Adaptable & Responsible

Adaptability creates more opportunities for life and business decisions. I doubt anyone can say that our decisions always had totally positive outcomes for ourselves and others effected. Still that's not a reason not to make those decisions. I'm talking about my actions, not my principles for which I maintain stubborn devotion with a willingness to listen to other opinions. To a great extent I'm results oriented.

I've always approached life's obstacles with a willingness to take personal responsibility and adapt to achieve results. All to many refuse to dismount a dieing horse. Even better is check the horse's condition before mounting. Adapting to the reality and practicality of life has served me well. Then we have the "Change" mantra and our government saviors. Where are their principles and common sense.

When we consider today's economic situation we can easily point fingers at deserving others. Some shouldn't forget their personal responsibility for poor financial judgement. When you assume a debt without proper planning who's the bigger fool the borrower or the lender? Does one act of stupidity justify another? Clearly Congress doesn't check the horse before mounting. A huge "stimulus" bill was passed so quickly that no one had an opportunity to read it or consider the consequences. Still the bill was passed. One must wonder if bill's are passed by Congress because of the bill's content or because of the earmarks each member of Congress is bribed with. Do they say, "I don't understand the bill but if you give me money to please my constituents and keep me in office I'll vote yes anyway?" Don't forget there were plenty of earmarks to go around. I don't consider throwing a huge pile against the wall without knowing what will stick adapting and solving the economic situation. When the tab is in the trillions, trust me isn't good enough -- I want show me.

FOIA abuse

We all know there are strong feelings on the subject of gay marriage. My personal beliefs on the subject aren't important to this post. Abuse of the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, for intolerance and harassment is. Eightmaps.com is a perfect example of that abuse. Those that donated to support CA Proposition 8 against gay marriage are being harassed and threatened in their homes. All because eightmaps.com used the FOIA to get donor information and Google Maps technology to identify them and their location for harassment or worse. I'm a veteran who cherishes liberty and freedom but I think this time freedom has run amok. In the intelligence community being cleared for information isn't enough. You had to demonstrate a need to know. It's time for us to consider if individual privacy shouldn't be a factor in releasing unclassified information under the FOIA. The common good would benefit from knowing the scope of support of an issue. I fail to see common good in releasing names, addresses and in this egregious case amount of donation. What an individual believes is a private issue that they can choose to share with others.

I've chosen to share my identity and opinions on some subjects openly on the Internet. These opinions are open for the reader to share. You may wonder what my opinion is on a subject I haven't shared -- that is your right to wonder. My right is privacy and that privacy shouldn't be lost because of your wonder or my choice to share that opinion with another. Sure the person I shared with may be a blabber mouth -- my bad for sharing with them. Without probable cause, as in search warrant, a person or group shouldn't be forced to evade my privacy. Wonder isn't probable cause for invasion of privacy nor is desire to harass.

Delegation & Leadership

The key to successful delegation is to focus on the end result utilizing a team approach that doesn't mandate how tasks are done. It starts with a clear picture of the desired result, a team built schedule to achieve it and an understanding of the business goals to be met. In some instances it's a team of two -- leader and contributor. Schedules should always consist of measurable elements and for longer team efforts group milestones. No schedule is perfect but can still be successful if slips are identified early so adjustments can be made. It's most important that the expectations for the result are managed. In a well thought out plan some tasks take longer and other are done faster allowing adjustments to meet the original delivery date. There are times when meeting a schedule can be accomplished by adjusting expectations while still creating a positive result that will meet the project goals. All projects should have milestones and agreed upon due dates.

Micromanagement is the ultimate no no. There may be many ways to accomplish some tasks but only a few are flat wrong. Any contributor will zero in on one of those ways based on experience and personal preference -- it works well for them. The big beginner obstacle in team leadership is not to impose the way that is your preference. With few exceptions any method that achieves the desired result should be accepted. Some global constraints need to be applied to all for a quality result in a team effort to insure for example, a consistent user interface. Agreement on these team project rules should be negotiated up front in the development process. Contributor buy in and task ownership yield the best results.

How does one become American

1. Be proud of and swear allegiance to American
2. Attitude that embraces equality with unity -- not superiority or inferiority
3. Embracing those things which are common -- knowledge, beliefs, profession, patriotism
4. Respecting America's laws, society and values while accepting the benefits of America
5. On occasion sharing our culture with an openness to others' cultures so that we may learn to embrace and celebrate our differences -- everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's day (green is the color of the day but there are no Irish flags)

How to fail

1. Disrespecting American law and sovereignty -- embracing groups focused on hate and anti-Americanism
2. Segregating one's self with language whether it be not learning English or adopting terminology that other races aren't allowed to use -- the N-word
3. Inventing or adopting culture to exaggerate and create differences -- gangsta' lifestyle
4. Demanding entitlements and preferences based on events that occurred long before either of us was alive -- defining one's self as victim -- abandoning personal responsibility
5. Demanding respect without giving it -- one is only respected after first respecting others

Freedom isn't mine -- it's ours

The prevalent self centered definition of freedom misses the value of freedom as the glue that unites us as a nation. Freedom is the ability to say and do as I please but, with the responsibility to consider the impact of my actions on others. The gimme gimme of entitlement is a divider perverted by the false mantra of victim hood as a substitute for personal responsibility. Gimme gimme isn't freedom -- it's greed.

An Expert is:

All to often in business, an expert is the person assigned and a guru is someone that did it once. I judge as professional someone that has:

• A confident positive attitude devoid of cockiness and arrogance.
• High ethical standards.
• Time to fully understand the clients needs.
• Regular communication and status reporting.

And perhaps most important of all will:

• Deliver a quality product on schedule and budget that meets or exceeds client's expectations.

Question for the day

Why doesn't Congress understand democracy isn't a government of, by and for the politicians?