Six Thinking Hats

This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book "6 Thinking Hats".
Adapted from Mind Tools

If you look at a problem using the Six Thinking Hats technique, then you'll use all of these approaches to develop your best solution. Your decisions and plans will mix ambition, skill in execution, sensitivity, creativity and good contingency planning.

This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book "6 Thinking Hats".

How to Use the Tool:

To use Six Thinking Hats to improve the quality of your decision-making, look at the decision "wearing" each of the thinking hats in turn.

Each "Thinking Hat" is a different style of thinking. These are explained below:

• White Hat:
  With this thinking hat, you focus on the data available. Look at the information you have, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and either try to fill them or take account of them.
  
  This is where you analyze past trends, and try to extrapolate from historical data.

• Red Hat:
  Wearing the red hat, you look at the decision using intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also try to think how other people will react emotionally, and try to understand the intuitive responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.

• Black Hat:
  When using black hat thinking, look at things pessimistically, cautiously and defensively. Try to see why ideas and approaches might not work. This is important because it highlights the weak points in a plan or course of action. It allows you to eliminate them, alter your approach, or prepare contingency plans to counter problems that arise.

  Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans tougher and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. Black Hat thinking is one of the real benefits of this technique, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that often they cannot see problems in advance, leaving them under-prepared for difficulties.

• Yellow Hat:
  The yellow hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it, and spot the opportunities that arise from it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.

• Green Hat:
  The Green Hat stands for creativity. This is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. A whole range of creativity tools can help you here.

• Blue Hat:
  The Blue Hat stands for process control. This is the hat worn by people chairing meetings. When running into difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking, and so on.

You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. In meetings it has the benefit of defusing the disagreements that can happen when people with different thinking styles discuss the same problem.

Five Questions Every Search Committee Should Ask—Of Itself

1. How do we define success?

   It's hard to overstate the importance of defining success. To paraphrase a character in Alice in Wonderland, "If you don't know where you're going, any path will get you there."

   To define success, you don't need an exhaustive, up-to-the-minute strategic plan (although that may be an idea worth exploring), but you do need a collective expression of the board's aspirations for the organization. At a minimum, as the surrogate for the full board, the search committee should be able to coalesce around preliminary answers to the big questions affecting an organization's future.

   Caution: Up to a point, the more specific the answers the better, but too much specificity could impose unwelcome limits on the CEO you're about to recruit. Think big hairy audacious goals and the guideposts against which to measure progress, but avoid setting out turn-by-turn directions.

2. What worries us the most?

   Even the best-run organizations with highly regarded leaders have issues that are worrisome. A clear understanding of shared concerns at the board level can prove enormously useful in discussions with potential CEOs.

   The concerns usually reflect issues of culture and competence, and the pendulum is always swinging between the two. Clarity around the board's biggest worries will help CEO candidates understand the board's priorities. Similarly, the lack of any real worries might signify a well-oiled machine—or a board in denial.

   The corollary, of course, is "What worries us the least?" Typically, the answers reflect the core strengths of an organization. Perhaps surprisingly, these assets can also represent a bit of a minefield for new CEOs. At least some of the values, competencies, and cultural norms that insiders tend to take for granted (because they are so ingrained) will be new to the outsider, if only because of the new context. By articulating values and norms that truly matter, the search committee will help ensure a strong cultural fit between the organization and its new CEO.

3. How much change can we stand?

   In nonprofits with more than a few minutes of operating history, there will be some vocal champions who want to freeze the status quo and some who want to change everything.

   Every new CEO faces the challenge of honoring the organization's past while securing its future. Within this balance of heritage and hope lie enormous challenge, risk, and reward for the board and the next leader. Which aspects of the organization (and its culture) do we want to preserve, and which aspects do we know should be amended? How big, really, is our appetite for change?

4. How can our new CEO add the most value?

   An organization with any momentum at all can project future results from current operations, perform a basic gap analysis to understand what is needed to get from here to there, and then recruit to fill the predicted gap.

   By asking "How can our new CEO add the most value," however, the committee substitutes "What's likely?" with "What's possible?" Given the assets and issues you know about and the results to be expected under normally competent leadership, what are the possibilities under abnormally competent leadership?

   The real added value may have little to do with vision and everything to do with execution. The trick is to determine for your organization the best combination consistent with your mission and values.

5. How can we ensure the new CEO's success?

   In most cases, the search committee's members will become the new CEO's most logical champions. More than most other board members, they will be the new CEO's natural allies, sounding boards, and mentors. At the outset of the process, every committee member should examine ways in which she or he could be most supportive of the future CEO.

   As the search develops a consensus candidate for recommendation to the full board, some alignments will evolve naturally. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage committee members to plan their supporting roles, especially through the critical early months of CEO transition.

   Some boards we work with have had great success in establishing board-level transition teams specifically charged with developing the framework, methodology, and tactics for passing the torch from incumbent to successor. Others choose a less formal approach but still designate a go-to person to support the new CEO's journey to early success. The chair/CEO role is always critical, of course, but what we suggest is a confidant of a different sort.

   The needs will differ depending on the circumstances. CEOs new to a community or to a given cause will profit from help negotiating the twists and turns of the new environment. Managers new to the CEO role itself will profit from a link to peers outside the organization who have made a similar change.

Kim Anderson, Kathy Bremer, Margaret Reiser, and Sam Pettway
© 2008, BoardWalk Consulting. Adapted with permission.

Five Questions Every Search Committee Should Ask of Its Candidates

Adapted from smorgasBoard

A quick scan of the Internet yields literally millions of Web sites promoting suggested interview questions; we've seen lists as long as 800 "must" questions to ask. During our discussions with candidates over the years, however, we have found there are just a handful of questions that really matter.

All of us know of people who were hired for their competence only to be fired for their chemistry. In fact, very few senior executives fail because they cannot do the job; rather, they fail because they cannot do the job here. Context is key—which is why we emphasize it in our questioning. The point is not "What makes you such a good leader?" but rather "What makes you such a good leader for us?"

The Five Questions Every Search Committee Should Ask of Its Candidates

1. Why are you here?

   It is absolutely fair to ask candidates what brings them to the interview, what compels their interest, why this opportunity and not that one has sparked their imagination. In so doing, you will learn a bit about motivation, shared values, and preparation, and you will establish (or reinforce) both the premise and the promise of the discussions you are about to have.
   
