One of the career development websites says this about mentors:
What separates a mentor from the average network contact is long-term commitment and a deep-seated investment in your future.
Further along in the article it says:
…your relationship with a mentor likely involves long lunches and time spent in the mentor’s office.
Those statements are both true, based on the historic and contemporary views of mentorship. However, those statements also point out the potentially negative aspects of mentoring. They also bring into question the accuracy of statements made by many supervisors and managers that they are mentors to those who report to them at work. More likely they are providing mentoring behavior: Encouraging, advising, correcting, discussing, suggesting. Many are not even doing that much.
Mentes (Mentor) was a good friend of Odysseus (Ulysses) in Homer’s epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. Ironically, most of the good advice given to Ulysses’s son was given by Athena who took the form of Mentes. Nevertheless, the term mentor has long been used to mean an advisor or wise counsellor. InThe Odyssey, Telemachus (the son of Ulysses and Penelope) says to Athena/Mentor,
…you’ve been speaking as a friend,
thinking as a father would for his own son—
and what you’ve said I never will forget.
Do you really want to be a mentor? A busy professional person told me not long ago that over the last few years several people have asked him to be a mentor to them and he has said no…to their shocked surprise. He told me he would always be available for a short phone call or an emailed question, but he said: “What they wanted was a true mentor–someone who would invest time and energy in their careers. I don’t have enough time for my own work and frankly, I don’t want someone calling or visiting me just to talk or expecting me to meet with them regularly.”
You may feel the same way. Before you agree to be a mentor, find out the expectations of the mentee. Make sure you really care about his or her career as if he or she is a personally selected protege who you want to shepherd to success.
Are you really the mentor you say you are? Some might say it is only a semantic issue to question whether someone is actually mentoring others or not, but I think it is important to be correct about it. Time, energy and potential success would indicate a supervisor cannot truly mentor every employee. On the other hand, it would not be a good thing for a supervisor to spend large amounts of time mentoring one employee but not others. Instead, an effective supervisor will engage in mentoring behaviors with all employees.
In addition, mentoring behavior is more than cheer-leading, commending, answering questions or just being friendly or encouraging. Athena, as Mentor, told Telemachus, “You must not keep on acting like a child—you’re too old for that now…You are fine and strong, I see. You should be brave, so people born in future years will say good things of you.”
You may need to balance your supportive mentoring conversations with some tough caring:
- Honesty about how the employee is coming across to others.
- Correction when the employee has shown poor judgment.
- Guidance, when the employee is starting down the wrong path in behavior or performance.
- Questions and listening, when the employee is trying to decide.
- Specific advice on occasion, not just vague generalities.
- Openness and availability with few limitations.
The bottom line: As with many phrases we toss around without thinking, the term mentor is often misused and misunderstood. Make sure you know what you are talking about when you say you are a mentor or you will be a mentor. Maybe what you really want to do is just fulfill your role as a supervisor, team leader or coach–or be a valuable colleague, coworker or friend.
March 14th, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Personal and Professional Development, Supervision and Management |
3 comments
Pete Palmer is running for Sheriff of Chaffee County, Colorado.
What office are you seeking?
The other day I received a press release from Pete Palmer’s campaign, announcing his candidacy for Sheriff of Chaffee County, Colorado, a gorgeous county in central Colorado.
I’ve known Pete for about thirty years (oh my!) so I was happy to see him planning to use his tremendous knowledge and skills in that way. Instead of wishing him the best I will wish the citizens of Chaffee County the best: Pete Palmer!
Pete has a website that tells about him, his history as a police officer and commander, and his accomplishments in commanding and directing police training missions overseas. He was also the commander of the six hundred and five police officers with the U.N. Civilian Police in Kosovo. Check out his website and photos.
The website also provides an overview of what Pete Palmer promises to provide the citizens of Chaffee County:
Independence of Judgment and Action;
Transparency and Openness of Operations;
Professional Law Enforcement Management.
What do you promise to provide?
I often say that every day is an assessment center or that every day is a job interview. I could add to that, “every day is an election day.” The idea behind those thoughts is that we are continually building our reputations and relationships. Every day someone is observing us or interacting with us and forming opinions or making decisions. We do the same thing about others.
