Whatever… My Policy on Comments.

Comments…  I got my first few yesterday.  So before I post them I want to explain my policies to everyone.

Positive Comments will always be accepted, and appreciated.

Comments with Ideas or Items for Discussion will always be accepted.  This is my main goal and reason for being here.

Comments with Differing Points of View will always be accepted.

Negative Comments will be accepted and posted, as long as the person posting them uses an email address containing their name.  Alternately, you can display your name at the bottom of the post as a signature.  Negative comments will NOT be posted if you are so cowardly that you hide behind a generic email address. 

My name, and my thoughts are here on display for all who are interested.  I will gladly discuss any of my views openly.  I’m not afraid of negative comments, are you? 

A Quick Thanks…

A quick thanks to Shane Surprenant from RightSoft.  Shane provided some much needed support for the Marine Corps Reserve Association by doing some database work for us.  Shane has a lot of things going on, and we appreciate him chipping in to help us as we start a round of fundraising. Shane’s a great guy, and very knowledgeable.  I have worked with him on a lot of different projects, and he has always done great work.  I would encourage anyone that needs some database or back-office support to contact him. He can be reached at (904) 807-7863.  Thanks Shane!

Where am I going, today?

How many times a day/week/year do you ask yourself that same question?  I know I've been asking myself that question for the past twenty-five years.  That doesn't mean I haven't done anything, or started anything, rather I believe it is the most accurate reflection of who I am.  I love new challenges.  When I say challenges, I mean things that I have never done before.  Almost every job I have ever had has been in an area where I have had little or no real experience.  I embraced each of those opportunities, which is what they were, with vigor and reckless abandon.  I eventually mastered each and every position, always working to move up to the next level.  I love to learn by doing, and by listening to people that know more than I do. 

I love meeting experts.  While I know that I will probably never know nearly as much as they do about their area of expertise, I pay attention, ask questions, and work to understand the basic principles of their passion.  I take this knowledge with me knowing, that at some point in time, a new idea will hit me.  All of the lessons I have learned, from all of the people I have ever known, help to form those ideas.  Great ideas come at the strangest of times.  It's good to be prepared!

I know the general direction of my travels.  They will mainly stay focused in technology and business development.  That's where my passion takes me.  I am passionate about using technology to transform a business, and then use that newly developed capability to jump to the next level.  I was fortunate enough to cut my teeth in technology in a time when it was truly becoming available to the masses.  I was around when AOL was just a startup.  I ran my own Bulletin Board.  I started a cyber-cafe when the internet was in it's infancy.  I remember using yahoo when it was just a page with some cool links, long before todays slick searching capabilities.  I became a network administrator more or less by default because I was the only person at my company that could hook computers up to a network.  I became an IT Director because no-one with the experience was flexible enough to work with the owner of the company.  I went into business development because that was natural to me.  I've done marketing and sales my whole life, even when my career thrust me into IT management.  To be a truly effective IT manager, you need to be a salesman.  The IT manager spends a lot of time identifying areas of need within an organization, and proposing solutions to enhance operational capabilities.  Every person within the department needs to be sold on your idea, and then you have to sell it again to upper management. 

Now that I have my own company, the question needs to be asked every day.  Am I doing the right thing?  Is this idea the one that will propel me to the top?  All I can do is stay true to my ideals, and pursue my dreams.  Opportunities present themselves every day, you need to be prepared to make the most of them.

A Little Culture From the Past

My grandfather recorded himself reading the following poem on an old reel to reel.  My mother played it for me when I was in 7th grade and had to memorize it in english class.  It’s words had a huge impact on me then, and over time, the meaning has become clearer to me.  Rudyard Kipling is in my top 10 list of people I would love to have met… Here’s his poem, If:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

–Rudyard Kipling

Inspiring, isn’t it?

Character, Is It In You?

Straight from Wikipedia… (I love the evolution of our old encyclopedias)

Moral character or character is an evaluation of a person's moral and mental qualities. Such an evaluation is subjective — one person may evaluate someone's character on the basis of their virtue, another may consider their fortitude, courage, loyalty, honesty, or piety.

Developing true character happens when we focus on character qualities such as: truthfulness, diligence, obedience, loyalty and courage. Each quality overlaps the other. For example, you cannot be truthful and dishonest at the same time. Some character qualities, such as punctuality, can be developed through practice. To practice will require one to have discipline, which is also a desirable character quality.

What is true character? Character is the cumulative effect of the most desirable character qualities found in a person. Heroes exhibit traits such as self sacrifice and bravery. Heroes are men and women of exemplary character.

Some people consider character to be a mental choice. To improve or build someone's character (by whatever yard-stick you use) you must address their intellect. Examples of this can be found in religious preaching, sermons, lectures, philosophy, debate, morality tales, fables, and various works of literature, treatises and tracts. Character can be taught through education; but the best teacher is the teacher's character.

Character is our Moral maturity and commitment to doing the right thing regardless of the personal cost. Character involves the will to respond to stimuli according to values and principles rather than to appetites, urges, whims, or impulses. We are not animals. Remember, leadership is character in action, and character development and leadership development are one. Leadership is doing the right thing. Character is doing the right thing.  End of excerpt…

Pretty simple, isn't it.  You either have it, or you don't.  You can't claim to have character, it shows. 

Here in the Jacksonville area, our public elementary schools run a program called "Character Counts" which tries to instill in our youngsters the importance of developing their own character, as they develop mentally.  I think that program should carry through to high school and college.  It should be mandatory in business school.  Sure, we teach ethics, but a lot of times, that ends up being a class on how to bend the truth.  Let's not just teach classes on ethics, lets try to instill character in our kids. 

If our business leaders had real "Character", we wouldn't have cases like Enron or WorldCom…  Leaders with character will develop character in their workers by the example they set.  Leaders without character will run an organization doomed to failure…

Honesty, Truly is a Lonely Word…

Honesty is one of the two pillars of integrity, the other pillar is character.  Each of these traits is vital to establishing a persons role in society.  Are they a leader, or a follower.  It is very difficult to be honest in today business climate, but it is critical to the overall success of an organization.

Honesty is not just telling the truth, it is supporting the truth under difficult circumstances.  Knowing the truth, and the willingness to disclose the truth, do not always go hand in hand.  Honesty is sometimes discarded in an effort to be “loyal”.  As my previous post mentions though, the leader that demands dishonesty from his workers as an act of loyalty, is not a leader.  That is the act of a tyrant.  The act of lying for such a leader is not loyalty, it is cowardice.  A leader should demand that those working for him adhere to a policy of honesty, and not fear to tell the truth.  What a better world this would be if all leaders subscribed to that theory.

How many times have you lied to protect your job, or to keep from admitting wrongdoing on your part?  Have you thought about the ripple effect that you just started?  Somewhere down the line, someone will have to shoulder the blame for your actions.  Do they deserve it?

I am not afraid of the truth, therefore I demand it from those I surround myself with.  They should not fear to tell the truth, to me, my customers, the general public, or their families.  If they have to lie to make my company look good, my company is not worth having, and I have failed as a leader.