   A question as simple as "Why are you here?" will contribute to your understanding of a candidate's self-awareness, self-confidence, and inquisitiveness. Not coincidentally, it will also provide real-time evidence of a candidate's ability to address big issues succinctly.
   

2. How will you make us proud(er)?

   When Shirley Franklin ran for Mayor of Atlanta in 2001, she captured her city's heart with a compelling slogan: "You make me Mayor, and I'll make you proud."
   
   To be sure, Atlanta had hit a low point in city governance before the 2001 elections—Mayor Franklin's predecessor is now in federal prison—but the concept has broad applicability to most CEO searches.
   
   This question does several things. It allows candidates to relate their strengths to the needs and goals they project on the organization, it promotes a discussion of core values, and it forces a focus on the longer-term issues of legacy, both the candidate's and the organization's.
   
   Equally important, this question can prompt a discussion of process—the ways in which your prospective CEO will deliver the reputation, the relationships, and the performance you seek.
   

3. What will surprise us most about your leadership here?

   As we remind clients all the time, there are no perfect candidates. (Corollary: There are no perfect positions, either!) That is, every candidate under consideration represents some trade-off against an ideal.
   
   The trick is to understand the risks inherent in the trade-offs represented by a specific candidate. In our experience, the best candidates have a genuine appreciation for the risks at hand, and they are just as interested as you are in finding ways to mitigate those risks.
   
   The "surprises" question speaks to strengths and weaknesses, but it turns the conversation a slightly different way. You offer the candidate a way to bring up matters not addressed elsewhere in the conversation, and you encourage the candidate to personalize the response (rote answers won't work here).
   
   The insights gleaned can be both comforting and challenging. Inevitably, you will learn something that makes each candidate distinctive.
   

4. What questions do you have?

   We are firmly convinced that you can learn every bit as much from candidates' questions as you will from their answers. Usually, candidates will weave their questions into the fabric of the discussion, but we still suggest you create a specific opening for questions about halfway through.
   
   Candidates who respond with probing, thoughtful, nuanced questions are likely to exhibit these same qualities in their leadership; candidates whose questions are dull, rote, irrelevant, or untimely may exhibit similar characteristics on the job. Through their questions, we have found, candidates demonstrate how they prepare, how they listen, and what they hold dear in subtle ways. We have seen interviews (and candidacies!) end prematurely because of the lack of good questions, and we have seen interest soar in response to prospects whose questions were especially provocative or illuminating.
   
   Don't wait until the end of the interview to invite a candidate's questions. Not only might you miss the opportunity to speak to issues important to your prospect but you will also miss the opportunity to phrase subsequent questions in ways that build on a candidate's concerns. Remember, you are recruiting a senior executive, not just screening applicants.
   

5. What makes you interesting?

   When you hire a CEO, you get the whole person. An interesting, stimulating CEO with broad appeal and a balanced life will make a fundamentally more captivating colleague for you and the organization than will candidates for whom work is their sole outlet.
   
   In a recent set of interviews, the CEO search committee for an association we were working with stumbled onto the fact that the candidate they were speaking with had flown in the night before and spent the evening at a baseball game. Baseball and coaching, it turns out, were among this candidate's core passions outside of his work.
   
   The ensuing discussion about hobbies and diversions said volumes about the way in which the candidate made his leadership manifest. Time is every leader's scarcest commodity; pay attention to how your candidates use it. (P.S. The baseball-loving candidate started as CEO on August 1.)

Finding Out What Makes a Candidate Interesting

We don't favor questions that are convoluted, cute, or contrived. ("If you were an animal/a color/a car, which one would you be?") Rather, we like straightforward inquiries, such as:

• "What do you do for fun?"
• "How did you spend your last three Saturdays?"
• "What magazines do you read?"

All of these are variations on a more fundamental question that you probably won't ask but likely is on everyone's mind: "Will we enjoy our time with you?"

Sam Pettway, BoardWalk Consulting
©2008, BoardWalk Consulting. Adapted with permission.

Five Questions Every Candidate Should Ask

Adapted from smorgasBoard

If you find yourself in front of a search committee, what are the key questions you want to be sure to raise?

Our suggested questions assume that you have done your homework. You have scoured the nonprofit's Web site, you have digested the 990, you have read a solid sample of their published materials (annual reports, solicitation letters, program reviews, and the like). You know the backgrounds, bios, and interconnections of the search committee members, and you've studied key stakeholders, constituencies, and competitors.

There are several questions, however, that should be of special interest to candidates. Here are our top five.

The Five Questions Every Candidate Should Ask

1. What do you like best about the incumbent?
This first question may feel like a softball, but it offers a nonthreatening way for you to steer the conversation into what might be delicate territory.

There are several reasons to ask about your potential predecessor. You will learn a good deal about the culture and values the organization holds dear. You will develop a picture of the deficiencies or gaps the board hopes to correct with its next CEO. You may begin to sense how comfortably the board moves from conflict to consensus.

Even a CEO whose performance has been disappointing will have admirable qualities and key supporters, and our experience suggests that search committees welcome the opportunity to say nice things about someone they may have just nudged out or even fired.

If the CEO you would be succeeding is highly regarded or leaving after a long tenure of treasured service, you will get an earful about things you will not want to mess up. Here, candidates would do well to follow that part of the Hippocratic Oath usually paraphrased as "First, do no harm."

2. What unfinished business would I inherit?
Even the most beloved CEOs don't get everything right. After all, the reason balance sheets balance is that every asset has an offsetting liability. In a wide-ranging discussion, search committees inevitably drop lots of subtle clues about priorities left unaddressed, issues unresolved, and goals unachieved; your goal is to make sure you don't mistake subtlety for unimportance.

Typically, we ask a similar question of incumbent CEOs at the outset of a search for their successor. The best and most self-aware of the lot are quite secure talking about their unfinished business, and the incumbent CEO's viewpoint can be enormously useful. Even so, the board's perspective is the one you want to be sure to capture at this stage, since that's who you will be working for.

3. How will we define success?
It is critical for you and the search committee (and, ultimately, the full board) to have as much clarity as possible around expectations.

If you and your new board have not set out expectations with some degree of specificity, then you cannot be held accountable for missing those expectations, right? Wrong!

In our view, shortfall in performance is rarely about competence and often about expectations. The trick is to convert expectations from a hidden agenda to an open agenda. We recommend taking the discussion in steps, moving from the strategic to the tactical:

1. "What do we need to have accomplished together five years from now?"
2. "What three or four things do we need to achieve, resolve, or demonstrate by this time next year?"
3. "What needs to be addressed right away?"