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Every day is a chance to show others how effective we are in in our work, school or family.
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Every day is a chance to show what kind of spouse, parent, friend or coworker we can be.
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Every day someone we know or someone new, interacts with us and forms new opinions or reinforces old ones.
What three reasons to vote for you would you list on your website? If you were to develop a website to showcase your strengths, what three strengths would you list? What three promises would you make? What three things would you say are the hallmarks of the kind of person you are and will be?
Think about that this week and consider how much differently you might do things if you were trying to get votes to keep your job, get that new assignment or promotion, be considered a good friend, be thought of as a loving spouse or parent, or be voted for Loving Contributor Around the House or Great Asset To The Workplace.
Pete Palmer approaches it in the way we should: He doesn’t just say what he has done; he shows how what he has done can be used effectively in the future. If he is elected, he’ll need to live up to those promises–just like we have to do in our work and in our relationships. What we have done is important, what we say we will do, is important too. However, what we are doing has the most impact on how we are viewed today.
Pete Palmer will be voted on for Sheriff of Chaffee County, Colorado in November, 2010.
You are being voted on for something today and every day.
February 20th, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Assessment Centers and Interviews, Personal and Professional Development |
5 comments
Three is a magic number. Well, at least, that’s what they said in the first video short in the Schoolhouse Rock series in the 1970s-1980s. (A cult classic kid’s show for many of that era.) The song on which the video was based was written by Bob Dorough, a jazz musician, at the request of advertising executive David McCall. Mr. McCall thought it and similar songs would be a good way to help youngsters (including his own son) learn multiplication tables and other educational concepts.
The song was given some artwork, animated, and used to help pitch the show to ABC, which produced it for twelve years. (I remember it at the time and wasn’t impressed with the song, because I thought the lines about three in a family didn’t fit with the rest of the song or with most of our society. Obviously my critique had no influence!) Here is the video and you can decide.
Three Items On Your Daily To-Do List
Three is not too many and not too few. Three things can be remembered easily. Three allows for two extremes and a middle ground. Almost anyone can develop three points for a speech or three ideas to present at a meeting. That may be why Lucy Jo Palladino, PhD, suggests writing three priority things to get accomplished as soon as possible every day.
Dr. Palladino says three is doable and won’t overload your to-do list or your mind. (That’s just a short version–her explanation is better, but that is the concept as I have applied it and it works well even with interruptions.) Her book Your Focus Zone is easy to read and gives you some ideas anyone can use right away to improve effectiveness. The subtitle is: An Effective New Plan To Defeat Distraction and Overload, and I think it can help with those issues for many of us.
It has several chapters about Attention Deficit Disorder in children and adults. I intended to only skim those chapters, but found them as interesting as the rest. Dr. Palladino, who works with those who have been assessed as having ADD, points out that the name of the disorder is misleading. It’s not that those with ADD give too little attention to the world around them–they are paying attention to an excessive number of things at once. (Many of us have a bit or a lot of that going on!)
Everyone I’ve met who has read the book has had positive things to say about it. One manager, who bought it for everyone on his staff and discussed it in a staff meeting, said it helped him get control over a few nagging tasks he had stalled on for months. He mentioned the concept of having a three item to-do list, which he said replaced his long-standing forty item to-do list and resulted in all of the forty items finally getting done.
While not every aspect of the book is easily applied to every reader, a good part of it is useful. I also didn’t care for calling the key concepts “key chains”. That way of describing them added nothing to the explanations and seemed to be more of a distracting gimmick than anything else. But, that was a quibble compared to my overall feeling that I could learn some helpful techniques, use them myself and share them.
If you find yourself going from one task to another, procrastinating on some things and never getting finished with others, consider reading this book and applying it to your work and home life. I found my copy of Your Focus Zone at a Big Lots store for only three dollars. You might want to check there before you pay full price for it elsewhere. Or, get it at a library (we need to support those more, if we want to keep them.)
Put it on your three item to-do list one day this week!
