Inspector Inspects Starbucks

This was the first time that I have ever seen an inspector in Starbucks...

See the lady in the white lab coat with hair cap and gloves...

Ah, she stands out like a saw thumb in contrast to the other staff person in the traditional green Starbucks apron. 

So I would imagine that she's not a doctor moonlighting as a barista!

She was checking here, there, and everywhere. 

At this point, she was taking out the milk and looked like she had some thermometer like device to make sure it was cold enough and not spoiled. 

Honestly, I was impressed that they have this level of quality control in the stores. 

We need more of this to ensure quality standards as well as customer service -- here and everywhere in industry and government. 

There is way too much dysfunction, inefficiencies, politics, power plays, turf battles, backstabbing, bullying, lack of accountability, unprofessionalism, fraud, waste, and abuse, and mucho organizational culture issues that need to be--must be--addressed and fast!

Can the inspector that inspects do it?

Of course, that's probably not enough--it just uncovers the defects--we still have the hard work of leadership to make things right--and not just to checklist them and say we did it.

I wonder if the Starbucks inspector will also address the annoying long lines on the other side of the counter as well? ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Inspector Inspects Starbucks

Mice End Up Dead

So there are three main ways of reacting when in a bullying situation by someone:

1) Passive - You can sit back and take it for now, shutting your mouth and turning off your feelings, maybe even running for safety, as you get temporarily scr*wed, but perhaps maintaining the moral high ground and smartly saving your chips and choosing your battles for the right time and place to set things right and the record straight. 

2) Aggressive - You can fight back, make sure you have a good strategy, but you may nonetheless end up blamed or bloodied, or who knows, maybe you actually win the day, but also you need to be sure to win the war. 

3) Assertive - You can hold your ground, assert your rights, maintain your own opinions, and do what you believe is right, being firm in your self-determination, but you could be reprimanded or punished for not falling in line or best case scenario, you could actually end up being respected for it.

Listen, there is no one right answer, but you need to be a man and not a mouse.

Protect yourself--and as long as you don't go overboard or act like a jerk--be you, be proud, and don't let anyone mistreat you. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Mice End Up Dead

DISGRACEFUL United Airlines

To all decent human being out there...

Think twice about United Airlines. 

They overbooked a flight and then forcibly removed passengers that had paid for their seats. 

What right does anyone have to sell something that they in essence don't have to sell?

And then treating their passengers like animals, smashing them and busting their lips, and dragging from from seats they paid for!

These passengers just wanted to go home.

On top of it, the joke of a CEO of United Airlines, Mr. Oscar Munoz, defended this abhorrent violence against his paying passengers stating:

"Our employees followed established procedures for dealing with situations like this. While I deeply regret this situation arose [not that he regrets that they oversold seats and then beat the sh*t of this passenger], I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to do above and beyond to ensure we fly right [this is what he "commends" and consider going "above and beyond" and doing what's "right"--what a complete moral disgrace!]."

While Mr. Munoz had a heart transplant last year, apparently he truly has no heart at all--these are subhuman actions whose defense can only be considered to be the vacuum of any decency or morality in the leadership of United Airlines. 

If no passengers took their offer of $400 or even $1,000 to get bumped, then let them offer $10,000 or more--whatever the market price is to get the seat--but they have NO MORAL RIGHT to force this passenger out of a seat he legitimately paid for and was already sitting in. 

Either United Airlines should immediately apologize and extraordinarily compensate this harmed passenger, promise never to do this again, and fire their corrupt CEO or the public should boycott this disgraceful airline.

Where is the Federal Aviation Administration? 

Where is the board of directors of United Airlines?

Where is justice for this passenger and protection for airline customers?

Please G-d, justice will be done. ;-)

DISGRACEFUL United Airlines

The Greatest Failure of Leadership

So perhaps the most damaging trait of failed leadership is hubris.


When a leaders exhibits arrogance--bullies and degrades others, especially underlings--then that absolutely destroys the moral fiber of and the employee engagement in the organization.


No, it's not the salary and benefits, or recognition, or position title, or even the grandness of the mission of the organization itself--although they are all important--but rather, the key ingredient to employee satisfaction is the common sense fundamental of how we treat our people.


People rising or elevated in the organization frequently forget the humble beginnings from whence they and their families likely began.


They see their honor and fat pay check and power--and they start to perhaps think of themselves as (close to) G-d Almighty, Him/Herself.