If you listen well, questions on the definition of success will help accomplish several things:

* First, they reinforce the importance of strategic alignment; that is, the alignment of the nonprofit's resources and leadership around the big goals.
* Second, these questions reinforce your expectation of working in full partnership with the board.
* Third, despite a few requests to the contrary, you really cannot address every priority all the time (although juggling is a much-appreciated skill!). Ideally, priorities flow from the strategic plan. Priority setting is a key responsibility of the CEO, but it's far easier to set priorities if you're working in tandem with the board.

4. Where are the potholes?
Both you and the organization will be charting new maps and setting new directions, even if everyone swears your principal challenge is to maintain the strength and momentum that greet you upon arrival (rarely the real case, incidentally). To be maximally effective, you want to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible about the hurdles and potholes you might face. There are at least two sorts of issues you want to know about: structural and cultural.

Structural issues tend to respond to "What if?" sorts of questions: What if this donor goes away, what if this program exceeds goal, what if these assumptions are off by 20 percent? The structural potholes can be somewhat arcane, as in "Which footnote to the financial statements concerns you the most?"

The cultural issues tend to be about people, heritage, and legacy. Every organization has its operating norms and protocols; you want to know which issues/styles/approaches everyone takes for granted—especially if the existing norms and protocols represent barriers to progress.

Even if change is exactly what the board is after, the body can still reject the transplant. If you hear some version of "That's not the way we do things here," you may be simply stirring things up in a healthy way. (A Navy captain of our acquaintance used to say, "When the sailors stop complaining, I start worrying.") If you hear it more than once or from more than one quarter, you may be at risk. According to an Army friend of ours, "If you're a step ahead of the troops, you're a leader. If you're a mile ahead, you're a martyr!"

There are several ways to get at these cultural norms. What issues have other senior hires stumbled up against? What gets applauded in the hallways? What's being talked about in the break room and in the parking lot? The more you understand these topics and the culture that promotes them, the sooner you will develop a map that your new colleagues can embrace.

5. How can I add the most value?
The organization you are interviewing with is already on a certain trajectory. This trend line is based on specific assumptions regarding direction and momentum, all of which are critical for you to understand. Even more critical, we suggest, is the need to understand how the exceptional candidate—hopefully, that's you—can add real value beyond that available from the merely well qualified.

Consequently, this question, like many of the others, deserves to be asked in stages. As a candidate, you first want to know what added value the board desires most from its next CEO. Second, as you develop a deeper understanding of the organization, its opportunities, and its challenges, you want to confirm for the search committee—and for yourself—that the special assets you offer are in fact of real value in this particular circumstance.

Every encounter you have with the search committee and its fellow board members helps set a precedent for the way you will deal with each other once you're the CEO. The value of questions from a candidate can be exceptional, and they provide an excellent way for a superior contender to stand out from a slate. If you complement these thought starters with your own research, life experience, and natural curiosity, you can be assured of a provocative, informative, and rewarding discussion—and a subsequent interview.

Sam Pettway, Kathy Bremer, Kim Anderson, and Margaret Reiser
© 2008, BoardWalk Consulting

MacBook

Mac's new MacBook is really, really neat.
EXCEPT....
They took out the firewire.
Let me repeat that.
THEY TOOK OUT THE FIREWIRE.
That is the reason many, if not most, users buy a Mac.
They need to find the fool that suggested this, and the greater fool that approved this, and direct an operation that permanently prevents reproduction. Then fire them, freeing them to work for Dell.

Excuse the rant.

Feynman Lectures

Here is another really important link:

http://vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8

It is a lecture series by Richard Feynman (Nobel in Physics). Absolutely brilliant mind, easy to follow (so far). Explains all of physics.

It is worth spending a weekend to watch it sometime. The videos last about 5 hours total.

Voting the Scriptures

Ecclesiastes 10:2

The heart of the wise inclines to the right,
but the heart of the fool to the left.

Dorian Gray Effect Confirmed

The Seven Things That Surprise New CEOs

Published: October 20, 2008
Author: Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch, Nitin Nohria
Executive Summary:

In the newly released book On Competition, Professor Michael E. Porter updates his classic articles on the competitive forces that shape strategy. We excerpt a portion on advice for new CEOs, written with HBS faculty Jay W. Lorsch and Nitin Nohria. Key concepts include:

* Most new chief executives are taken aback by unfamiliar new roles, time and information limitations, and altered professional relationships.
* The CEO must learn to manage organizational context rather than focus on daily operations.
* The CEO must not get totally absorbed in the role.

In the newly released book On Competition, Professor Michael E. Porter updates his classic articles on the competitive forces that shape strategy. We excerpt a portion on advice for new CEOs, written with HBS faculty Jay W. Lorsch and Nitin Nohria.

Most new chief executives are taken aback by the unexpected and unfamiliar new roles, the time and information limitations, and the altered professional relationships they run up against. Here are the common surprises new CEOs face, and here's how to tell when adjustments are necessary.

Surprise One: You Can't Run the Company

Warning signs:
You are in too many meetings and involved in too many tactical discussions.
There are too many days when you feel as though you have lost control over your time.

Surprise Two: Giving Orders is Very Costly
Warning signs:
You have become the bottleneck.
Employees are overly inclined to consult you before they act.
People start using your name to endorse things, as in "Frank says…"

Surprise Three: It Is Hard To Know What Is Really Going On
Warning signs:
You keep hearing things that surprise you.
You learn about events after the fact.
You hear concerns and dissenting views through the grapevine rather than directly.

Surprise Four: You Are Always Sending A Message
Warning signs:
Employees circulate stories about your behavior that magnify or distort reality.
People around you act in ways that indicate they're trying to anticipate your likes and dislikes.

Surprise Five: You Are Not The Boss
Warning signs:
You don't know where you stand with board members.
Roles and responsibilities of the board members and of management are not clear.
The discussions in board meetings are limited mostly to reporting on results and management's decisions.

Surprise Six: Pleasing Shareholders Is Not The Goal
Warning signs:
Executives and board members judge actions by their effect on stock price.
Analysts who don't understand the business push for decisions that risk the health of the company.
Management incentives are disproportionately tied to stock price.

Surprise Seven: You Are Still Only Human
Warning signs:
You give interviews about you rather than about the company.
Your lifestyle is more lavish or privileged than that of other top executives in the company.
You have few if any activities not connected to the company.

