1. Drinks with passionfruit
2. Baked potato chips
3. Car horns that beep instead of honk
4. Ed Hardy
5. Tapout Gear
6. Calling Frozen Yogurt “froyo”
7. Dome lids and whipped cream on your iced coffee
8. Scooters
9. Owning a small dog
10. VW Cabrio Convertible
For the record, I am currently a violator of #7 and #9. I sold my #8, and my daughter drives my #10 while I drive a corporate beige Ford Taurus.
What would you add to the list?
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1. Adding extraaaaa letterssss to twitter or facebook postinnnggggssssssss.
2. Emoticons between men. 
3. LOLing
4. Watching The Bachelor or The Bachelorette.
6. Leggings
7. Man bags
8. Giggling
9. Exercise outfits. Not exercise clothes, but coordinated outfits.
10. The St. Louis Rams
It would not be unmanly to add to the list in the comments.
You’ve heard it before: Underpromise and Overdeliver. The disappointing polar opposite is Overpromise and Underdeliver. Either side is a problem. In the underpromise scenario, you’re disappointed up front and may not even select that vendor because of the underpromise, but you’re satisfied when it’s done. In the overpromise scenario, you’re excited because of the great things coming, but bummed as the process drags and drags to an underwhelming finish.
Look back to some biblical wisdom in Matthew 5:37
“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
If you can do something and still maintain your current vision/values/project list, promise and deliver. If you can’t or won’t do it, save everyone the headache and offer your “no”.
1. They don’t trust you.
2. They don’t understand it.
3. They don’t have the resources.
4. They don’t have the training.
5. They don’t have the time.
6. They don’t value it as much as you do.
7. They don’t respect you.
8. They don’t believe your decision is the best option.
Can you eliminate the “don’ts” before you give the direction?
My daughter, Kayla, was accepted in to a discipleship training school (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Ensenada, Mexico and will start on September 26th, 2010. Kayla readily pours herself in to everything she does: from straight A’s in her first college semester, to being awarded Lifeguard of the Year at Loma Verde pool, to volunteering across multiple ministries at EastLake Church. I couldn’t be more proud as she continues by stepping out in faith to spread the gospel of Jesus by serving people in need.
I encourage you to click this link to check out her blog, where she talks about serving the Lord through this opportunity. As you read, please consider how you might partner with her efforts to spread the love of Jesus. If you are able to support her with a financial gift, she does have links on her site to Google Checkout. If you are unable to support her financially, take some time to pray for Kayla as she prepares for her discipleship training school. Pray for me, too. I’ll miss having my little girl at home.
I’ve heard it too many times: “My employees suck at their jobs.”
Before you make a decision to issue warnings and pink slips, it’s time to do a leadership gut check:
1. Have I made the standards and expectations clear? Define success. Specifically. Not just “wipe the table” but “clean the entire tabletop surface daily, the underside on Wednesdays and the table legs on Fridays. Use all-purpose cleaner and a clean towel, leaving no soil or debris. Complete this prior to 9PM. Each table should take about 2 minutes and there are 4 tables in this room.” Overkill? Maybe, but how else does the person ever learn your standards?
2. Have I provided training? Was there a period of showing the person how to do it, coaching them as they did it, and providing feedback or additional training after they’ve done it on their own?
3. Do I have all of the facts about the situation? It’s easy to react emotionally to a disappointing situation, but, gather facts before determining a response. Don’t waste your time following up on the wrong issue.
4. Have I been able to determine the root cause? It could actually be a failure of the leader to give proper direction. It could be that the leader hasn’t provided the right tools.
5. How clear is it that your team member is accountable to the defined result? Do they understand the consequences of not meeting the target? What’s in it for the team member to do the job right? What consequence is there for doing it wrong?
6. If my team member hasn’t achieved the target performance, what improvement objectives did we identify in the coaching session? How is the team member performing versus those?
Clearly defined standards, training, proper tools, coaching, and follow up are all critical to the immediate and long-term success of any team member. It often seems like the easiest choice in a performance situation is to terminate the employee and hire a new one to do a better job. Unless the infrastructure is in place to support great performance, the new guy doesn’t stand much of a chance either.
The video of Alejandro Rea being detained in a front headlock in front of a Forever 21 store in Hollywood is all over the internet and television. Most commenters viewing the video are outraged at the actions of the security personnel, calling it excessive force, assault, abuse of power, etc. Many are saying that the security guard is the criminal and that Rea should become rich from a subsequent lawsuit. If you haven’t seen it, click here.
What viewers don’t see is how it started. And that’s the trouble with evidence. It applies no context to what you see, it only displays basic facts. The video picks up with the security guard already detaining the suspect in a front headlock, so the reactionary viewer creates their own context, e.g. A muscled security guard is choking a smaller, deaf white guy to death.
What you don’t see is just as important as what you do see. The security guard may very well be using excessive force for the situation, but you don’t really know that, do you? You only get one perspective, which is already biased by timing and presentation. You don’t see whether or not there was some violent action by Rea prior to where the video picks up. You also don’t see the security guard dropping elbows or hammerfists on top of the decision to detain the guy in a front headlock.
Before you pass judgment on what you can see, you must also carefully weigh all of the evidence – including waiting for evidence that hasn’t been brought to light yet. Think about the Steven Slater case. Here’s a guy immediately lauded as a folk hero for telling a passenger to F*** off, deploying an emergency chute, and sliding to freedom with a couple of stolen beers. Working men and women across the nation cheered his outrageous actions. Now, we’re starting to hear from other passengers about Slater’s demeanor, actions, and attitude as the plane was being boarded in the first place.
