A “Weiner” Trap?
If your workplace or Facebook page is anything like mine, you are undoubtedly seeing a lot of material on the exploits of the NY Congressman Anthony Weiner. Just in case you have been living in a cave for the past few days, he is in trouble for snapping pictures of his junk and sending the pictures to young women over Twitter. Apparently there are now also other photos of him that have surfaced and his level of ridicule is growing every day.
Don't fall into the "Weiner Trap"
Coincidentally, I read an article the other day about this very subject. No, not about smartphone pictures of underpants or anything like that. The article is titled "Why Leaders Lose Their Way". It's a relatively good read with some insight as to pitfalls that leaders face as they rise in the ranks and what causes them to fall into a "Weiner trap" so to speak. The article cites people who have seemingly reached a pinnacle of their career who have managed to have it all come crashing down around them.
The author makes some very good points that anyone in any sort of leadership capacity should pay attention to. It doesn't matter the size of the organization you lead because even if you have influence over one person you are a leader. Don't think that applies to you? "Lead" as defined in the dictionary states: to go before or with to show the way. This is a broad term that can be applied not only to business leaders but also teachers, clergy, doctors, lawyers, and yes, even government officials.
Some key takeaways I had with the article that I found worth sharing:
"Leaders who lose their way are not necessarily bad people; rather, they lose their moral bearings, often yielding to seductions in their paths. Very few people go into leadership roles to cheat or do evil, yet we all have the capacity for actions we deeply regret unless we stay grounded."
"When leaders focus on external gratification instead of inner satisfaction, they lose their grounding. Often they reject the honest critic who speaks truth to power. Instead, they surround themselves with sycophants who tell them what they want to hear. Over time, they are unable to engage in honest dialogue; others learn not to confront them with reality." (emphasis mine)
"Leaders can avoid these pitfalls by devoting themselves to personal development that cultivates their inner compass, or True North. This requires re-framing their leadership from being heroes to being servants of the people they lead." (emphasis mine)
So how do we keep ourselves grounded and focused on serving the people that we lead? Some thoughts:
- Prayer - Nothing can keep you grounded more than a regular walk with God and asking for his guidance.
- Mentors - Is there someone in your life that made you feel they were working for you as a leader? Seek their advice.
- Spouses - No one keeps me more grounded than Mrs. TxBubba. =)
- Balance between work and personal life - Read, exercise, watch TV, do something to take your mind off of work. It will help you keep a fresh perspective and reduce worry. Those that are not balanced here will eventually tip over one way or the other.
- The Newspaper Test - I love this one as it was part of the culture of a company I used to work for: If you have a decision to make that you are not completely comfortable with, maybe in a gray area of right and wrong, ask yourself (a) would you be comfortable reading about your decision in the newspaper tomorrow, and (b) what would your parents say after reading about your decision in the newspaper tomorrow.
I welcome your comments on how you keep grounded, and thanks for reading!
TS Allison’s 10 Year Anniversary
Many of my friends in Houston might recall that on this day 10 years ago in 2001, Tropical Storm Allison hit Houston. You normally read about named storms that are hurricanes but Allison was a unique storm in many ways. She formed early in the season, only a week into it. She started out in the southern Gulf of Mexico and never made it to hurricane strength. More importantly, however, is when she arrived on land she just stayed there for a few days.... didn't move. While stationary she dumped over 8 inches of rain in just a few days, inundating the city of Houston before she finally moved off to the east.
Tunnel System Flooded during Allison
There are a lot of stories in the real estate industry about the cleanup of that storm, especially for those downtown properties that were connected to the underground tunnel system. Buffalo Bayou flooded early on and sent bayou water through the downtown tunnels, flooding the basements of buildings which included building power plants and parking garages. One woman was killed when she stepped into an elevator that serviced an area of a flooded garage. The elevator went down underwater and she was unable to escape. Her body was recovered a few days later.
All in all Allison killed 50 people and left devastation in the amount of $5 billion. Just goes to show you cannot take any of these tropical systems lightly.
D-Day Remembered?