Implications for CEO Leadership

Taken together, the seven surprises carry some important and subtle implications for how a new CEO should define his job.

First, the CEO must learn to manage organizational context rather than focus on daily operations. Providing leadership in this way—and not diving into the details—can be a jarring transition. One CEO said that he initially felt like the company's "most useless executive," despite the power inherent in the job. The CEO needs to learn how to act in indirect ways—setting and communicating strategy, putting sound processes in place, selecting and mentoring key people—to create the conditions that will help others make the right choices. At the same time, he must set the tone and define the organization's culture and values through his words and actions—in other words, demonstrate how employees should behave.

Second, he must recognize that his position does not confer the right to lead, nor does it guarantee the organization's loyalty. He must perpetually earn and maintain the moral mandate to lead. CEOs can easily lose their legitimacy if their vision is unconvincing, if their actions are inconsistent with the values they espouse, or if their self-interest appears to trump the welfare of the organization. They must realize that success ultimately depends on their ability to enlist the voluntary commitment rather than the forced obedience of others. While mastering the conventional tools of management may have won the CEO his job, these tools alone will not keep him there.

Finally, the CEO must not get totally absorbed in the role. Even if others think he is omnipotent, he is still only human. Failing to recognize this will lead to arrogance, exhaustion, and a shortened tenure. Only by maintaining a personal balance and staying grounded can the CEO achieve the perspective required to make decisions in the interest of the company and its long-term prosperity.

Obama's Moral Compas

I just read an survey that stated that 60 percent American people think that Hussein Obama has the better moral compass!

Lets check his moral compass. He has repeatedly stated that mother have a right to kill their children in the act of being born (by sucking out their brains and dismembering them) for their own convenience. He has fought for this so-called "right" on the floor of the Senate.

From his website:
"Barack Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case."

Of course women have a choice. They can choose to not get pregnant. There are many ways to do that. If nothing else, don't do the deed!

But once a woman is pregnant, she is a mother and has a moral obligation to fight for that child, up to and including her own death. Without that, our species will not survive. That has been the moral code since before recorded history.

Most "liberal" policies support the statement that "We have a right to have sex at any time, with anyone, and not suffer any consequences." This actually an extension of the old "Playboy Philosophy" that "sex between consenting adults is ok if no one is hurt."

But it even goes deeper than that. The prohibition of promiscuous sex comes from the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible states in Romans 1:18-ff: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

That should scare him. It scares me.

His moral compass leads straight to the wrath of God.

Checklist of Contract Clauses

Here is an interesting Checklist of Contract Clauses from labor's view:

Recognition
* Recognition of union as the exclusive bargaining representative.
* Explanation of which employees are in the bargaining unit; status of temporary, seasonal, part-time, and intermittent employees.
* Procedure for including or excluding new classifications from the bargaining unit.
* Restrictions on using non-bargaining unit employees to perform bargaining unit work.

Non-Discrimination
* Prohibition against discrimination on various grounds such as sex, race, creed, color, religion, age, national origin, political affiliation or activity, disability, sexual orientation, or union activity. May specifically prohibit sexual harassment.
* Establishment of union representation on affirmative action or equal opportunity committees, where they exist, with union right to designate or elect representatives.

Union rights

* Access of union officials to workplace.
* Right to engage in union activity at work, right of stewards to conduct union business on work time.
* Right to post and distribute union material (bulletin boards, in-house mail service, e-mail).
* Right of union to conduct or participate in employee orientation sessions.
* Right of elected union officials, stewards, and members to leaves of absence for union business.

Union Security
* Type of union security provision (where permissible): union shop, agency shop (fair share), maintenance of membership.
* Penalty for failure by employee or employer to comply with union security provision.
* Process for obtaining fair share or agency shop fees.

Check-Off
* Procedure for payroll deduction of dues, agency fees, and political contributions to PEOPLE.

Bargaining to Organize
* Neutrality language, guaranteeing that the employer will not oppose union organizing in unorganized facilities or agencies.
* Prohibition on the employer and its agents from certain anti-union tactics.
* Card check language (where permissible), providing that the union will be certified based on a majority card check or similar worker "showing of interest" - an expedited alternative to a formal election.
* Accretion language, providing that new facilities and workers added by the employer will be folded into the contract.
* Successorship language, so that if the employer transfers, delegates, privatizes, or otherwise shifts functions, the work and the workers remain covered by the union contract. (Depending on the circumstances, an expedited recognition process and a new contract may be necessary.)
Note: Contact the Research and Collective Bargaining Services Department for a copy of "Bargaining to Organize: Sample and Model Language," which includes numerous examples in these and other categories. A shorter manual, "Using our Power to Build Power: Bargaining to Organize," is also available.

Management Rights
* The employer will likely propose a section that reserves for management all rights not specifically addressed or limited by the contract.
* The union may want to require negotiations prior to the implementation of any changes in working conditions.

Probation
* Length of probationary period, purpose of probationary period, employee status and rights during probationary period.

Grievance Procedure
* Definition of a grievance.

* Stewards' right to use work time for grievance investigations.
* Employees' right to union representation.
* Explanation of each step in grievance procedure and time limits at each step.

Arbitration
* Procedure for selecting arbitrators.
* Agreement on payment of arbitrator.
* Authority of arbitrator to issue final and binding decisions.
* Time limits.
* Expedited arbitration.

Hours of Work, Schedules, and Overtime
* Number of hours in work week and work day.
* Procedure for scheduling.
* Alternative work schedules/flex-time.
* Definition of overtime, pay or compensatory time off, advance notice of overtime, right to refuse overtime, procedures for offering or assigning overtime (connected to seniority rights).
* Staffing and workload standards.
* Meal and rest periods.
* Cleanup and work preparation time.
* Travel time.

Pay Differentials
* Shift schedules and shift differentials.
* Weekend differential.
* Standby or "on-call" pay.
* Reporting/call-back pay.
* Roll call pay.

Seniority
* Definition of seniority -- with employer, in classification, in agency or department.
* Procedure for determining seniority for employees hired on the same day.

Layoff and Recall
* Procedures for layoff based on seniority provisions.
* Prior notification to union of layoffs, right of union to offer alternative proposals or plans.
* Rights of employees to bump into positions of less senior employees.
* Procedures for recalling employees; duration of recall list.

Filling of Vacancies
* Posting of vacancies, procedures for bidding.
* Rules for awarding promotions or transfers, requirement that qualifications be job-related, role of seniority among qualified bidders.
* Provision for trial period with right to return to previous position.