But it is not their position that makes them in the image of G-d, but how they care for and treat others.


If they shepherd their flocks meekly and with empathy and kindness to all then they emulate G-d, the creator and sustainer.


But when it goes to their heads and they become fat and haughty with themselves and are above everyone and care not for the basic dignity and respect of each individual in their steward then G-d sees and G-d hears the cry of the oppressed, and the mighty will surely fall and hard.


As it says in Isaiah 13:11:

I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

Those who are blessed by G-d with position, money, and power--their challenge is to be gracious and giving with it. 


When they "laud it" over others and when they think that they are truly "all that"--rest assured that G-d does not let any tree grow or tower (of Babel) build into the Heavens themselves. 


Empathy, kindness, graciousness, and generosity--that is true leadership--and that is when employee engagement, satisfaction, and productivity will bear the mark of the meek and the truly great person and leader. ;-)


(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Greatest Failure of Leadership

Why People End Up On The Sh*t List

This was a funny sign...the old "sh*t list!"

When people do cr*p to you and they do it maliciously and with intent, and as repeat offenders enjoying their evil ways hurting others. 

Invariably, they can end up on the sh*t list. 

However, I've never actually seen such a list until this. 

You have your:

- Offender
- Violation
- Was it a friend, stranger, lover, family, other?
- When did it occur?
- Severity level

It even has a line for your "plan of attack"--whether you confront, ignore, stew, avenge, talk sh*t, or other. 

And finally whether the terrible offender is still on or off the list. 

While not every offense is a mortal blow and we need to have compassion for people and try to love everyone...sometimes, people can behave so badly and don't stop no matter how much you try and beg and offer to help them that they just force themselves onto the bad boys/girls list. 

We don't want to have ill feelings to anyone--we are all G-d's creatures--but what do you do when people go so far astray or have problems so big that they hurt others so bad and so often.

Surely, we need to have understanding and compassion first for people and try to do everything to help them and bring peace to the world, but when your dealing with the true worst of what people have to offer and they lack basic human self-control and decency, perhaps that's why victims revert as a last resort to their sh*t list. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Why People End Up On The Sh*t List

Temper Tantrums Don't Make Peace

The latest salvos of U.S. anger, frustration, and temper tantrums are not helpful to achieving peace in the world. 

We are not dealing with children and should not treat foreign countries and leaders "with disdain and disrespect" or with bias, hate, and underling anti-Semitism. 

Nor should we get on our soapbox high and mighty and "lecture" others, especially when we ourselves have been grossly deficient and derelict. 

Over the last 8 years:

We let 500,000 Syrians be massacred, including the very rebels that we were supposedly supporting, and allowed many to be killed with prohibited chemical weapons (violating our definitive "red line")!

We let Ukraine be attacked and Crimea be stolen!

We let Russian nuclear-capable weapons be stationed on the border of NATO.

We let millions of refugees stream across the Middle East and world homeless and helpless. 

We let the world's #1 sponsor of terrorism, Iran, become a licensed nuclear power, extend their Caliphate across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen--while swarming and buzzing our ships and taking our sailors hostage and humiliating them. 

We let North Korea advance it's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

We let China build and militarize the South China Sea and threaten freedom of navigation of the seas, and let them steal our drone in International waters. 

We let our ambassador to Libya and his associates be murdered.

We let the President of the Philippines call our President a "son of a whore."

We let ISIS rampage and murder across the globe in countless terror attacks, while we called them "workplace violence" and traffic accidents.

We let divisiveness seep into and poison our own cities, communities, people, and even against law enforcement, and politicized everything stagnating our our country and making us fall further behind in the world from education to life expectancy. 

We abandoned those seeking democracy, freedom, and human rights from the Green Revolution in Iran to the Arab Spring across the Middle East. 

And the list goes shamefully on and on.

But what's possibly even worse is that while we failed the world over, we are arrogant and nasty to others betraying our friend and allies in one-sided resolutions that ignore the scrounge of terrorism, deadly attacks, Anti-Semitism as well as with horrible deals with Iran that threaten their very existence. 

While we continue to sit in America, on land forcibly and violently taken from the Native American Indians, having brutally enslaved for hundreds of years African Americans, abused women and treated them as lessor in role, voting, and dignity, interned Japanese Americans and twice dropped the Atom Bomb on civilian cities, what right do we have to lecture anyone?

