Fed up with the rude behavior you experience day in and day out? Is it aggressive driving, co-workers who don't wash their hands or smokers who use the sidewalk as their personal ashtrays?
What about the sales clerks who ignore you -- then act like they own the store when you finally get their attention?
It's time for a return to civility! To read more from Oprah.com, click HERE!
Would you like some great advice this week? Never,
under any circumst
ances, should you ever attempt to remove Poison Oak using a
weed eater.
3 weeks ago I got a little lazy when removing some weeds under my Leyland Cypress trees. I suspected there was some poison oak in there but it was hopelessly wrapped around my neighbor's fence. I figured the weed eater would make my job much easier.
Everything was fine for the first three days, but then I
found myself itching all over. It never got better. I tried all
sorts of over-the-counter remedies until I finally gave up and went to the
emergency room where I was given Benedryl and steroids. Believe it or not,
I'm still scratching 
as I'm writing this. Just 10 minutes of exposure has
produced 21 days of misery.
Fast forward to this past Wednesday. I was co-facilitating a workshop where we used a tool called a fishbowl to allow participants to talk about hurtful events in their past. It was a very powerful and emotional experience. The most amazing thing was that many of the events that caused years of trauma only lasted a few minutes, some of them just an offhanded comment that took seconds to speak.
It reminded me a little of that poison oak experience. Short exposure and lasting pain.
The lesson I learned is that whatever I may do and say to anyone could in fact affect them for a long time. A careless comment or hurtful word can cause a person harm in the moment and long after. It's a very scary thought.
Have you ever considered the power your words and actions have? Do you make comments in the heat of the moment and say things you later regret? If so, I'd suggest being extremely cautious when getting emotionally charged up. Something we say might feel great at the time, but the consequences can be significant. Who knows how many people we have unintentionally hurt that are holding anger against us right now? How many people have lost their dreams and goals because of what we may have said, even casually? Makes me really curious but in a sense, I really don't want to know.
What can we do now? I suggest going directly to anyone we can remember hurting and try to make amends. I know it sounds tough, but maybe we can salvage a bad situation. Secondly, we need to be really careful in what we say. It's kind of like squeezing all the toothpaste out of the tube...you'll never get it back in. Think about that the next time you're ready to unleash on someone.
Now, where did I put my Benedryl cream?
I don't know about you, but I'm a little (well, ok a LOT) tired of the endless stream of bad news regarding the economy, politics, food shortage, and the high price of gas. The stress hasn't gotten to me, but I'm sure it's affecting most people.
What to do?
I found this posting on a colleague's blog. Her name is Rita Watson and her blog is a pretty good one. I think you'll enjoy it.
Sure, you know that your mood is better after you’ve had a good laugh, but did you know that your health may improve, too? Depression is a major risk factor for heart disease and so it is good to both exercise and laugh.
A low tech solution to mild to moderate depression — aerobic exercise – can be as effective as psychotherapy. Both exercise and laughter help the heart. Futher, reports from a team at Loma Linda University in California, show that laughter prompts changes in the body that may help the immune and endocrine systems to function better.
Laughter increases the number and activity of cells that help us fight disease and decreases stress-related hormones.
The nice thing about laughter is that it’s contagious, according to Robert Provine, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland. When you hear other people laugh, you tend to laugh too. Provine suggests that laughter does something special to our brains to trigger the laugh sounds in us.
So for the sake of your health, exercise, laugh, and maintain a positive attitude.
Have a great week!
Diversity is all around us. Take a look at any major city. Where I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, there are 37 different languages spoken.
The benefits of diversity are touted by up and coming organizations. Different backgrounds give different and helpful new perspectives on old problems. Yet with all the talk, there are still a ton of problems.