Discipline and Discharge
* Prohibition of discipline or discharge without just cause.
* Establishment of progressive discipline (oral warning, written warning, suspension, discharge), and consideration of mitigating factors.
* List of acts which can result in immediate discharge.
* Notice to union of disciplinary actions.
* Protection for whistle-blowers.
* Notice to employee of right to union representation during potential discipline interview, guarantee to stop interview until representation is provided.
* Limits on employer investigation tactics (e.g., polygraphs or computer voice stress analysis).

Personnel Records
* Employee access to records, right to rebut entries in writing, right to authorize steward or other union representative access to records for grievance processing or other union business, limitation on disclosure of records.
* Limit on time that negative material can remain in file, consistent rules for removing items.

Performance Evaluation
* Criteria for evaluations.
* Frequency of evaluations.
* Right of employee to receive copies of evaluations.
* Right to rebut or grieve performance evaluations.
* Limitations on use of performance evaluations (e.g., not to determine pay, bidding rights, etc.).

Holidays
* Days per year (with dates listed).
* Pay for working on a holiday, right to equivalent time off.
* Number of personal days per year and procedure for using.
* Procedures for assigning holiday work.
* Special circumstances, e.g., one-time holidays declared by the President or Governor.

Vacation
* Days accrued per year.
* Right to take accrued vacation.
* Procedure and time of year for scheduling.
* Role of seniority in scheduling vacations.
* Right to carry over vacation to next year and amount which can be carried over.
* Procedure for payment upon death, resignation, or retirement of employee.
* Pro-rated vacation for part-time employees.

Sick Leave
* Days accrued per year and maximum accumulation.
* Right to use for doctor's appointments.
* Right to use for ill family members.
* Provision for cash out of sick leave.
* Provision for sick leave bank.
* Pro-rated sick leave for part-time employees.
* Interaction of sick leave policy with Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
* Documentation required for sick leave; protections of employee privacy rights.

Leaves of Absence
* Right to take leave, administrative rules for requesting leave, duration of leave, pay during leave, continuation of benefits during leave, and reinstatement after leave.
* Parental leave, including adoption leave.
* Elder care leave.
* Bereavement leave: relatives or household members covered, number of days, extra time when travel required.
* Educational leave, leave to attend professional meetings, sabbaticals.
* Leave for jury duty.
* Military leave with responsibility of employer to hold open same job, shift, other conditions.
* Leave for union business.
* Leave for voting.
* Hostage leave.
* Family and Medical Leave: benefits, if any, in addition to those in law (e.g., longer period of paid leave than required by law), description of employee and employer rights and responsibilities under law.

Job Classifications
* Right of employees to job description.
* Procedure for requesting reclassification and appealing decision.
* Procedure for offering and assigning out-of-class work.
* Pay for working out of classification.
* Time limits on working out of classification.
* Provision for job evaluation and/or pay equity studies.
* Light duty assignments for injured workers.

Wages
* Wage schedule, including step increases.
* Across the board increases for each year of contract.
* Pay for temporary promotion.
* Schedule of pay days.
* Cost-of-living adjustments.
* Longevity pay.
* Severance pay.
* Bilingual pay.
* Lead worker differential.
* Credential/license pay, e.g., commercial drivers license (CDL), continuing education units.
* Pay equity and/or reclassification increases.
* Retroactivity, if any.

Bargaining *Contingency Plans*
* Gainsharing language — linking some part of pay to achievement of certain savings, quality, or productivity goals.
* "If/come" language — providing that if certain conditions occur (such as the employer achieving a budget surplus), a certain raise will be triggered.
* Lump sum or bonus payments — dollar amounts that do not increase base pay.
Note: These tactics should be seen as last resorts when traditional increases cannot be obtained. For more information, see "Bargaining in Uncertain Times."

Benefits
* Health insurance: medical plans offered; employer and employee (if any) contribution to premium payments; supplemental coverage including dental care, vision care, and prescription drug coverage.
* Health care cost containment measures.
* Flexible spending accounts.
* Life insurance.
* Short- and long-term disability insurance.
* Pension plan: details on benefit calculation, vesting rules, early retirement penalties, employer and employee (if any) contributions, etc. (Note: Pensions are addressed in legislation rather than collective bargaining in many jurisdictions.)
* Union health and welfare fund, if any.
* Benefits for part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers; benefits for domestic partners.
* Tax-free savings plan (similar to a 401(k) plan) — in addition to, not instead of, pension plan.

Health and Safety
* Duty of employer to provide healthy and safe working environment.
* Labor/management health and safety committee, with right of union to select members.
* Provision of protective equipment/clothing.
* Protection against hazards of technological equipment.
* Right to refuse hazardous work.
Note: For more information, see "Safety and Health" Checklist.

New Technology
* Advance notice to union when a major technology change is being considered.
* Right of union to suggest alternatives, sit on design or implementation committee, select workers on labor-management teams, etc.
* Training and retraining provisions, right of first refusal and other protections for incumbents.
* Protections against electronic monitoring.

Prohibition of or Limits on Drug Testing
* Testing only based on reasonable suspicion, documentation of reasonable suspicion required.
* Testing by accredited laboratories, description of testing procedures and relevant regulations.
* Assistance for those with substance abuse problem.

Education and Training
* Statement of employer commitment to internal mobility.
* In-service training programs, apprenticeship programs.
* Educational leave, leave to take civil service exams.
* Tuition reimbursement or tuition pre-payment, career counseling.
* Courses at worksites offered during paid time.
* Allocation of money to pay for career mobility programs.
* Establishment of career ladder language or committee to investigate the issue.

Child Care/Elder Care
* Labor/management committee, resource and referral program, subsidy, on-site center, dependent care assistance plan.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
* Confidential program to help employees deal with personal problems, including drug and alcohol abuse.

Labor/Management Committee
* Scope of committee, equal representation of labor and management, meetings and activities on work time, right of union to appoint or elect its representatives, prohibition on LMC dealing with bargaining-related subjects.

Uniforms and Tools
* Allowance for or provision of uniforms and/or tools for affected employees.

Inclement Weather
* Notification of closings
* Personnel who must report, and pay for reporting.

Travel Regulations and Expense Reimbursement Procedures Past Practices
* Provision continuing past practices of employer.

Sub-Contracting
* Prohibition of, or limits on, subcontracting.

No Strike/No Lockout
* Bar on union strikes or employer lockouts during the life of the contract.