Yes, we dole out billions to nations around the world, for what we want whether in terms of allies, voting blocks, military cooperation, intelligence, or because of religious convictions, but that does not give us the right to arrogantly and bulling tell others or try to force them how to live in their neighborhoods and with the threats facing their people. 

While we did nothing, we spoke a great deal trying in vain to force our will on others, and the failures that abound are a reflection of just that leadership from behind, hypocrisy, and hubris. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Temper Tantrums Don't Make Peace

Returning The US Drone

So I love and respect China, and think they are one of the greatest nations of the world.

However, it is wrong that their military stole a US drone in international waters. 

Bullying and theft is a violation of the rule of law and a challenge to America on the international stage. 

So far, our leadership from behind approach has again done virtually nothing, except like a child, ask for it back (after they have already taken whatever they wanted from it). 

Moreover, this is not the first time China has captured our assets and people--less than 6 years ago, they collided into one of our EP-3E surveillance aircraft and captured, interrogated , and held the crew for 11 days!

And hence our planes and ships keep getting buzzed, our citizens captured and humiliated, our assets confiscated illegally, and our secret intellectual property unabashedly hacked and copied.

Moreover, we are seeing a resurgent Russia in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria; a militarized China expanding and weaponizing the South China Sea, a belligerent North Korea with ever further reaching ballistic nukes, and an Iran that violates their nuclear deal at will and now runs amuck with military operations from Iraq to Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and more. 

Oh, and surely let's not forget ISIS and the global wave of Islamic terrorism that is unabated from Paris to Orlando. 

Despite our outspending the next leading 8 nations combined on the military, we continue to be the laughing stock internationally with world leaders calling our Presidents everything from the devil to an SOB. 

No one would dare do this with Putin's Russia!

Why? Because they know the ridiculous price they would pay. 

We have long since passed the time when we should've stopped the whining, begging, and acting the victim, and instead start to do something real to defend ourselves and once again establish a no-nonsense deterrent, rather than a joke of red lines and hollow threats.

Our Commander-in-chief, instead of laying blame at the doorstep of Congress or world leaders doing the wrongdoing, should start to act his position. 

Perhaps, just perhaps, it's a single phone call to whoever has our drone that says something like, "You have exactly 2 hours to return the drone unharmed or the ship that was responsible for stealing it will pay the consequences--and the clock starts ticking now!"

The funny-sad thing is that bullies don't stop bullying until you stand up to them once and for all. 

A real Commander In Chief protects his nation and his people and doesn't let them be victimized in a endless cycle of violence and shame...and he does it before something really bad can happen. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Returning The US Drone

Who You Gonna Trust?

We start out life as innocent children with inherent trust in those that care for us. 

It is nice to feel safe, loved, and cared for by people who dote over your every gurgle, smirk, fart, and spaghetti sauce smear on the face. 

As people grow older and have negative experiences however, they become more guarded and jaded by what they learn about other people's motives and agendas and how vulnerable and hurt they can get. 

Unfortunately, these days kids have to fear from pedophiles, parents that are addicts and wildly abusive, and teachers that let out their emotional problems on children that look up to them for guidance and education. 

As we get older, there are bullies in school and thugs on the street. 

And even in the office, there are those that abuse their positions of power and can make life miserable for the regular hard-working Joes not looking for any problems.

In relationships, spouses that cheat on one another and the resulting breakups have heart-wrenching effects on families. 

But perhaps, what is even worse than individual people that can hurt us are when the very institutions that are the bedrock of our society become corrupt and abusive of their authority and result in our loss of trust in them.

Already in 2010, trust in government was reaching new lows of 19%.

By 2014, trust in corporate America had eroded to just 36%.

Similarly, in 2016, trust in the news media fell to all time lows of 32%.

Reading about the clutching unto power of Fidel Castro's dictatorship for half a century in Cuba did not seem that far a stretch after seeing the powerful and dangerous political machine here in our own U.S.A. working to keep people in the seat of power almost at any cost to the country and the people. 

What was good for people was clearly last place to what was good for the ruling elites not just in Cuba anymore!

Similarly, the notion of a fair and balanced media went out the window with this last election, where investigative journalism became an oxymoronic term and idea. 

As for corporate America, outsourcing, shoddy goods, inflated advertising, short-term profiteering, rigged governance, and oversized pay packages to the C-suite left a handful of socially-conscious corporations stranded on a desert island of greed and raw capitalism.