February 14th, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Life and Work, Personal and Professional Development |
6 comments
Dare to Dream,
Never Give Up,
Don’t Let Others Destroy Your Confidence-
Do You Really Believe Those Things?
One of the enduring positive philosophies of our culture–and of people who want to succeed–is to not be defeated by the sneers and taunts of others and to not consider an initial failure to be a permanent one. Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” He also said to never, never, never give up.
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We enjoy hearing about people in history who achieved success even though they were mocked, ridiculed or persecuted because of their dreams.
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We applaud those with the courage to envision a better future, a better life or a better way of doing things.
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We commend those who have the perserverence to keep trying when nay-sayers tell them they have failed and should give it up and get out of the way.
Unfortunately, all of our praise usually stops when the person trying to reach a goal or achieve a dream is an enemy, adversary or competitor. Sophocles said, in about 400 BC, “Isn’t it the sweetest mockery to mock our enemies?”
Has It Happened To You?
You may have tried to change things at work for the better, only to have several people purposely try to block your success. When things didn’t go as well as you had hoped, some of those people chortled behind your back or to your face and you had a difficult time keeping on. You found out quickly why almost everyone with a task to accomplish has had detractors who seemed to enjoy watching problems develop, just so they could laugh with their supporters and say, “I told you so.”
You probably found out that some people enjoy the failures of others more than they enjoy their own successes. More to the point–some people are most happy when they can mock, kick, laugh at and disparage someone else. That is when they are in their element. It’s always been that way. William Paley (1742-1805) said, “Who can defeat a sneer?” Charles Simmons, British lecturer and politician in the 1940s said, “Ridicule is the first and last argument of a fool.”
Do Unto Others……..
Have you ever wished some coworkers or employees you know would work harder at helping make things better than they do at tearing things down and blaming you for all of it? If you have worked around the barriers they placed to prevent you from being successful, you know how it feels and how it can stop forward motion, not only for you but for a group. That doesn’t mean their ideas are all wrong and yours are all right–but you get the sense that no matter what you tried to do they would knock it down.
Don’t do that to anyone else. Not even to those you dislike. Not even to those who you think really messed things up. Certainly not just because you want to seem better than them in comparison. That’s especially true if you had a chance to help make things work but you were too busy tripping them or refusing to lend support just because you couldn’t stand the thought of them succeeding.
Don’t support those who delight in mocking others. When someone’s communication primarily involves ranting, snickering, jeering and heckling, avoid them as though they have the Swine Flu. They probably have something worse–a mean spirit and a cold heart.
Be part of the solution. See if you can find it in your heart, mind and character to help–or at least to not to be a hindrance. If your help is rejected in a way that is demeaning, angry or unappreciative, focus on improving yourself and your area of responsibility and waiting until things change. Or, work in a positive, healing-not-hateful way to bring about change. If your ideas are appreciated and even a few are accepted, you may have forged a link that can help you, the other person and everyone else.
The bottom line: I am not suggesting that everyone who fails to achieve their goals is worthy of your sympathy or full-hearted support. Many times people fail because they are selfish, unskilled, lacking in knowledge or wanting achievement without effort. Sometimes they fail because they were approaching a problem the wrong way, weren’t prepared for contingencies, used poor judgment about the people they picked to get tasks done, or didn’t provide enough oversight. However, until you’ve thoroughly tidied up your own personality, knowledge, skills and effectiveness, don’t snipe at others, backstab them or show nastiness by high-fiving when they fall short of the positive things they were trying to accomplish.
Consider the advice you have probably given someone else: Don’t let others drag you down! Apply that to your actions–don’t drag someone down and don’t smile if you see it happening. Save your smiles for successes.
February 7th, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Life and Work, Personal and Professional Development |
11 comments
Take A Guest To Meetings
If you participate in committees, groups, clubs or activities or attend organizational meetings that are appropriate and not confidential, consider inviting an employee or coworker along now and then–there can be many benefits for both of you.
*Employees and coworkers can expand their views of the organization and your role in it.
*It gives you and the employee or coworker an opportunity to communicate about general issues as well as the issues involved in the meeting or committee.
