Potential – DNC-Consulting

Build People – Focus on Potential, a Leadership Task

Tools While walking through Home Depot, my favorite aisles are those aisles with tools, power tools, hand tools, and so forth. My mind always goes on imaginative wanderings, thinking about what those tools will go out into the world and do. Will an inexperienced hand learn on those tools? Will they build grand buildings? Will they destroy? What will those tools help accomplish? The potential held in a tool is as much a mystery as looking at a babe in arms and thinking, what will that soul go forward and do? I never become bored thinking about the potential held in a tool as part of the ongoing saga of humanity.

Without hands, a tool is useless; the tool cannot act independently. Guns do not shoot themselves; hammers do not strike anything alone; thus, we can see that tools need someone to fulfill the measure of their creation. For good or ill, the tool is only ever a force multiplier and requires intention through another party to act. A critical point to understand is the person’s intention of holding the tool, who decides whether that tool will build or destroy, and the value to the owner.

Knowledge Check! But, this article is about people’s potential; why begin discussing tools? To a leader, each person is a tool requiring training, delegation, trust, and motivation to achieve the measure of their creation. Have you ever witnessed an unskilled manager use, or abuse, their people? My first officer in the US Army National Guard was one of these unskilled managers. The stories and experiences from this manager are legion, fraught with examples of what not to do and the hubris of a person placed into a position of power above their competence level. I have long wondered, what did this officer’s boss think about this officer’s performance?

The first lesson in building people is this; everyone has someone they report to. Do your people know who they report to, and are they comfortable talking to this person? Consider the following:

“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – General Colin Powell

In more than nine years of Military Service, I can count on one hand the number of officers I trusted enough and were approachable sufficient to bring problems to, and I won’t even need the pinky and thumb. In talking to friends and family about this issue, their experiences are similar. Worse, the same problem exists with the non-commissioned officer corps. In my professional pursuits outside military service, I have worked with precisely one boss to whom I felt comfortable bringing issues.

While I strive to be the leader I wish I could take problems to, there is a realization that to my teams, I am being measured, weighed, and if found wanting, will never know I failed to be the leader to whom I would bring problems. Consider this for a moment. A leader could be solving problems and thinking, “My people bring their problems to me QED: I am a good leader.” While never realizing they are detestable and hated by their people. All because their people only bring work-related problems, and then only rarely. In the US Navy, I experienced this exact issue more than once, and the officers all thought they were “God’s gift to their people.” Massive egos, compensating for being vile and despicable.

Leaders, take note:

1. What are the preferred names of the members of your teams?
2. When was the last time you shared problems and asked for input from your followers?
3. What are you learning daily, and who is teaching you?
4. Do you know your followers sufficiently to advise?
5. What quirks, talents, skills, or abilities do your people possess that you appreciate?

How you answer these questions determines more than your destiny as a leader and your team’s productivity in achieving business goals. When I begin a new project and select tools, I review what I know about my tools. My hammer has a loose head, but I will not change it out because it has the smoothness of age and is the best hammer for finishing work. This wrench has scratches in the head and a chisel mark in the handle that is exactly 6” and is handy in a pinch. Thus, when used on soft brass, the head will leave marks in the metal on which it is used. All this and more is reviewed, strengths and weaknesses, quirks and peculiarities, all known before engaging in a new project. When you know your tools, their potential is declared, and in communicating their potential, how and where they can be best used becomes common knowledge.

“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy.” – General Schwarzkopf

“Ninety-Nine present of leadership failures are failures of character.” – General Schwarzkopf

Several of the worst people I have ever worked for had the moral integrity of a used car salesperson. They could not be trusted, except to be trusted to stab you in the back. No honesty, never forthright, always acting for the downfall of anyone they deemed was competition, and constantly engaged in stealing glory while meting out the worst punishments. While the experiences fulfilled another axiom from General Schwarzkopf, the education was brutal to suffer through.

“You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it, and, therefore, you learn how to do it.” – General Schwarzkopf

These experiences alone would qualify me to write this article; however, through a multitude of academic classes and degrees, I have gained more fundamental qualifications to justify what I am about to declare. If you think a title makes you a leader, you are the problem in your organization’s leadership! In working with newly minted, freshly commissioned, officers in the US Army and the US Navy, I have learned through sad experience too many consider the rank and titles their “Golden Ticket” to being abusers of people through “leadership.” One particular example stands out more clearly from the others.

While serving in the US Navy, my first Chief Engineer was book smart and common sense inept! This man was more dangerous with tools in his hand, even though he could verbatim quote pages from maintenance manuals. Shortly before I arrived on the ship, the Chief Engineer had started a fire on board the vessel in multiple engine and auxiliary rooms by applying shaft brakes to an operating shaft instead of to the shaft that had been locked out and tagged out. The Chief Engineer then compounded his errors by blaming the engineers who had properly locked out/tagged out the shaft needing maintenance. This was a major issue that proved cream rises and trash sinks, and this leader was absolute trash!