Neither children nor adults are victims or sheep to be bullied or manipulated by abusers and manipulators in society. 

A free press so needed to keep corruption in check in the rest of public and private sector society has itself been infected by the bug of bias, bigotry, and personal agendas. 

Who can we trust when evil can overtake good temporarily to break bodies and souls of it's victims?

Ultimately, the people have the final say in keeping the wrongs in society from taking deep root and not letting nasty "big brothers" do the really bad things and take us down the wrong paths.

There are good people with integrity that we can trust, maybe just not everyone we'd like to. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Who You Gonna Trust?

United Nations UNjust

Now I understand what the UN (as in United Nations) really stands for...

It's predominantly UNjust and corrupt!

The United Nations Secretary once again today called out Israel for it's "occupation that grinds into its 50th year."

This builds on the other 2,342 times that the UN General Assembly has called out this "occupation" of land that Israel acquired when it's neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, and Syria) went to war against it in 1967 (after the prior wars of annihilation against Israel in 1948 and 1956).  

And yet as of June 2015, the UN Human Rights Council has condemned Israel 61 times--more than all other nations on this planet combined!

It's not only UNjust and hypocritical, but underlying it is the core of anti-Semitism for this body that is supposed to be based on equal rights, self-determination, and universal peace.

Ultimately, it's not an occupation that the UN is trying to deal with, but a preoccupation to deflect how wholly ineffective it is in every genuine major conflict in the world.  

Here are just some examples of the gross inaction by the esteemed UN when it comes to these occupations/militarizations (again, just to name a few):

1) Russia in Georgia and Ukraine

2) China in the South China Sea

3) India in Kashmir

4) Turkey in Cyprus

Moreover, just to put all this in perspective, where is the UN (or the prior League of Nations or other world leadership) when it comes to the hosts of genocides and ethnic cleansing estimates at below: (and this list doesn't even include the horrifying death tolls from the countless unjust wars, dictatorships, political unrest, purges, repressions and slavery):

Nazi Holocaust 11.0M

Ukraine 4.6M

Cambodia 2.1M

Bangladesh 1.7M

Armenia 1.1M

Rwanda 1.2M

Indian Partition .6M

Syria .5M

Greek .5M

Brazil .4M

Croatia .4M

Darfur .3M

Cambodia .2M

Pogroms .1M

It seems like the United Nations, if in the habit of shameful occupation name-calling and prejudiced resolutions, has missed the boat on millions being slaughtered and occupied around the world. 

Maybe it's time for the UN to stop picking on the minority, Jewish people (.2% of the world's population and with the Holy Land state the size of New Jersey), and start dealing with the real big problems in this world or maybe they just can't handle that. 

(Source Photo: here with attribution to United Nations)

United Nations UNjust

Should We Care What Others Think?

So I was talking with someone and they were telling me how self conscious they feel about what others think of them.

They said when they were in school, they were picked on, bullied, labeled, and made to feel different and excluded.

Whether it was their hair that was different or their lunchbox that got taken and hidden from them, the other kids were relentless. 

Now in life, they are still dealing with all those feelings.

Do they look right? 

Are they educated enough?

Is their profession something others will admire them for?

And on and on. 

And at a certain point, I said, "Isn't it more important what you think about yourself than what others think about you?"

And they said, "Sure, but I still feel like I have to live up to other people's standards. I don't want them to think bad about me or talk behind my back!"

I understand this way of thinking is based on trauma from the past and feelings of inadequacy and not fitting in. 

And we can spend our whole lives chasing this illusive acceptance from others. 

Or we can decide to pursue we what believe in and love, and to find healing in the good we do, rather than the nods or winks from others that we receive. 

If we are trying to live up to somebody else's arbitrary standards of perfection, cool, or being in the in-crowd, we may never be good enough.

Instead, if we pursue what we know is right from our moral compass and our heart and soul, and always do our best, we will attain the satisfaction that comes with healthy self-development and maturation. 

Seeking unconditional acceptance and love can definitely leave you feeling frustrated, self-hating, and even quite alone. 

But accepting yourself, developing yourself, and giving to G-d and to others will always leave you feeling fulfilled. 

Forget living as if your in the fishbowl, and strive for the Superbowl of achievement through incremental progress and goal attainment in your life. 

