Monday, January 27, 2014

The Legend

Sometimes if you hold to your values it isn't always popular. The one thing I learned is that 1/3 will do as they are told, 1/3 will do the right thing and the other 1/3 are up in the air. For better or worse, I know where I stand and so do the stakeholders.

Along my way, I held to my values and fought tooth and nail for a different approach. I find it odd that the so called elite are trying so desperately to reinvent themselves. I remind them of their roles in the debacle and keep them at a distance.

Among my peers, my stance became almost legendary. I stood up and held my ground when it wasn't cool. Now the winds have shifted towards the values I held. It wasn't that I was ahead of my time, but I stood up against people that made themselves bigger than the process. Numbers are great, but they must mean something. Generating numbers that are meaningless for self promotion is lower than prostitution in my book.
Yet the guilty still hold themselves up to be heroes long after I and others have had to fix their folly.

The techniques of working fast and efficiently date back to my days in the fashion industry. A logistics man must be decisive or find another trade. The answers need not be optimal, but effective and move on. The techniques in the clerical phase were indeed influenced by passing through sweatshops. The last phase combined psychology and Borscht Belt humor all into a blender.

Anyone can be a victim, but turning misfortune into something unique is novel.

My job was in many ways more fun when I was the cool rebel fighting the system. Now that I am very much a part of the system it is not as cool but being a mentor and a role model are new challenges. I remind the students that the story is greater than I am or ever could be. However, when working with losers, incompetents and jerks competence stands out. I also remind the students that there are many great examples here. They don't need to advertise like the old incompetent crew. They just do their job quietly day after day. Oddly the bullying of the old guard and the insane behavior only made my legend grow when the storm passed. Had I been left alone, my achievements would have been overlooked.

One of the things I remind my charges is to never brag. When you brag or feign expertise you literally set yourself up to fail. As I never tell anyone about my expertise and sing the praises of others any error I might make seems small. However, when the old guard makes multiple mistakes they have a long way to fall.

Also it is never acceptable to bully a peer. You should always have your hand out to lift your peers up. If their heart is not into it let the appropriate people deal with the issue. I was asked to train many and I could not reach a certain student. I pointed out my approach did not work perhaps their is another way. However, when a person is seldom there and shows no desire to learn this is beyond my ability. 90% of being great is being there and having the desire to improve. When neither is there it might be that the task is above my abilities despite multiple attempts.

6 comments:

Ducky's here said...

Captain Briggs: Don't you lecture me, you son of a bitch! Do you know who I am? Do you know my record?

Harry Callahan: Yeah... you're a legend in your own mind.
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beakerkin said...

Duncy

Actually, my situation was not so Different from one of the Dirty Harry Film. A moron member of management created a team of younger elite officers to generate numbers that meant nothing.

When I refused to join the group went my head. After a brawl the solitary experienced veteran prevailed. Those that counted on using the fake numbers as a career
boost found their actions a heavy burden. The manager who led this
ended up in a rubber room about
the experienced officer she tried to get fired.

Actually, the story is larger then I am. New management loves the narrative behind my numbers which
are real. They like the idea of same day service with a smile when possible, They also like no brawls
on the rare time I send someone for a interview.

Ducky's here said...

Wow, this just in on the Micheal Grimm (R - Staten Island) case:



A probe of Rep. Michael Grimm’s campaign finances has been impeded by a separate investigation into a rabbi tied to the Staten Island Republican.

Charges that Grimm encouraged illegal donations from followers of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto led to an FBI investigation of Grimm’s 2010 campaign.

Now an Israeli probe into charges the Orthodox rabbi bribed the head of an anticorruption unit is underway and Israeli news outlets reported Thursday the FBI has given Israeli investigators evidence from a tap of Pinto’s phone. But Israel’s refusal to share material the FBI wanted for the Grimm probe has soured relations between the investigators.

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Ducky's here said...

Among the allegations is that Grimm improperly sought assistance from a foreign national, by soliciting contributions in exchange for offering to use his official position to assist the person in getting a green card, according to the committee.
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Beak, you're an officer. You should have been out in front of this.

Ducky's here said...

Beak, when do you do a piece on the disgraceful judicial curtailment of Stop & Frisk?

NYC is going to be overrun by mugger if we reinstitute the 4th Amendment.

DiBlasio is already messing up big time. You were correct.

beakerkin said...

Duncy

Crime is already up. Too early to blame Cumwad Warren Wilhelm.

The Grim story pales by the Rangel, Obama and Mendez scandals. Underage hookers, IRS abuse and dead in Libya.