Savings Clause
*Provision which states that if any part of the contract is found to be unlawful or invalid, the rest of the contract will remain in force, and the parties will negotiate substitute language for the invalidated portion.

*Zipper* Clause
* Management is likely to propose a prohibition on additional bargaining during the life of the contract, i.e., a statement that the contract is the complete agreement between the parties.

Duration of the Agreement
* Beginning and ending dates of the contract.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

A good team is a precious thing, the book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, really brings to light how difficult it is to get a good team together and working well. You know when you are apart of a good team and when the team needs work.

The book lists the five dysfunctions of a Team:
1. The first dysfunction is an absense of trust among team members. Essentially, this stems from their unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group. Team members who are not genuinely open with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation for trust.
2. This failure to build trust is damaging because it sets the tone for the second dysfunction: fear of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.
3. A lack of healthy conflict is a problem because it ensures the third dysfunction of a team: lack of commitment. Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open debate, team member rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions, though they may feign agreement during meetings.
4. Because of this lack of real commitment and buy-in, team members develop an avoidance of accountability, the fourth dysfunction. Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that seem counterproductive to the good of the team.
5. Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the fifth dysfunction can thrive. Inattention to results occurs when team members put their individual needs (such as ego, career development, or recognition) or even the needs of their divisions above the collective goals of the team.

Truly cohesive teams are obvious
1. They trust one another
2. They engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas
3. They commit to decisions and plans of actions.
4. They hold one another accountable for delivering against those plans.
5. They focus on the achievenment of collective results.

This was found at http://www.anticlue.net/archives/000279.htm

Burning Down the House

Here is a great explanation of the economic meltdown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4

Calendar Frustration

I am moving to all Mac computers. I find that iCal is great.

I still need to sync with various other calendars. I can export an ics file to update my other Macs and Google and my legacy Outlook machines. I can use outlook to sync my phone. [bother! Macs have a sync application, but it does not recognize my phone model.]

Yahoo! however requires a csv file. They are the only ones in creation. Would you believe there is no way to translate an ics to a csv!!! Proprietary systems are a real pain.

I guess I will try to export Outlook to csv.

The power of powerful questions

From a Jeff Meyers Newsletter:
Jeff Myers, Ph.D., President
Passing the Baton International, Inc.

A few weeks ago I spoke at the Texas State Homeschool Conference on "Winning the hearts of your children without losing your mind." I looked at my watch and realized I had 15 minutes of material but only five minutes left to present (imagine that!).

I told the audience, "We're just about out of time, but if you'll look at your notes I'd like to briefly look at some powerful questions you can ask to coach your children into being thinking leaders rather than passive followers."

I went through the questions so quickly I wasn't at all sure they would be helpful. Yet an hour and a half later one of the attendees told me, "I just coached my six-year old son."

"Really?" I said, stunned.

"Yes. I'm thinking about homeschooling him, and I brought him to the children's program. But he cried and didn't want to go. Instead of forcing him, I just sat next to him and calmly asked the questions from your notes."

"What happened?" I asked.

"It was amazing," she said. "After just a few of the questions he stopped crying, analyzed the source of his fears and came up with a resourceful solution."

What did this mother do differently?

In talking with this mother, I realized that she had used a simple set of powerful questions to approach a difficult situation in an attitude of compassion and curiosity. The actual conversation was quite simple:

"What is going on?"

"I'm afraid to go to the children's program."

"Why do you think you're afraid?"

"Because I don't know anyone there."

"What would you like to see happen?"

"Well, I do have a friend in there but he was assigned to a different class than me."

"What are some things you think you could do?"

"I could ask the people if they would let me be in my friend's class. Then I wouldn't be alone."

"What if they are not able to do that?"
"Then I guess I will try to be brave and have a good time."

This mother just asked questions, listened and helped her little boy solve his own problem. No manipulation. No bribing. Just successful coaching.

How successful coaches do what they do

Coaches succeed in helping people get breakthroughs by cultivating three skills:

1. Coaches learn to listen. Ninety percent of communication is listening, yet most people admit that they're not good at it (and studies show that their colleagues and friends think they're actually worse than they know).

Failing to listen means that you miss 90% of the information you need to relate to others. Imagine cashing your paycheck and throwing 90% of the money away. That is essentially what poor listeners do everyday.

2. Coaches ask powerful questions. Bad questions cause irritation and defensiveness. Good questions stimulate thought and lead to breakthroughs. Studying the art of question-asking leads to clarity and trust.

Coaches practice asking powerful, open-ended questions that enable them to walk alongside people as those people take responsibility for their own leadership development.

3. Coaches help people set worthy goals. Most people have some idea of WHAT they are doing but almost no idea WHY. Goal-setting is a life-transforming skill that can be learned in just a few hours.

If you're a leader, helping others set goals reinforces your credibility and encourages them toward more God-centered, purposeful lives.

My Logo

Sisyphus had too much hubris. He thought that he was better than the gods. They sent him to Hades and made him push a rock up a hill, only to have it roll back down again...and again...forever.

The rest of the story:
Sisyphus got to like it and made a game of it. The gods gave up and set him free.

Updated Photo

I just updated my profile picture.

I recently had a passport photo taken, so I:

1. Scanned it in
   using GIMP I:
   
2. Added a color background
3. Blurred out the throat wrinkles
4. De-shined the forehead
   
5. Added a background rainbow
   

Epic Downtown Photo

The classic flood photo. This picture shows at least four downtown bridges.

Hydrograph

The break in the previous graph is when the water topped the automatic equipment. It had to be reset.

Today's Hydrograph

Treading Water Letter

If you have seen the news lately, you have probably seen that Cedar Rapids is having major flooding. Since we are about one hundred feet above the normal river level, we are high and dry. Here are some interesting facts:

- see pictures at http://www.gazetteonline.com/

- 483 square blocks under water

- 24,000 people have been evacuated, out of a population of 201,000.

- the record flood level has been at 20 feet, recorded in 1929 and 1859. That is before the Civil War. We hit a crest of 32 feet yesterday. 1993 had a stage of 19 feet. The normal flood level is 12 feet.

- we are not forecast to return to 20 feet (the old record) until next Wednesday. It could take a couple of weeks to return to normal level of <12 feet.

- see http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=dvn&gage=cidi4&view=1,1,1,1,1,1

- when we were at 24 feet, the amount of water flowing down the Cedar River was equal to the water flowing down the Mississippi at moderate flood stage at the Quad Cities. We are now 8 feet higher.