Start with making yourself proud and the others will come around. And if for some reason they don't, it's truly their deficiency and loss and not yours!

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Should We Care What Others Think?

7 Mind-F*cking Arguments

So my daughter took a training class in critical thinking at work. 

And she brought home an excellent handout from the instructor, Haywood Spangler, about how people try to get you to their point of view, but without any real solid reasoning behind it.

My mother-in-law calls this concept in blunt terms, mind-f*cking!

Here are some examples:

1) Genetic Fallacy - Rejecting an idea based on where or who it comes from, rather than the merits of the idea itself.  I call this one, you're an idiot, so your ideas are idiotic. 

2) Circular Reasoning - Restating the conclusion, rather than proving it. I call this hammering or going no where fast. 

3) Red Herring - Diverting from the real issue as a distraction. I call this the shell game. 

4) Ad Hoc Reasoning - Coming up with a reason to simply reject your every objection. I call this just say it isn't so. 

5) False Dichotomy - Oversimplifying a complex situation and making it into only black and white. I call this my way or the highway.

6) Slippery Slope - Supposing that if one thing happens then something else terrible must necessarily follow. I call this following the false causality. 

7) Band Wagon - Everyone is doing it, so you need to also.  I call this classic groupthink or be careful not to stand in front of a moving train. 

Basically, when someone is not taking with you, but at you and trying to make you just do what they want, period, then watch out, you are probably being gloriously mind-f*cked. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

7 Mind-F*cking Arguments

Got Mic

My daughter went to a cool work seminar yesterday on emotional intelligence and she told me five important takeaways for creating EI health:

1. Self-awareness

2. Self-regulation

3. Self-motivation

4. Effective relationships

5. Empathy

Certainly, exerting self-control and working effectively with others is sort of obvious.

But it is not necessarily easy for everyone to do. 

Reflecting on this, some people seem to need no microphone or megaphone. 

They can't get off the elevating soapbox and behave instead is as if they are the whole show onto themselves. 

Enjoying to talk alone or above everyone else, maneuvering with drama and theatrics, and being cemented squarely in that center stage.

Perhaps highly intelligent about the subject matter, but often quite low on emotional intelligence. 

Seeing neither the objective nor the team, unable to recognize and respect others or to listen to alternate points of view, it may go on for quite some time before they come up for air. 

Overly extroverted, oblivious, uncaring, or perhaps needy or narcissistic.

Seeming to say, "I was created and stand in the center of the universe and all revolves around me!"

Chasing honor and dismissive as to their way or the highway--threats lurk, right or wrong. 

This is definitely a job for self-improvement and to personal advancement. 

Can EI be learned? 

Perhaps if the person can stop for a sec and just listen and be humbly part of the human race. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Got Mic

Equality Is Human Rights

I was most impressed recently with the organization (including the marketing and branding) behind the LGBT movement. 

The new bumper sticker with the yellow equal (=) sign.

The people on the street in yellow "Equality" t-shirts wanting to talk and promote themselves.

The tablet computers they are carrying equipped with slide presentation on equal rights (and their association with the larger issue on their website for human rights).  

The on-the-spot electronic sign up for either monthly donations and/or petition for the Equality Act to amend the Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation. 

Religious beliefs aside, and as long as you don't hurt others, people are people and should not be discriminated against. 

All people should be treated fairly and protected from disparate or unfair treatment, bullying or worse. 

Equality really is human rights. ;-)

(Source Photos: Andy Blumenthal)

Equality Is Human Rights

Attack On Human Rights

So we're sitting in the coffee shop and this guy near us has some books on the table. 

He's reading three things:

- The Holy Bible

- Second Amendment Primer

- The Heller Case (the landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 2008 protecting an individual's right to bear arms for self-defense in "federal enclaves"). 

So somebody says jokingly, "You think he's a Republican?"

It made me think how we get judged by not only our behaviors, but also by our apparent beliefs, politics, and associations. 

Even if we don't necessarily do anything wrong or controversial, people see us, sum us up, and place judgment upon us. 

Moreover, while we may have a legal right to do something, people may still look disparagingly on us for exercising our rights.

Speak your mind freely, practice your religion openly, stand firm on privacy, own a gun in a liberal part of town, and you may find yourself being stared, pointed, or sneered at, whispered about, threatened, harassed, or otherwise disapproved of in small and/or big ways. 

My question is how is something a right if people still can mistreat you for exercising it in appropriate ways?  