So, did the guard act appropriately? It’s hard to know, based on the current evidence. I do know, however, that it’s wise to fully investigate it before I shower the case in biased judgment.
On Tuesday, Steven Slater had a dramatic departure from a Jet Blue plane at a JFK gate. Despite a warning from Slater to stay seated until the pilot turned off the seat belt sign, a passenger got up, removed luggage from an overhead bin, and cracked the flight attendant in the head. A heated discussion ensued and ended with Slater grabbing the PA mic and announcing:
“To the passenger who just called me a mother f***** f*** you. I’ve been in this business 28 years and I’ve had it.”
He then grabbed a couple of beers from the beverage cart, deployed the plane’s emergency slide and escaped via the slide. He was later arrested at his home.
For his actions, many are lauding Slater as a hero for doing what they’ve always wanted to do: tell an arrogant customer to f*** off.
This is America’s new hero?
The passenger in this case is the customer everyone loves to hate. This arrogant, self-important jackass that couldn’t follow directions got what she deserved, right? Not necessarily. What about enforcing airplane regulations? Report the incident, detain, arrest the passenger, interrogate, and perhaps even ban the passenger from flying Jet Blue. Those are all potential solutions. Make it uncomfortable, unpleasant, and inconvenient for the passenger to break the rules by holding her accountable for her actions. Instead, Slater lost his cool, cursed someone out, deployed an emergency slide in a non-emergency situation, and snagged a couple of beers in the process all while representing his employer. I’ll admit that I laughed when I first read the story. There’s a certain level of comedy that comes with outrageous action (click the link to check some out at Urlesque.com), but at the end of the laughter, there’s accountability and not heroism.
Save the hero title for people that deserve it. Save it for the police officers that make our streets safer. Save it for firefighters that risk their own lives to rescue your loved ones. Save it for the lifeguards that watch over your children and dive in at the first sign of danger. Save it for medical personnel that have gone through years of training to keep you healthy. Save it for the members of the military that follow orders to preserve our national security and freedom.
Steven Slater may have done what many annoyed and disgruntled workers have only fantasized about, but please don’t dilute and cheapen the title of hero by applying it to someone that chose not to control his emotions and instead made himself the center of attention.
Dear Foodservice Worker,
Thank you for what you do. You might think you’re doing a lowly task, slinging volumes of $1 McDoubles on the 1st of the month rush of welfare recipients, but you’re really doing so much more. Done in the right context and frame of mind, serving food to others is humbling, even noble work. Food is a basic need, and working to satisfy the basic needs of the masses is a great thing. Providing food in a safe, comfortable environment brings families and friends together and builds community. Again, thank you for being a part of that.
All that said, you also play a highly important role in ensuring the food safety of everyone that walks through your doors. Food can be hazardous and even lethal if not handled or prepared properly. With some of the products that you handle, you are literally being trusted with the health and safety of the person that ordered it, and that’s serious business. Without proper care, people can get very sick and even die from food – the very thing that it supposed to be life-sustaining.
Foodborne contaminants are all over the news. Just this week, nearly 1 million pounds of ground beef is being recalled due to a potential E. Coli O157 H:7 contamination. The ground beef may be contaminated, but handled properly and cooked to the proper temperature, the bacteria can be killed. Just ask the family of Michael Nole how important proper food manufacturing and proper cooking would have been back in 1993.
Many other incidents don’t even make it to the news. Just the other night, despite cautionary instructions, a local restaurant inexplicably allowed a rogue piece of shrimp into a shared dish of chicken and beef fajitas for my wife and I. Neither of us eat shrimp, her because of a serious allergy, me because it’s a gout trigger. I discovered the shrimp as I prepared my second fajita and my wife was just finishing her first. As soon as I showed it to her, she left the table immediately, spit out the bite and went to the car for Benedryl to fight the allergic reaction. Fortunately, because we reacted quickly, the cross-contamination only resulted in a swelling throat, tingling lips and tongue, and minor difficulties breathing. Had we not been prepared with available Benedryl or an EpiPen, it could have been a far more severe allergic reaction with a trip to the emergency room or worse.
Food allergies and other contaminants are much more serious than some might think, and the public counts on you to follow every procedure that your employer and health department put in place. We need you to take your role in public safety very seriously. Thank you for your help!
-Rick
Since I’ve received yet another male-generated evite, my work in the abolition of the evite among males is incomplete.
If you’re not familiar with evite, I’ll explain:
The purpose of the site is help you manage the details of an upcoming event like a purse party, pantyhose show, or some other remarkably effeminate get-together. Step 1: Select the invitation design, usually involving flowers or yarn in pastel colors. Step 2: Enter the details of the event such as time, place, and theme. Something like “Sex and the City Party! Dress up as your favorite character.” or “Wear Scrubs to Grey’s Anatomy night”, or “Break out your Team Edward or Team Jacob shirt! It’s time for a BreakingNewEclipseMoonDawn Allnighter!” Step 3: Select your guests and send the evite. It’s really that simple.
I thought it would go without saying that a man should never use this site. Apparently not. I’ve recently seen a couple of male-generated evites cross my inbox and no matter how much you reference sports, fighting, cigars, or poker, you simply can’t manify an evite. I’d like to take this moment to propose that the use of evite by banned by the creation of a new man law. From this point forward, male use of evite shall be on par with sharing an umbrella, sipping appletinis, or sending an emoticon [such as the 
smiley face] to another man.
These kinds of behaviors must be stopped before they get out of control. If male use of evite becomes acceptable, the next thing you know, guys will begin to share the same side of the table at a coffee shop or urinate sitting down.
