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January 18, 2010

Dude, where's my MLK Day?

UPI reports that, in Cincinnati today, "Construction work faces MLK Day protests". It's nice to see that Americans everywhere remember and honor a great man and world leader. But implying that people who want to work today cannot work on a public school construction site?

Hey, Cincinnati NAACP Chapter, we love you. We love Dr. King. We love the Queen City. But the entire U.S. in not yet a nationalized Oberlin College. Not yet, anyway. Get the net. Excerpt:

CINCINNATI, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- An NAACP official said Cincinnati Public Schools construction sites faced protests Monday because of work taking place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Christopher Smitherman, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, said while students and school staff had off for Monday's holiday, construction workers were busy working on the day honoring the fallen civil rights leader, The Cincinnati Enquirer said.

"The public school offices are closed, the teachers are not working, the children are home from school, but, for some reason, Cincinnati Public Schools allows this work to go on on Martin Luther King Day,'' said Smitherman, whose fellow NAACP members were joined by Baptist Ministers Conference officials Monday.

School board president Eileen Cooper Reed defended the construction work on the public holiday, saying the administration allowed contractors to decide whether or not work would take place Monday.

"These are for the most part hourly employees,'' Reed said of the construction workers. "If they don't work, they don't get paid. There are a lot of people working today."

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)

Greenfield: When is anonymity "all talk, no responsibility"?

"Okay, kids, get your learn on. Today we will learn about the right of all Americans to throw stones at your house and run away like thieves into the night." Do see "All Talk, No Responsibility" at Scott Greenfield's Simple Justice. It's a piece we wish we had written about a new U.S. Supreme Court case (cert. just granted) that we will follow. Doe v. Reed, No. 09-559, concerns the "right" of Washington state petitioners to be anonymous after successfully bringing a referendum to the ballot for the November 2010 general election. The referendum seeks repeal of a controversial law on domestic partnership rights. Frankly, we could care less about the law at stake here. (We haven't read it.) The item on the ballot is not the issue. Anonymity in "getting it there" is. The Supreme Court's decision is expected early this summer.

Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)

Hassan: You can't teach attitude.

Sorry--but I'm no Stephen Covey. Most employees cannot be "saved". Burning inside 99.5% of all employees worldwide is an overwhelming ambition to Get Home, Eat Twinkies and Watch Wrestling.

What About Clients?, July 2, 2009

But some of us keep make-believing we can "inspire" attitude. We get hurt. Worse, buyers, customers, and clients get hurt.

This MSNBC video is worthwhile. The attitude "can't be taught in a course" part starts at about 2:50. A native of Pakistan, Fred Hassan was chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough from 2003 until late 2009, when in merged with Merck & Co. (Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. outside of North America). Hassan is now on Time Warner's Board.

Nearly everyone sane believes what Hassan is saying. But hardly anyone (except maybe Jack Welch) has the sand to both say and act on it. You don't need to be mega-rich and have attended HBS to tell the truth. Straight talk is not a luxury of the world's elite.

Say it out loud first: "Very few humans will amount to the dream employees my customers and my firm want and deserve."

To be sure, "nice", "intelligent", "good", "talented" and even "brilliant" is not enough. It was never enough. You need people on fire. Is that what you have? Do you feel as though you have to demand quality? (If "yes", a bad sign.) Are you hiring and keeping people who are poor to mediocre--and then "pretending" they are good or will come around? (If "yes", a bad plan.)

Unless you have it in writing from your buyers, customers and clients that retaining "so-so" employees thrills them, get a new strategy.

Posted by JD Hull at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)