Today started like any other Monday for me. Up early, shower, shave, dressed, and off to work. It wasn't until late in the morning that I was reminded by a friend's Facebook post that today was the the anniversary of "D-Day". For those of you like me who can be historically challenged at times, D-Day was the day that the allied forces stormed the beach at Normandy, France, and began the liberation of Europe. This was the beginning of the end of the Nazi regime. 160,000 Allied Troops landed on the European continent that day and over 10,000 causalities. It forced Hitler to fight a war on two fronts, not just the eastern front against the Russians. Within one year of June 6, 1944, Hitler would commit suicide and Germany would fall.
General Eisenhower talks to a group of paratroopers before the invasion.
Here are some impressive facts about the invasion (from PBS.org)
An invading army had not crossed the unpredictable, dangerous English Channel since 1688 -- and once the massive force set out, there was no turning back. The 5000-vessel armada stretched as far as the eye could see, transporting over 150,000 men and nearly 30,000 vehicles across the channel to the French beaches. Six parachute regiments -- over 13,000 men -- were flown from nine British airfields in over 800 planes. More than 300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs over coastal Normandy immediately in advance of the invasion.
War planners had projected that 5,000 tons of gasoline would be needed daily for the first 20 days after the initial assault. In one planning scenario, 3,489 long tons of soap would be required for the first four months in France.
By nightfall on June 6, more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were dead or wounded, but more than 100,000 had made it ashore, securing French coastal villages. And within weeks, supplies were being unloaded at UTAH and OMAHA beachheads at the rate of over 20,000 tons per day.
Captured Germans were sent to American prisoner of war camps at the rate of 30,000 POWs per month from D-Day until Christmas 1944. Thirty-three detention facilities were in Texas alone.
I think an event like this at least deserves a cute little Google logo, don't you? After all, if they can do it for Issac Newton's birthday they certainly can do it for the 160,000 soldiers involved in D-Day, eh?
God bless our men and women in uniform, past and present, American and our Allies.
Update: Pool Heater
Update: The White Trash Pool Heater mentioned in the previous post seems to be working! The day after installation the pool water was at 70 degrees, and as of Sunday afternoon (1 week later) it had reached 76 degrees. Sure, not a huge jump, but if I get 6 degrees a week I will be a happy camper. I took a reader's advice and doubled the length of the black hose used for the heat transfer and that seems to have made quite a difference. With any luck, we'll be swimming again by next weekend. Redneck ingenuity at it's finest.
Thanks for checking in!
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Spamming with Stealth
One of the fun things about being a blogger is reading feedback about your work. Positive or negative, it gives a blogger a warm fuzzy inside that people are actually reading what your write and those readers are motivated enough to comment on your work.
Not very stealthy...
Alas, unfortunately, the spammers think that by commenting on your blog they will get published along with a link to their website. Because of this, I moderate all of the comments on my site before they are published. The spammers have figured this out and try to get their comments approved by making it seem legit. I save the really good ones and now I will share a few of them with you:
On my review of the book Decision Points by President Bush:
"An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you need to write extra on this matter, it won't be a taboo subject but usually persons are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers"
Never mind that his user name linked to an overseas pharmaceutical distributor where I could get some cheap Viagra.
This next message comes from a user named "Boris Splatt" and he was commenting on my article regarding my select baseball Dad observations:
"Hello! I just found your blog via Google. What a nice blog you have! I like it very much! since you have this fantastic blog, why not turn it into steady income? Thank you for supplying such priceless service to the entire internet community!"
Priceless service? Really? I can make money at this? How does your website regarding printer ink cartridge refills accomplish that?
This next comment was regarding my article on my engineering feats in pool heaters. The user's name is "bar supplies" and his email address was a link to a website that sold just that.
"What’s Taking place i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively helpful and it has aided me out loads. I'm hoping to give a contribution; assist other users like its aided me. Good job."
What's taking place is I am new to this too but I know spam when I see it. Good job.
And finally, this one had a link embedded to an overseas loan outfit.
"I took 1 st when I was 32 and it aided my family very much. However, I need the commercial loan over again."
How clever.
-Jeff