great pride and pleasure in reciting from memory the Boy Scout Law: A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Our visitors are visibly taken by surprise that I’ve memorized the Boy Scout Law. I recite it to my colleagues whenever the situation calls for it. I don’t think we can be reminded too often that we are trying to live up to the highest of standards.
We have a staff of 23 in our office. I am pleased to report that staff turnover has been light in recent years. The light turnover is an indication that my colleagues are relatively pleased with the pay, work, hours, benefits, facilities, and environment. Even so, given the amount of money we are investing in professional development and conferences, I would not be displeased if some of my colleagues left for “better” jobs.
I am from the sixties, and a bit of a hippy in spite of the short haircut. My generation grew up thinking globally and acting locally. Here is where I am at the moment, and Here is where I can make the world a better place. That may seem totally unrelated to what I am talking about, but here’s the deal -
I provide the best pay, work, hours, benefits, and facilities that I can to my colleagues. I provide professional development so that they can, should they wish, pursue another job. It is not up to me to decide whether this job, or that job, is better for one of my colleagues. It is their assessment that matters. I make that statement in my annual report to the organization:
When employees choose employment here, or leave for employment elsewhere, we celebrate these staff opportunities. Though we try to look out for the best interests of each employee, the employee is the better judge of what is best for them. The employee might have been looking for better pay, hours, duties, working conditions, or some other benefit. So when voluntary staff turnover occurs, we celebrate the occasion because it indicates that staff member has found a better job fit according to their wants and needs. If we truly want to make the world a better place, we are pleased to do it one employee at a time; be it in their coming, or in their going.
Well, that is the sum and substance of my spiel. It may seem long and sanctimonious, but that’s what happens when you believe deeply in what you are saying. I’ve gotten some compliments on my chat, and have had several folks ask if my office had any openings in the middle of the presentation. I think that is a huge compliment and proves that we are doing the right things.
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