Katherine Hammer: Senior Management Termination Hardliner

Black and White views on productivity, achievement and the big picture.

I would have been fired by now if I worked for her.

Click here or else!

More Old Jeffery Pfeffer: Business and the Spirit

Interesting and thought provoking business mincing. I like the style and suggested direction...

Click here NOW!

Jeffery Pfeffer: Why can't we get anything done?

An interesting older article on "Doing" and what organisations need to think about to create proactive human-centric organisations. Click here now.

The art of experience personified as...sarcasm.

There's no business like show business, but there are several businesses like accounting.
David Letterman

I have made the tough decisions, always with an eye toward the bottom line. Perhaps it's time America was run like a business.
Donald Trump

You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.
Brian Tracy

Sometimes, we just don't know enough about what we are trying to achieve.
Stuart Wilde

Don't bring your need to the marketplace, bring your skill. If you don't feel well, tell your doctor, but not the marketplace. If you need money, go to the bank, but not the marketplace.
Jim Rohn

If it doesn't matter who wins or loses, then why do they keep score?
Vince Lombardi

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
Abba Eban

It's always darkest before it turns absolutely pitch black.
Paul Newman

Depression n. - Anger without enthusiasm.
Anon

Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend, and inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
H.L. Mencken

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
Gandhi

Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell.
Anon

"To bathe a cat takes brute force, perseverance, courage of conviction and a cat. The last ingredient is usually hardest to come by."
Stephen Baker

"If cats could talk, they wouldn't."
Nan Porter

Urgency, merely a state of mind...

Greetings humans,

As you may be aware, I am in the process of applying for a new position in a great company. One focused on the future. As part of this process, I have deconstructed the job ad, answered every part in detail with support information, written a concise and professional letter and am now waiting for the final outcome...I think. Maybe it is waiting for a second interview?

I have prepared myself mentally and done my research.

And now, I wait.

Waiting is frustrating, yet necessary.

For myself the result is urgent, and I am eagerly waiting.

What is urgency, I ponder?

Urgency can make and break people, it can have little or no impact, it can push your stress to two packs a day. Even push you to performing naughty carnal acts with others to help you forget your day. Based on my experience, I would categorise urgency as follows:

1. 'Career Destroying' things



2. 'Urgent for me but of no interest to you' things, and 3. Other.

Explained as follows:

Career Destroying Things
Career destroying things can be described as viewing a very long wall. On top of the wall are all of the urgent things that you need to do...prioritise. Now, replace everything on the wall with yourself. And, in front of the wall, place many many people with rifles. The people with rifles are management executives, or your line supervisors. If you do not complete a task they start to shoot at you. Depending on how many tasks you have to complete, the chances of being 'shot down' are greater.

'Urgent for me but of no interest to you' Things
These are things that have no relevance to you as an individual. This is two sided and you can interchange the positioning of your superior with yourself. e.g. Urgent for me (Retail Manager) but of no interest to you (Chief Financial officer) or likewise, Urgent for me (Sales Person) and of no interest to you (Managing Director). These things are usually used as reasons (excuses) for non completion of tasks.

'Other'
These are all of the other things that do not fit in to the above.

As a point of interest, the following are all things that I have come across in my career:

Career Destroying Things
*Not controlling general costs
*Not controlling wages
*Not controlling staff
*Not controlling profit
*Not supporting management directives
*Not leading teams
*Going to the dentist to have an emergency tooth pulled that resulted in the General Manager having to come back the next day to see me!!??
*Not telling the manager they looked good in a new dress when they asked me
*Telling the truth
*Giving your opinion

'Urgent for me but of no interest to you' Things
*My roster
*His / Her roster
*My lunch / dinner time
*My need for a smoke
*My Pay
*His / Her pay
*My sporting obligations
*My dance classes
*My yoga classes
*My fascination with the colour pink
*My obsession with Shortland Street
*My divorce
*My broken car
*My broken bike
*My broken laptop
*Global changes in management thinking that prefer to see human resources recorded as an asset on the balance sheet because staff generate sales
*My lost earring somewhere on the floor
*My wedding planning

'Other'
*Lions
*Aliens
*Abduction
*Aliens and Abduction
*Panic attacks
*Being high
*Psychotic episodes caused by bright colours

As funny as some of these things may sound, at the end of the day it all comes down to timing.

Get me on a bad day, I'll take no interest in you and become a recluse at my desk in a cold cold dimly lit room. Get me on a good day, I'll tell you that you look fine, join your yoga class after taking a dancing class, fix your laptop at your wedding while dressed in pink and tell you about the time I was abducted by an alien lion who was stoned. OK, forget the pink.

It's all about timing.

Apparently I hear about the job on Thursday. Fingers crossed.