I've heard people say things like you're eligible for X, Y, or Z, but you're not entitled to it.

They confuse rights with eligibility, rather than entitlement. 

So some people water down our Bill of Rights that way--thinking, saying, and acting in way that you are eligible to do something, BUT only if you ask nicely or do it a certain way that the other person arbitrarily approves of, and not that you are entitled to it as a basic human right!

Yes, of course, we all need to behave responsibly and not yell fire in a crowded theater, but that doesn't mean that human rights are subject to the whim of people's mood's, tempers, personal views, and bullying behavior. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Attack On Human Rights

Why Yell And Intimidate The Child?

So at the table next to us this morning at breakfast was a mean looking lady and a fidgety young child. 

The lady as we found out over the course of their dialogue was the child's grandmother. 

And she wouldn't stop berating this kid, maybe 5-years old. 

Grandmother: "Don't you dare get up from the table until I'm done with my coffee, [and then this weird chilling] thank you."

Child: Obviously looking to run around and have some fun, "But I just want to go."

Grandmother:  Who has finished her breakfast and coffee and is just making a continuing point, "You'll wait until I'm done, and I say we're ready, [and again, the long controlling pause and then] thank you."

Child: "I'm tired."

Grandmother: "Then you'll go upstairs, get back into bed and go to sleep, and no tv, just sleep--you will not move!"

Child: Looks up helplessly sad.

Grandmother: Now the truth starts to come out, "You know I don't like the way you treat you mother. Your disrespectful! And that won't go with me."

Child: Appears to not really understand what she is saying and legs dangle anxiously off the chair, but clearly very afraid to get up.

Grandmother: "You'll learn to be respectful to your mother. You will learn!"

Child: Head leaning sideways on table, says nothing. 

Grandmother: Makes child wait some more and more, and finally, "Now we can go."

Child: Child picks head up and runs to take her hand. 

Grandmother: Sneers and smirks with her power over the child--she looks like a freakin' witch. 

Whole scene was sort of heartbreaking. 

My wife and I look at each other, and shake our heads.

This was not teaching or loving, but something else and it wasn't normal or nice. 

I say, "Perhaps, when a child is abused this way--day after day, year after year--this is why they grow up and then do horrible and hateful things."

It's amazing how adults take out their issues on children--and they think it's legit--but deep down you can see it really isn't--and the children and society pays for the sins of the adults. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Why Yell And Intimidate The Child?

Shut Up, Pleez!

Some people just don't know when to turn down the volume or shut it off, altogether. 

Perhaps they don't have enough to do, are craving attention, trying to make a name for themselves, are plain 'ol destructive, or are simply acting the fool and looking for their next victim.

But they have to get into everyone else's business, telling them how to do their jobs, taking over and hostage any meeting they can shove their way into with their private agendas, emailing everyone and their mother with their henpecking of the day, and demanding their needs are the priority and rises up over everyone elses--no matter whom or what else is going on. 

These people think they have an open mic and they are going to grab it, hold it, and never let it go. 

You beg them to stop, to control themselves, to work out their issues constructively, to give others a chance, to get in line, to let you do your job and they should do theirs, to get some situational and personal awareness, but rather than putting the mic down....

No, they see your calm and rationale requests for peace as squirming capitulation and the opportunity to hit you again and again. 

Everyone else has already given up and just won't respond or even acknowledge the Chicken Little screaming over and over again "The sky is falling"--when it isn't, and when so much important work is getting done by very hardworking and good people, who know how to act professionally. 

The kids nowadays say it straight up, "shut your pie hole!"

And that is really such a good idea. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Shut Up, Pleez!

100 Times Harassed!

After my last blog on stopping sexual assault, a colleague brought this other video to my attention.

32 million views and 120 thousand comments and counting. 

This young lady walks around the streets of New York for 10 hours in jeans and a t-shirt and is verbally harassed a 100 times--not including winks and whistles. 

Women (and men) should not have to live in fear, shame, or be abused doing nothing but living their lives peacefully and respectfully. 

Darn, can the folks out there show some respect and decency.

This could be your mother, wife, sister, or daughter...think about it.

Video sponsored by IHollaback. 

100 Times Harassed!

Even Tolerance Has Limits

This torn down sign in Washington, D.C. caught my eye.

It's about ending bullying and teaching tolerance. 