*It allows the employee or coworker to meet people within and outside your organization and to build a network for his or her professional development.
*It allows you the chance to observe the employee or coworker in another setting, and to discover strengths or developmental needs you might not know otherwise. (And they can observe you, too!)
*It lets employees and coworkers see what you do when you’re out of the office. Nearly always they find out you are not spending the time just having fun!
Lookout For Pitfalls
1. Don’t play favorites. Try to rotate through the list of potentials unless there are events or meetings that would only be appropriate for one or a few people. You might be surprised at the topics in which an employee would be interested.
2. Use social graces at the meeting. Arrive early so you can introduce your guest. Especially introduce him or her to the chairman of the committee or to key participants. It makes everyone feel more valued. Provide the employee or coworker with handout copies and make sure he or she can follow the action (or inaction!) or the meeting.
3. Discuss the role of your guest ahead of time. That is especially important if he or she will be lower in rank or organizational status than others. If he or she will sit in an observer area while you must sit at a table, make that clear in a courteous way. If you want the employee to feel comfortable speaking up during discussions, let him or her know that as well.
If your guest is someone you supervise, do not have them take notes for you, get coffee for you or anything else that seems menial and not part of a professional role. (At a specific group of meetings I used to attend, the people who were there with the executives were referred to as “horse holders”. As in, “We’ll have a seat or two for any horse holders you bring.” I thought it sounded obnoxious and said so. No one else seemed to think anything of it, including the horse holders!
4. Don’t gripe and complain. You don’t have to lie or be insincere if you genuinely hate attending or if you have a deep conflict with another participant. However, if you feel that negative, maybe you should attend and suffer alone.
5. Be aware that your guest will be keenly aware of everything you say and do. You’ll be forced to be on your best behavior. (That’s another advantage to having them there!) Be an example of how a productive meeting participant should talk and act.
6. Use the time after the meeting. Take a few minutes afterwards to get a cup of coffee or have lunch, if time is available. Go somewhere inexpensive and pay for it–or not–but at least use the time to relax and get to know the employee or coworker better. Don’t use it as a time to gossip or for trying to get the employee on your side or impressing him or her with your accomplishments.
7. Follow up. Let the employee or coworker know meeting results or keep them informed about something in which they would be interested. Let them know that you might be available to attend a meeting they are attending sometime. It would be good for you to expand your thinking as well.
The bottom line: You can only gain positive influence if you show through your actions that you are credible, dependable and valuable to those with whom you work. You must also communicate effectively–preferably face to face. You can help to gain all of thsoe characteristics by including others when you attend meetings or gatherings, participate on committees, and take part in other activities related to work.
Look at your calendar for the next few months and find meetings and events to which you can invite an employee or coworker. While you are deciding who to ask, consider this thought by the writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
It contributes greatly towards a man’s moral and intellectual health, to be brought into habits of companionship with individuals unlike himself, who care little for his pursuits, and whose sphere and abilities he must go out of himself to appreciate.“
January 24th, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Personal and Professional Development, Service to Customers, Clients and Coworkers, Supervision and Management |
8 comments
In 1980 IBM started a project in Boca Raton, Florida, to develop a personal computer (a PC) that could be used by regular people in their homes. The story is complex, but you can read some interesting background about it here.
David Bradley was one of the engineers on the project, and–in spite of a tremendously accomplished career–is best known in some circles as the developer of the three fingered salute: Control, Alternate, Delete (or Control, Alt, Delete as we usually say it.) That combination of keys is a way to end a program or process that has frozen up on you or to look at what is going on in the contraption right now. I’ll bet you have been grateful for it a zillion times!
Now and then you may want to consider what you need to Ctrl-Alt-Del in your life. What has become frozen and no matter how long you sit and wait, you know it isn’t going anywhere? What is using up energy and overloading your mind unnecessarily? How many processes do you have going? Could some of them be halted to allow you to better focus on others? What about just taking a break for a few minutes?