This past week I spoke on a panel at the MBA Leadership Summit hosted by Pitney-Bowes in Stamford, Connecticut. The event, sponsored by the National Society of Hispanic MBAs and the National Black MBA Association addressed the generational and cultural evolution and how diversity played a part in it. I had the privilege to work the panel with Ken Roldan, author of Minority Rules and Jim Huerta, intellectual property expert from ResearchPAYS! Our audience had great questions regarding the role of leaders in bridging the gap both generational and culture differences. My overall reaction is that while progress is made, much work is left to be done.
Diversity, by my definition, means Difference. If you look at it that way, you'll realize it affects everyone. We're all different. Diversity isn't a race issue or an age issue or even a gender issue, it's a people issue. One concept may solve all the problems - Respect.
See we don't have to love our co-workers. We don't even have to like our co-workers. What we have to do, regardless of how we feel about them, is respect them. Respect means that we act professionally. We interact with people in a trustworthy manner. If we do this, we'll be worthy of trust and respect. So here are 3 steps that will get you started.
This week, take some time to reflect on your own perspective on diversity. Could it be the people around you might offer new solutions to your problems or a better perspective on your opinions? You'll never know unless you come out of your comfort zone and start up a dialog. You won't need to look very far - everyone around you with a functioning pulse is your diverse audience. Become an engager of people and you'll have a better chance of being successful in anything you do!
This morning I read an interesting article on the MSN Career page entitled Extreme Cube Makeover.
The article profiles author Kelley L. Moore and her book Cube Chic: Take Your Office Space From Drab to Fab. In this book, Moore gives tips and techniques to improve the drab, tweed-like fabric walls and humdrum surroundings of today's "cube" and turn it into the stuff of fashion.
While it seems a bit silly (and of course a piece of motivation for any aspiring author in that anyone can write a book about anything), it also makes an interesting point: little things can really energize a workforce.
Take a walk into any "cube farm" and you'll probably find an eclectic mix of styles and of personal touch. You can tell a lot about an individual by what they decorate their workspace with. Most of course have photos, but some will have plants, religious artifacts, collectables, and of course the odd stuffed animal. Some are meticulously arranged and some resemble my son's closet - a place for everything yet nothing in its place. On the other hand, I've done some consulting work in call centers and see the opposite. Some centers ban any personal touches in the little pie-shaped wedges of the pods. Others allow one personal item and one photograph. The environment is sterile, impersonal, and frankly, kind of boring. It's no wonder the turnover is high and job satisfaction low.
I'm not a big fan of cubes. I've never had to work in one, yet the idea of sharing space, air, and environment with multiple people during an eight-hour stretch doesn't appeal to me. I'm guessing most employees agree. But certainly having a personal touch helps. As managers, be sensitive to people's individual styles. Allow them to decorate their spaces the way they want them. Of course, good taste is always in order, but be flexible. People work better in an atmosphere that provides them comfort. A cube may be the only place they can express who they truly are - and a person who is allowed to work in that zone will be the absolute best they can be.
Allow some cube makeover in your organization and see how self-expression leads to self-esteem and how it translates into happy workers and high productivity!
This week I had the pleasure of meeting a colleague, Rochelle Crockett at an NVTI Training Session in Denver, Colorado. She told me about a poem she wrote some time ago and after hearing it, I knew each of you would enjoy it and appreciate it: What is color? Rochelle PetersonColor Me With Love
Is it the pigmentation of the skin,
or the color of your heart?
Which ever it is, passes on from generation to generation.
What note do you play?
Is it on a scale so high
that only those on the same wavelength can hear it?
Or is it on a scale that compliments those around us?
Which ever it is, passes on from generation to generation.
There's the color of ignorance.
This color weakens the soul and the spirit,
passes on from generation to generation.
There's the beat of knowledge.
This beat strengthens the soul and the spirit,
passes on from generation to generation.
Today, we are going to color together.
Today, we are going to sing the same tune together.
Today, let's pass it on, generation to generation.
Color makes no difference!
Color me, with love.
Copyright ©2005 Rochelle Peterson
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