rise in morning torn
desire improve, enjoy world
makes day hard to plan
If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy.
If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem.
But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world.
This makes it hard to plan the day.
E. B. White: Notes and Comment, interview with Israel Shenker, July 11, 1969; New York Times; quoted in E. B. White: A Biography, by Scott Elledge, p. 3
you call a meeting
no one shows up, probably
you’re not a leader
As quoted in the article, Back-to-Office Battles Underscore a Change in Workplace Authority by Stefan Stern (New York Times – May 11, 2023).
The article has the blurb: As workers push back on mandates, business leaders are wrestling with a new, post-pandemic identity.
As you might guess, the article deals with the all important topic of how to deal with an out of the office work force when you have an in-the-office leader mentality.
Most folks feel that work-from-home started with the recent pandemic in 2020.
I started managing a corporate website in 1995.
I started working from home in 1995.
Sure, I was in the office Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, but I was aware of the website 24×7, 365.
Still am.
The recent article however focuses on adjustments for management for today with the number of workers who still work but work from home full time or at least 2 or 3 days of the work week.
Much like the tree falling noiselessly in an empty forest, do workers working away from an empty office really work?
And if workers are working or aren’t working, how do leaders lead?
The article goes on to quote a Terri Kelly who had discussion with a Mr. Gary Hamel who is billed as a “management guru”.
Ms. Kelly was quoting an associate.
Being transparent here, I didn’t realize this got so complicated.
I mean here is my passage in question:
Ultimately, leadership authority is granted by willing followers. Terri Kelly, who led the textiles and high-tech firm WL Gore for 13 years, until 2018, put it best in a discussion with the management guru Gary Hamel in 2010: “One of my associates said, ‘If you call a meeting, and no one shows up, you’re probably not a leader, because no one is willing to follow you.’
Anyway, this associate of Ms. Kelly was quoted by Ms. Kelly in a discussion with Mr. Hamel as saying, “If you call a meeting, and no one shows up, you’re probably not a leader, because no one is willing to follow you.”
While this is all in reference to today’s post pandemic workplace, the quote is referenced back … to 2010.
Ultimately, leadership authority is granted by willing followers.
That seems to go back a lot further than 2010.
grown up in an age
permeated by noise of
24-hour news
Adapted from this passage:
You have grown up in an age permeated by the noise of a 24-hour news cycle, by needless political polarization, by devastating gun violence, by the isolating effects of “social” media. You have seen hard-won civil rights rolled back. You have come of age at a time of existential threat — to the planet, to democracy, to the arc of the moral universe itself — and none of it is your fault.
In the Guest Opinion Piece, Against Despair: An Open Letter to Graduates on May 15, 2023 written by Margaret Renkl.
Ms. Renkl is a contributing Opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South.
She, as is evident in the headline, writing to High School and College Graduates in the Spring of the year 2023.
All she says is true.
These graduates have … grown up in an age permeated …
by the noise of a 24-hour news cycle,
by needless political polarization,
by devastating gun violence,
by the isolating effects of “social” media.
You have seen hard-won civil rights rolled back.
You have come of age at a time of existential threat — to the planet, to democracy, to the arc of the moral universe itself …
… and none of it is their fault.
But, I have to ask, it is within their ability to realize … there was a time, there was a place when life WAS NOT permeated
by the noise of a 24-hour news cycle,
by needless political polarization,
by devastating gun violence,
by the isolating effects of “social” media.
My children never spend a minute imaging a world without a cell phone.
My grand children, digital natives as they are called, grew up in a world that I am fond of pointing out, never existed anywhere.
Never existed not even in the wildest dreams of worlds that Science fiction and non fiction writers ever imagined.
A world where we all carried some of the most power computers ever designed.
Computers that we carry so we can send pictures of ourselves in places that other people aren’t at.
Now they are a part of life.
They replaced what we now call land lines.
Are they missed?
Do these graduates miss these other things.
They are just as gone.
That they are gone is not the graduates fault.
Can it be their fault that they don’t know them well enough to miss them?
the smile on your face
lets me know … this IS the best
country in the world
Yes, I ripped off Alison Krauss and the lyrics to her song, The Smile on Your Face.
See, I was watching the NBC Nightly News last night and their report from the Texas/Mexico border.
The reporter was interviewing a family from Venezuela.
A young man with his wife and two little daughters.
A group you would see in Walmart or McDonalds or at the beach and never notice.
Just a family.
They had made across the border into the United States.
How they got to the border from Venezuela is left to the imagination but I bet the story with make any Indiana Jones type narrative seem pretty tame.
But they had made it across.
The family had made it through the border security.
The family had made it through US Immigration screening.
They had a court date to plead their case for asylum.
Their court date was for an appearance in Federal Court in New York City.
The father explained they had no where to live.
The father explained they had no way to get to New York City from the border.
The father explained they had no money left, what they had was spent getting to the border.
The reporter then asked, simply, “Was it worth it?”
The father smiled.
I don’t mean the half grin, half reluctant, somewhat questioning, shrug smile that said, boy oh boy I don’t know, if I had only known, but what they heck, here we are, kind of smile.
But a ‘Hey! I just won the lottery’ kind of smile.
But a “Hey! Michigan just beat Ohio State’ kind of smile.
From the heart.
Without hesitation.
No coaching.
Without thinking.
Without planning.
A smile on his face, that for me, let me know that throughout the rest of the world, this IS the best place on earth.
No matter what the politicians do to it.
No matter what the interest groups do to it.
No matter we what do to ourselves.
As Mr. Lincoln put it:
“… we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.
We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.
Other means may succeed; this could not fail.
The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just
… a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.“*
Read this out loud.
We assure freedom to the free.
The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just.
A way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.
I hope it made you think about the border.
It should make us proud.
It makes us all free.
That should be something to smile about.
*Concluding Remarks Annual Message to Congress — December 1, 1862 — Washington, D.C.
each one has a place,
in their heart there is a space
world cannot erase
Based on the lyrics written by Eddie Del Barrio, Maurice White and Verdine White for the song, Fantasy by the group,
Earth,
Wind,
and
Fire.
It was a nice start to the day to listen to this song as I crossed over the water to the island this morning.
Here are the complete lyrics.
Every man has a place, in his heart there’s a space
And the world can’t erase his fantasies
Take a ride in the sky, on our ship, Fantasy
All your dreams will come true, right away
Every man has a place, in his heart there’s a space
And the world can’t erase his fantasies
Take a ride in the sky, on our ship, Fantasy
All your dreams will come true, right away
And we will live together, until the twelfth of never
Our voices will ring forever, as one
Every thought is a dream, rushing by in a stream
Bringing life to our kingdom of doing
Take a ride in the sky, on our ship, Fantasy
All your dreams will come true, miles away
Our voices will ring together until the twelfth of never
We all, will live forever, as one
Come see victory, in the land called, “Fantasy”
Loving life, a new decree
Bring your mind to everlasting liberty
As one
Come to see, victory in a land called, “Fantasy”
Loving life, for you and me, to behold, to your soul is ecstasy
You will find, other kind, that has been in search for you
Many lives has brought you to
Recognize it’s your life, now in review
And as you stay for the play, fantasy, has in store for you
A glowing light will see you through
It’s your day, shining day, all your dreams come true
As you glide, in your stride with the wind, as you fly away
Give a smile, from your lips, and say
I am free, yes I’m free, now I’m on my way
Come to see victory
In a land called, “Fantasy”
Loving life for you and me
To behold, to your soul is ecstasy
You will find other kind
That has been in search of you
Many lives has brought you to
Recognize, it’s your life now in review
No Haiku For You 