The first thing you see when you hit Ctrl-Alt-Del on most computers (Vista has a different approach to it, but gets there eventually) is a list of applications–what you have open and active right now. You can also see processes–what is going on behind the scenes. The same concept applies to evaluating your life. Right now, list the things that are on your mind almost all the time, with few interruptions. Those are in addition to the immediate issues with which you are dealing at work or home. You probably have ten to twenty things that rarely leave your mind and don’t change no matter how much you think about them! Some of them are nice feeling, but most are probably either negative or at least worrisome. No wonder you stay mentally exhausted!
There are several ways to Ctrl-Alt-Del our lives:
1. Exercise physically. One great advantage of walking, running, lifting weights, or doing calisthenics, Pilates or Yoga, is that you almost inevitably rest your mind. Sure, you might think of work, family or what’s for dinner, but it’s different feeling. Have you noticed that you sometimes find solutions or think of something creative or new while you’re working out? You’ve shut down some other processes and unfrozen your brain a bit!
2. Sleep. No matter how messed up things seem as you get ready for bed or when you close your eyes for a nap, your sad or negative emotions will be reduced at least somewhat when you awaken. You may think of the problem or concern almost immediately, but your mind will be better able to deal with it. “Sleep on it” is good advice, not only to be creative but also to reboot mentally and emotionally.
3. Reduce mental processes. You cannot control every aspect of your active life–but you often can do something to make it more manageable. Sometimes getting rid of mental (and actual) clutter can help. Sometimes you may need to completely stop something that is taking away from the quality of your life. You may find you need to stop volunteering so quickly or packing your life full of activity that isn’t necessary or fulfilling. You may need to reduce time with someone who is dragging you down.
You may have found other positive things: A hobby, a pasttime that is fun, sports, music, art or something else that is a Crtl-Alt-Del process for you. We all need something to stop the negative processes and defragment our minds! But make sure the things you do are positive and worthwhile and that they don’t create more problems. Which, using the computer analogy would mean: When you need to get unfrozen, don’t try to do it by downloading more free screensavers just because they look pretty.
Today and for the next few days, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del occasionally and list the common themes of your recurring, unpleasant thoughts. Are there some you could eliminate by simply tackling a task you’ve been procrastinating about? Could you replace some repeatedly negative thoughts with some positive affirmations? Could you stop feeling guilty or badly or sadly, by purposely finding better things that require your concentration? Do your mind and your life a favor and end those negative programs so you can free your mind for something better. You deserve the break!
January 17th, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Life and Work, Personal and Professional Development, Training, Technology, Blogs, A/V etc. |
4 comments
In the pilot episode of Fringe, a Fox TV drama about an FBI agent drawn into situations involving strange phenomena, Walter Bishop (actor John Noble) says about being in a mental institution:
There are so many things you lose in a place like that. You lose being trusted.
Strange how important that is once it’s gone.
One of the most valuable commodities we have is the trust others give to us and the trust we find at work and within our families and network of friends. Consider this: Are there some people you interact with regularly but whom you don’t trust? What is it that causes you to feel that way?
*Have they ever failed to do what they promised?
*Have they ever lied or not told the entire truth?
*Have they tried to make themselves look good at someone else’s expense?
*Have they purposely created problems for you?
*Have they placed blame or taken credit unfairly?
*Are they generally undependable about doing high quality work–even though they may “mean well”?
*Have they said something to your face and you found out later they said something else behind your back?
*Have you trusted them, then they let you down or did something devious?
Those are all reasons for losing confidence in someone. It may be that some of their actions were unavoidable or you are mistaken about what they did or said. Make sure you have the facts before you take someone off your list of trusted people.
The next thing to do is to look once again at that list of things that can cause lack of trust. Do any of them describe you at some time in your work or life? Even if no one confronted you at the time, it may be that someone feels differently about you because of something you did a long time ago. Look for every opportunity to demonstrate that you are trustworthy now.
The final activity that will benefit you and others is to express trust in your words and actions. Give people reasons to believe in you and tell them how much you believe in them. Those aren’t just nice interactions at work, they are ways to reinforce the valuable aspects of being trustworthy and being trusted. You won’t fully appreciate the importance of it until it’s gone.