- Cedar Rapids is down to ONE water well, located at one of the lowest spots in town. Last night 1,200 people helped sandbag it. They said we will probably go to a "boil" order by Sunday.

- We have lost two power stations. We get random power outages. All power in the central business district has been off for two days. Most will be without power for at least a week. Even though the entire city of Palo has been evacuated, the Palo nuclear plant is still on-line, and looked to remain that way.

- Thursday, we helped some friends move everything out of their basement to the second floor. Indian Creek came up about four feet while we were there. We all had to leave when it reached the street (the creek is in a park across the street from them.) Alex said they ended up with some water in the basement.

- Only one of 7 auto bridges across the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids is open. One of the 3 railroad bridges has collapsed, taking 20 railcars with it. They had been parked there to keep the bridge from floating away.

- Thursday night Alex helped with sandbags at Mercy Hospital. They were keeping the Ambulance Entrance open long enough to evacuate the hospital, which they finished this morning as water entered the basement equipment areas. Mercy is a large hospital that is 4-5 blocks outside the 500 year flood plain.

- I went to a Red Cross / FEMA briefing last night. I may go for more training today. More on this later.

- Alyssa is at YMCA Camp Wapsi. The Wapsi River is also at full flood, but the camp is on very high ground. We will pick her up this morning, but may have to be creative in picking a route to get there. We will probably bring several stranded kids home.

- Interstates 80 and 380 are closing for a few days.

We live in interesting times.

OBAMA WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTED - Yahoo! News

OBAMA WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTED - Yahoo! News

How Countries Get Rich

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: How Countries Get Rich:

Michael Spence: I was surprised by two things. One, how important the global economy is for developing countries both in terms of demand, meaning the size of the market and your ability to expand it once you get a cost position, and also from the point of view of importing technology or knowledge. But the biggest surprise was how important political leadership is in looking at cases of sustained high growth in developing countries. There’s a whole lot of consensus building and picking the right model, getting everybody on board, making deals with stakeholders like labor and business, and a persistent kind of pragmatic approach with imperfect knowledge about how the economy is going to respond to policy. I started out thinking this was a subject that was mainly about economics, and I ended up thinking that was about half of it, but the other half is really political.

"MS: I don’t think there’s any kind of secret. There are certainly common characteristics of the sustained high-growth cases, and they’re described in some detail in the report. I don’t view them as secrets. But we haven’t been able to find a case where, if you avoid the general approach that’s described there—

1. engagement with the global economy;
2. being careful to bring everybody on board;
3. very high savings and investment levels;
4. a stable macro environment and
5. a pretty heavy reliance on the basic characteristics of market allocation, price signals, and stuff; and
6. being willing to put up with rather chaotic microeconomic dynamics

—you can sustain high growth."

A. Michael Spence is Philip H. Knight professor, emeritus, and former dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, he is the 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics.

My Life

Schofiled's Quote

Major General John M. Schofield's graduation address to the graduating Class of 1879 at West Point is as follows:

The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself. While he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect towards others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.

Jews defend Hagee's words

My point from yesterday is reinforced:

See the full Washington Times article here,

By Julia Duin - Jewish allies of the Rev. John Hagee rushed to his defense yesterday to say the Texas evangelist is not anti-Semitic despite Sen. John McCain campaign's repudiation Thursday of the evangelist's endorsement.

"John Hagee is one of the Jewish people's best friends," Los Angeles talk show host Dennis Prager said on the air yesterday morning. "Identifying John Hagee with anti-Semitism would be like identifying Raoul Wallenberg, the great Swede who saved thousands of Jews in the Holocaust, with anti-Semitism."

Orthodox Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg, of Congregation Rodfei Sholom in San Antonio, appeared at an afternoon press conference yesterday to say Mr. Hagee's "words were twisted and used to attack him for being anti-Semitic."

In actuality, Mr. Hagee "interpreted a biblical verse in a way not very different from several legitimate Jewish authorities," the rabbi said.

"Viewing Hitler as acting completely outside of God's plan is to suggest that God was powerless to stop the Holocaust, a position quite unacceptable to any religious Jew or Christian," the rabbi said.
more...

Classic Movie Sound Bites

There are four classic movie sound bites:

1. The Wilhelm Yell
2. The Goofy Holler
3. The Tarzan Yell
4. The Castle Thunder

All are available on Wikipedia

McCain Shows His True Colors

John McCain showed his true colors today when he repudiated John Hagee's sermon expounding how good can come from evil.

Either McCain doesn't believe what scripture tells us in Habakkuk, Amos, Daniel, Romans and hundreds of other scriptures...or he does believe but does not have the moral backbone to stand up for his beliefs.

Either way disqualifies him for public office.

You can link to the Wall Street Journal article here.

In case the link is gone:

"Mr. Hagee, who endorsed the Republican candidate in February, delivered a sermon in the late 1990s in which he appeared to explain how something good could come from a tragic event.

"A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says...'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,'" Mr. Hagee preached. "God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."

"Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them," Sen. McCain said Thursday. "I feel I must reject his endorsement." "

McCain is just part of the Anti-God Group.

America OnLine

I am really getting frustrated with AOL. I need to start the process of shifting to mchsi.

My Favorite Books

The Bible (NIV or NASB),
Getting to Yes, Getting Past No,
Winning Teams,
Managing Transitions,
Atlas Shrugged,
any Heinlein except Job,
My Utmost for His Highest,
Herding Cats,
Don't Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart,
Shogun, Whirlwind, Noble House,
Dune,
The Foundation Trilogy,
The Five Points of Calvinism,
Practicing the Presence of God,
The Mote in the God's I,
Godel Escher Bach,
The theory of Games and Economic Behavior,
The Light and the Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea,
The Civil War:A Narrative (triology)

My Favorite Movies

Casablanca,
Gandhi,
Animal House,
Patton,
Honeysuckle Rose,
Star Wars I-III,
Apocalypse Now,
Sin City,
The Searchers,
African Queen,
In Harm's Way,
Streets of Fire,
Gladiator, Hero (in Chinese with English subtitles),
Godfather I+II+III,
Lord of the Rings,
All Monty Python,
both Blues Brothers,
Casino Royale,
Saving Private Ryan,
Big Trouble in Little China,
anything with Diane Lane,
anything with Kathleen Turner,
Once Upon a Time in America,
Mash,
Blazing Saddles,
Flashdance,
Death Hunt,
Swimming to Cambodia,
Real Genius,
Top Gun,
The Man Who Would Be King,
Driving School,
Urban Cowboy,
The Name of the Rose

Noodles Through a Goose

I just found out that neither Google nor Yahoo! has a single hit on the phrase "noodles through a goose". Unbelievable! I have used that phrase for years.