This poster specifically has to do with LGBT, but the universal message of acceptance is more broad. 

While each of us has our own beliefs, we should allow others to have theirs as well. 

My father used to tell me basically (within G-d's law), "You can do whatever you want in life as long as you don't hurt yourself or anyone else."

However, I am reminded this week that not everyone lives by the same common sense and decency. 

I read in the Jerusalem Post about Palestinian Media Watch posting a Hamas video yesterday threatening "stabbing attacks [in Israel] everywhere...[and] suicide attacks on every bus, cafe, and street."

Moreover, Arutz Sheva tells how a female Egyptian lawyer "recommended that Arab men begin sexually harassing Jewish women" as a mean of fighting Israel. 

Then watching the news and seeing Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists from Gaza shooting missiles and intentionally aiming to try to hit major Israeli cities and population centers, airplanes, ports, and other critical infrastructure like the nuclear facility in Dimona that could potentially spread radiation and kill untold numbers of people--I am reminded morality is not universal. 

While Israel calls the residents in Gaza to vacate before an attack on then empty buildings--the terrorists that Israel is fighting try to kill as many civilians as possible--at which time, they would presumably sing, dance, and hand out candy to the kids to celebrate as is their custom.

Like the sign calling for tolerance that was essentially torn from the pole, we have to remember tolerance for others is one thing, but there are limits when they actively seek to harm (themselves or) others. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Even Tolerance Has Limits

Who's The Boss (The Good and Bad) ?

Harvard Business Review had a helpful list of 8 leadership types: 

1. Strategists - (Chess game) - provide vision, strategy, enterprise architecture.
2. Change agents - (Turnaround expert) - reengineering the organization.
3. Transactors - (Deal-maker) - make deals and negotiate positive outcomes.
4. Builders - (Entrepreneur) - create something new.
5. Innovators - (Idea generator) - solve difficult problems.
6. Processors - (Efficiency expert) - run organization like a well-oiled machine.
7. Coaches - (Develop People) - get the best out of people for a high-performance culture.
8. Communicators - (Influencer) - explain clearly what (not how) needs to be done to succeed.

I would say these are the positive archetypes of leadership, but what about the negative leadership models?

Here's a shot at the 8 types of awful leaders (and wish they throw in towel and go away):

1. Narcissists - (Self-centered) - focused on stroking their own egos and pushing their own agendas, rather than the success of mission and people.
2. Power mongers - (Domineering) - Looking to grow their piece of the corporate pie, not the pie itself.
3. Competitors - (Win-Lose) - deals with colleagues as enemies to defeat, rather than as teammates to collaborate with.
4. Micromanagers - (My way or the highway) - doesn't delegate or people the leeway to do their jobs, rather tells them how to do it the right and only way. 
5. Insecure babies- (Lacking in self-confidence) - marginalizes or gets rid of anyone who is a challenge to their "leadership," rather than valuing and capitalizing on diversity.
6. Sadists - (Bullying) - use their leadership pulpits to make others squirm under their oppressive thumbs and they enjoy it, rather than using their position to help people.
7. Thieves (Credit grabbers) - steal other people's ideas and recognition for their own self-promotion, rather than elevate others for their contributions. 
8. Biased baddies - (Whatever I want) - manage arbitrarily by subjective management whim and playing personal favorites, rather than through objective facts and maintaining equity. 

How many of you have dealt with the good as well as the bad and ugly?  ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Who's The Boss (The Good and Bad) ?

Letters Of Hope

This was a sign in Starbucks in Gaithersburg, MD that got my attention.

It was different--it wasn't advertising for a local garage sale, real estate, a tutor, or cleaning service. 

Instead, it asks people to "write an anonymous letter to a survivor of abuse, violence, rape, trauma, or bullying."

When I got home, I looked at their website, aletterforyou.org.

I saw some of the letters that had been written on the home page as well as an archive with monthly letters going back to March 2013.

It was inspiring that people write and submit these letters of empathy, love, caring, and unity. 

And that someone would advertise for these, collect and post them for abuse victims to find some solace in. 

While of course, we gain strength through belief in G-d and a higher purpose in life, perhaps the real message of this letter writing project is that one major way for people to heal from the hurt caused by mean, misguided, or evil individuals is through the love and caring of good people. 

While the hurt and abuse of the past can never be undone, the charity and giving of the here and now can provide hope for a better tomorrow. ;-)

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Letters Of Hope