A Little Respect

When things slow down at work, I often search on topics of interest--one of them being leadership. As I have mentioned previously, I am always trying to determine how people become leaders within organizations. Is it because of their skills in this area, or more often, the who they know leadership track. I came across and interesting book called "The DNA of Leadership". I found an interview that the author did with Shrinkwrap radio that was very interesting.

The most interesting point for me was the fact that according to the book, only 50% of our genes are fixed, and 50% are encoded to be influenced by the environment. So, the environment we are in can influence how we act, behave and grow. It also stated that we remember how people make us feel much more than what they say.

The author came up with the acronym CHANGES
C--Community
H--Humanity
A--Aspiration
N--Navigating
G--Generativity (sp)
E--Expression
S--Spirit

Leaders need to realize that inclusion is a human need, and that when people are excluded, it can result in territoriality (my, I've got a bunch of big words in this thing). Another comment I found interesting was that gossip is something people do to help support each other and help them understand what is going on inside the company when they are being excluded.

So much of this made sense to me and hit home for stuff happening in my work environment. I've taken enough of the mandatory management classes--I know what my motivator is--I like to be in the know. I need the big picture view to help me understand the steps I need to take to get to that big picture. I often tell my bosses, so that they don't have to read my mind to figure it out.

I know I've said this a hundred times, but all I want is "a little respect", a dab of inclusion, some opportunities for growth, a chance to share my views and ideas, and a team that can come together, talk about the hard stuff, not get caught up in the petty stuff, not see everything as an attack on them personally.

Aren't we all in this together?

Humanity for all
Spirit be with you.

Nancy

9/11 Remembering

Ast he anniversary of 9/11/01 comes around, it amazes me that five years have passed. I remember so clearly that morning. I had been in a meeting and came back to my office to see everyone in turmoil. There was a small TV in one of the offices, used for media stuff, and they were all gathered around trying to get an idea of what was happening. We watched as our world as we knew it, safe, isolated from the rest of the world, end that day. We watched as word of the Pentegon came over the wires. We heard rumors of other buildings that had been bombed--and here we were sitting in a federal facility-next door to another large federal facility--not too comforting. There was no more working that day--we were all glued to the tube, or to our radios in our offices, or to CNN online. Soon after they sent all federal employees home--the traffic was a nightmare-but all I could think of was that I wanted to be at my home--as if somehow that made me more safe.

For days, I was sucked in to watching it all on TV. And, then I started internalizing it and kept waiting for the "other shoe to drop". Everytime I heard unusual jet noises, I wondered what now. I think remembering this is a good thing. Five years later, we are already angry with increased restrictions at the airports, etc. We need to remember--we need to stay vigelant--we are no longer safe.