"That beer went through me faster than noodles through a goose."

The phrase comes from the practice of Chinese goose farmers. When they want to take their geese to market, they feed a noodle to the first goose, with a string attached. The noodle passes through the goose non-stop. Then they feed the noodle the the next goose...and the next....and the next. After it passes through the final goose, they tie the string to a stick. Then they can lead all of the geese down the road to town without the geese running away.

I think I will add this to the Urban Dictionary.

Neat Manuals

A really good Risk Communication Manual can be found here.

An excellent manual on Crisis Defusion can be found here.

Likewise, a really good manual on Aggression Management Communication can be found here. This manual is written for parole officers and prison guards, but also applies to situations where one party is in authority and the other party is resentful of authority.

The basic steps are:

Set clear goals.

1. Limits and conditions
2. Cooperation
3. Clear Channel of Communication
   

Depersonalize Conflict

1. "It's nothing personal"
2. Depersonalize your authority
3. Depersonalize constraints
4. Depersonalize conflict
   

Personalize Cooperation

1. An internal attitude
2. A message
3. Does not compromise limits and controls
   

Offer Choices

1. Offer choices. The more aggressive they are, the more choices they need
2. Force conscious and deliberate choices
3. Effect of Choices
   - soften coercion and controls
   - implies respect
   - communicates confidence
   - diverts automatic reactions
   - places responsibiliy
4. Presenting Choices:
   -Communicate: “It’s up to you.”
   -Take the threat out of consequences.
   -Convey your readiness to deal with any choice.

Conduct a Thinking Report-An objective report of what goes on in a person’s mind during a specific situation and period of time.

1. Effects of a Thinking Report
   -“objectify” emotional experiences.
   -defuse emotional conflict.
   -present a neutral focus of attention for officer and client.
   -display targets for change: cognitive interventions.
2. Thinking Report Steps
   -A brief description of the situation.
   -A detailed report of thoughts.
   -A brief report of feelings.
   -(the extra step) Identification of any significant patterns
   displayed in the thinking report.
   

Healthy Churches Require Healthy Leaders

The following are my notes from a speech by Dr. James Farmer, given to the Linn County Association of Evangelicals on April 10th, 2008.

Healthy churches require spiritually healthy leaders.

Text: Exodus 17:1-6 God's instructions to Moses concerning his response to the bellyaching Israelites

1. Walk Ahead of the People.
Moses did this reluctantly. It was outside of his comfort zone.
Moses did this with humility. There was no arrogance or Pride.
Pastors must lead by example.

2. Take Some Elders With You. Build Disciples.
Develop, Empower, and release others.
This process is relational. It must be systemic and intentional.
Building superstars is not the goal.
Paul Johanson: Look for the call of God in young people and walk with them.
Build Disciples, Not Decisions
Dr. Paul Leavenworth: focused on a group fo 12-15 young people; impacted a wider group of
30-40 people

3. Take the Staff I Gave You to Strike the Nile
We all have spiritual gifts (God-given, not natural)
There are 3 lists of Grace Gifts in Scripture
This is a calling; a divine appointment
Be authentically genuinely you; You are dead, it is Christ in you.

4. Go! I will Stand Before You.
Step Out in faith.

Star survey reaches 70 sextillion

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Ever wanted to wish upon a star? Well, you have 70,000 million million million to choose from.

That's the total number of stars in the known universe, according to a study by Australian astronomers.

It's also about 10 times as many stars as grains of sand on all the world's beaches and deserts.

The figure -- 7 followed by 22 zeros or, more accurately, 70 sextillion -- was calculated by a team of stargazers based at the Australian National University.

• ten times more than the number of grains of sand on Earth
• eleven times the number of cups of water in all the Earth's oceans
• ten thousand times the number of wheat kernels that have ever been produced on Earth
• one hundred million times more than the number of ants in all the world
• one hundred million times the dollar value of all the market-priced assets in the world
• ten billion times the number of cells in a human being
• one hundred billion times the number of letters in the 14 million books in the Library of Congress

See articles at:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey/
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/star_count_030722.html
http://info.anu.edu.au/ovc/Media/Media_Releases/_2003/_030717StarCount.asp

New Office at River of Life

Here are examples of the Serve The City office layout at River of Life.:


This is version one:











Version two:












Version 4 (there is no picture of Version 3)

On-Star

I own a 2003 Chevy.
I just got another letter from On-Star.

The letter said:
1) Your analog system is turned off.
2) It will cost you $15 for us to upgrade our system on your car.
3) You must sign up for a full year of a one year Safe & Sound subscription for $199.
4) If I don't sign up by TOMORROW, they will charge me an additional $100.

Bite Me On-Star!
I don't need or want your Safe & Sound subscription.
If you want to have my business, upgrade it yourself. Then I will go back to the month-to-month, pay-for-minutes-used plan that I had been using.

Don't make me pay for your mistakes.

By the way, what happened to my unused minutes? Must have been stolen by some thieves.

I wonder where they will be working next....

Alex and Jenny Video

Here is a video of Alex and his main squeeze, Jenny. It was taken by Spencer Walrath under false pretenses.

I am an INTP - Watch Out

My Score: INTP - the Architect

I scored: 18% I to E, 36% N to S, 66% F to T, and 63% J to P!

Here is the discription, edited from third person to first:

I am more introverted than extroverted. I am more intuitive than observant; more thinking based than feeling based; and prefer to go with the flow rather than have a routine. The single word to describe my type is the Architect, which belongs to the larger group of rationals. I wish to sculpt the world around me. Others often find me arrogant, yet I have no desire to direct others, only to inform them. I must know the structure of things, and have a voracious appetite for knowledge. I am very rational in everything you do, and probably consider myself smarter than most.

As a romantic partner, I can be playful with great energy to get things started, but not quite as good on follow through. I may have a tendency to hurt the more emotional types unintentionally by not sharing my own reactions and feelings as I can get swept up in my own ideas and projects. I want to be appreciated for my ability to respond quickly and to fix problems creatively. I need plenty of time to myself - therefore my parnter must respect your need for independence and originality.

Your group summary: Rationals (NT)

Your type summary: INTP