January 7th, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Personal and Professional Development |
4 comments
I’ve sometimes wondered if the person who is driving me crazy is only that way in a specific setting (the one I’m in at the time) or if he or she is always that way. Fortunately for my peace of mind, I don’t consider the idea that I might be annoying as well. Highly improbable!
My friend Jeff Adams wrote a post last month about annoying airplane travelers. I could relate to all of his descriptions–especially the passengers who hold up everyone else while stuffing their over-sized bags into the overhead bins. Then it’s slam, slam, SLAM, while they try to close the door.
My neighbor, Larry Homenick, has a list of annoyances he encounters at casinos. (I don’t go to those places, so I’m taking his word on these). They include the Button Pounder, the Slot Machine Expert, the Slot Machine Hog, the Over-Your-Shoulder Starer, and the Childishly Excited. (Oh my gosh. Oh my GOSH! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! I won two dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Last week I was checking out at an Office Max and the guy in front of me was so preoccupied talking on his cell phone, he couldn’t respond to anything the sales clerk was asking–the sales clerk was visibly annoyed and so were those of us standing and waiting. We all have stories like that nowadays. They are as common as the annoyances of having someone scrolling through email while you’re teaching or conversing; talking on the phone loudly, as though others want to hear or won’t notice, or forwarding silly emails or urban legends to you and fifty others.
There are traffic annoyances; personal habits that are annoying; repetitious words and phrases that were charming, witty or interesting the first thousand times the person said them, but aren’t anymore; inside jargon; annoying children, annoying sounds (whistling, humming, snorting, etc.) and a myriad of other things. (And saying we should overlook those things is annoying too. It’s always easier to tell someone to ignore an annoyance than it is to ignore the thing that annoys you.)
More ways to be annoying: In case you don’t have enough ways to be annoying, I’ll give you an excerpt from the list you may have already seen. I haven’t found out the correct attribution–the source listed by some sites hasn’t proven to be correct. Very annoying!
- Learn Morse Code and have conversations with friends in public consisting entirely of “Beeeeep, Bip, Bip, Beep, Bip, Beeeep…”
- Specify that your drive-through order is “to go.”
- Sniffle incessantly. (Note: Or cough, pick your noise, scratch your arm, neck or face, etc.)
- Insist on keeping your windshield wipers running in all weather conditions to keep them “tuned up.”
- Reply to everything someone says with, “That’s what YOU think.”
- Follow a few paces behind someone spraying everything they touch with Lysol.
- Finish all your sentences with the words, “in accordance with prophecy.”
- ONLY TYPE IN UPPERCASE.
- Repeat everything someone says, in the form of a question. (Note: That’s why “active listening” techniques can be annoying.)
- Demand that everyone address you as “Conquistador”. (Note: I knew a guy who wanted me to call him Tarzan, but it might not be the same concept.)
- Stand over someones shoulder mumbling as they read. (Note: That’s still not as bad as standing behind a stranger and watching while they play a slot machine.)
- Deliberately hum songs that will remain lodged in co-worker’s minds. (Note: Like Mike O’Neill and Art Hutchison used to do to Gary Gosage with “Sh-boom, sh-boom. Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, sh-boom, sh-boom…”)
I saw a sign the other day that undoubtedly is appropriate for all of us:
Sh-boom, sh-boom. Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta, sh-boom, sh-boom……
January 3rd, 2010
Posted by
TLR |
Challenging and Problematic People, Life and Work, Personal and Professional Development, Service to Customers, Clients and Coworkers |
18 comments
What Do You Predict For The Coming Year? Five Years? Decade?
Try this as an interesting activity for yourself and your friends and family: Give them paper and an envelope (fancy paper is fun but not necessary). Have them write predictions for themselves, others, the country, the world or anything else they want to predict about. You may want to limit the time allowed to develop predictions (that tends to keep it a bit more light-hearted and less somber work). Then, have them seal the envelopes for opening a year from now or longer.
For a real test of patience, suggest they give the envelopes to you to be returned five or even ten years from now. That might seem too long, but if you can manage to resist the temptation to open them early, you’ll enjoy them tremendously later–although they may create some melancholy as well. I know that for a fact.
Predictions made in 1971: In 1971, Detective Ed O’Dea, Detective Rand Hendrickson and I were talking about what we thought would happen in the future. Ed had a rather dismal view (he was a nice man but pessimistic about everything) and I said he would be wrong. So, we wrote our predictions for 2001 and I said I would keep the envelope. I honestly hadn’t expected to keep it. I think all of us thought of it as a joke for the moment.
Sadly, both Ed and Rand passed away long before 2001–Ed of a heart attack and Rand from a brain tumor. But I still kept the envelope and I didn’t open it until mid-January, 2001.
Ed’s predictions: These were based on his feelings about how the country was going to heck with all the Hippies taking over Denver and the rest of the country. ”By 2001 the United States will have gone the opposite of now and we will have a police state with lower crime rates, more prisons and more respect (fear) for authority. It will be bad for the country, but it’s because of what we’re allowing now. Also, I predict Steve Kern will be Chief of Police by 2001.”
(Steve Kern was a detective who worked with us. He became a Division Chief and was a fine man always, but he didn’t become the Chief.)
Rand’s predictions: “I’ll be retired by then so I won’t care what is happening on the DPD. I’ll retire as a Lieutenant and move to the mountains. I think the U.S. will still be fighting in Viet Nam until 1980, then have to leave without winning. I predict all cars will be electric by 2001.”
(Rand became a sergeant before he left the police department in the 1980s to work in another career.)
My predictions: “By 2001 I’ll be having fun somewhere, probably in Arizona. I’ll have a successful career here and make rank, then write about my experiences. Denver will double in population. Mike O’Neill will be the Chief of Police by 1990.”
(Mike O’Neill became a Division Chief and certainly would have been a great Chief of Police, but didn’t get to that spot. Denver is still in the 500K range in population. I’m not in Arizona, and although my life is satisfying, it’s not “fun” as I envisioned it then.)
Predictions for 2011 and beyond: I’m sorry to say none of our predictions were cosmic in significance–although that is partly because we literally jotted them down in a few seconds on a scrap of paper. Tomorrow I’m going to take the time to make some personal and non-personal predictions and put more thought into them than I did in 1971.
Give that a try for yourself–and get your family and friends involved. Each person can keep their own envelopes or someone else can be designated as the keeper. I’m glad Ed and Rand asked me to keep theirs because I enjoyed reading them!
So………….what do you predict for a year from now? Five years? Ten years? What do you predict for your family? What do you think a car will cost in 2020?
Predictions for 2041: To show you how optimistic I am—I’m going to predict for 30 years from now and am looking forward to opening the envelope then. Well, maybe with some help from my boyfriend at the time!
December 30th, 2009
Posted by
TLR |
Life and Work, Personal and Professional Development |
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If you have children or grandchildren or if you know or work with someone who does—let them know about HighlightsKids, a website that has puzzles, jokes and a lot more! I like Science in Action and the section on Giggles and Games (it has a “time travel” feature that is interesting.) The site is fun no matter what your age, so give it a look-see.
Also check on the regular Highlights website for things you can print. My favorite items are the hidden pictures or the find the differences pictures. Here is the link for the page with hidden pictures. Go to the print-friendly version for larger views. The site also has great ideas for kid parties (some of them are adaptable for fun parties for any age), as well as crafts and decorations. It can give you ideas for making a play area for your children or grandchildren that is as fun and interesting as a library, bookstore or schoolroom.
What does Highlights have to do with professional and personal development? Remember Goofus and Gallant? They started as elves, in 1951 and have changed their appearances over the years, but the concept has stayed the same: Goofus complains, is rude, self-centered and unappreciative. Gallant is courteous, makes a sincere effort to get along with others, and is a pleasure to have around. In your workplace who is a Goofus (or Goofette) and who is Gallant? Does your training, corrective action, mentoring and evaluations correctly reflect the differences in those employees?
Which one are you–consistently, dependably and definitely? Now and then critique your actions or conversations and decide how the situation would have been portrayed by Goofus and Gallant, in Highlights. Fun with a purpose!
December 21st, 2009
Posted by
TLR |
Personal and Professional Development |
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