The bitter cherry on this crap sundae, the example of the Chief Engineer, was a symptom of a greater sickness and moral desert in the Engineering Department. Chiefs were force-multiplying the Chief Engineers example, and the senior non-commissioned officers were force-multiplying the chiefs example. Who suffered, the lowest enlisted, and the rest of the ship. Maintenace was rarely done properly, watchstanding was hit or miss, and the example plagued the Engineering Department for years after the Chief Engineer was summarily dismissed.

The only redeeming factor from this experience, I learned the lessons of what negative leadership does well. Leaders take note:

1. If character problems lead to poor performance or behaviors detestable in your teams, look no further than the reflection in the mirror for both an answer and a root cause.
2. Your followers will observe what you do more than what you say. How are you acting?
3. Stop looking up, you are a leader, and your first vision should be to look sideways and make sure your people are on the same level before you look up.
4. Before embracing new strategies, first review character!

The following is critical to building people and promoting potential:

“To be an effective leader, you have to have a manipulative streak – you have to figure out the people working for you and give each tasks that will take advantage of their strengths.” – General Schwarzkopf

Leadership is a balancing act between helping people take advantage of their strengths and training them to overcome individual weaknesses. Yet, leaders often act like managers, never training, and always micro-managing to shave strengths preventing competition with the leader. Which are the actions of neither a leader nor a manager, but a tyrant! Petty authoritarians acting the role of tyrants produce more harm than war, poverty, and disease combined.

What actions are needed? We conclude with the following:

“TRUE courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job.” – General Schwarzkopf

The job of a leader begins with being a good follower; even if to be a good follower, you must be the loyal opposition standing like a rock doing the right thing in the face of adversity. Moral integrity is critical to being a good leader and is foundational to building people. Leaders take special note and act accordingly:

1. What is your moral code?
2. Why do you embrace those morals?
3. Do you understand integrity is doing what is right, especially when you think nobody is watching? Do you have moral integrity?
4. Do you know your identity, and are you comfortable with your identity?
5. What character do you possess, and is that character tied to your morality and integrity?

When you are placed to influence people, build potential by first knowing, and then doing that which is the harder right, than the easier wrong.

© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Bigotry or Racism – Low Expectations For Thee Produce Problems for We!

Angry Wet Chicken A headline on YouTube today discussing the bigotry of low expectations in public schools has me fuming. Having written multiple times about how it is racist, immoral, unethical, and illegal to treat people differently based upon the poverty of their parents, and in doing so hinder the potential of a learner, is criminal child abuse of the worst kind! Yet, what do we find in the news, all but daily; lower expectations based upon poverty, race, religion, handicap, and so much more because of the inferior minds of the teachers and school boards.

What is Bigotry?

Knowledge Check! Bigotry is being obstinate and intolerantly devoted to one’s own opinion and prejudices; of course, bigotry also classifies one as believing in the characteristics of a bigot, but that is another discussion entirely. A teacher or school board member holding onto the myth that a student’s race or “economic classification” restrains that student’s potential is a bigoted method of thinking that should have been stomped out of public schools in the 1940s or earlier. However, as this blog has recorded, the public schools in America have been purposefully designed to create dullards, anti-scholars, and functional illiterates since the early days of the 1900s, courtesy of John Dewey.

What is Racism?

Bobblehead Doll Racism is the adherence to the fundamental belief that race is the single most important determinant of human traits and capacities, that racial differences produce inferior and superior races, and harmony among people can be achieved through racial ranking. Essentially, racism takes bigotry and hones and focuses bigotry on racial differences as the sole determinant between people. What is not said, not implied, and not discussed is that bigotry and racism are extensions of each other; thus, to call low expectations bigotry is to name those holding low-expectations racists nicely!

Why Does the Difference Matter?

From the article, “The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations… Through Mathematics Education,” on the Racial Equity Institute, LLC website, we find the following:

“The phrase “the soft bigotry of low expectations” was coined by President George W. Bush in 2000 in a speech to the NAACP that marked the launching of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Bush asserted discrimination is still a reality, even when it takes different forms. Instead of Jim Crow, there’s racial redlining and profiling. Instead of separate but equal, there is separate and forgotten” (George W. Bush’s Speech to the NAACP, 2000). After promising that his administration would enforce civil rights, Bush announced that he would be confronting “another form of bias: the soft bigotry of low expectations…” (George W. Bush’s Speech to the NAACP, 2000). He acknowledged that educational achievement gaps fall along socioeconomic and racial lines but evaded discussing any systemic causes of these gaps.”

Plato 2 What are these systemic causes for gaps? The answer is relatively easy, simple, and straightforward, and no single piece of legislation will fix the problem until the 800#-Gorilla is addressed. The Public School system was intentionally designed to mentally abuse children, classifying their potential by race, religion, color, sex, gender, handicap, socioeconomic status, and every other line of distinction. All in an attempt to bring about the socialist utopia dreamed up by John Dewey in the late 1890s.

President Bush’s speech argued that school achievement gaps produce discrimination as if how a school works in one part of town creates the gaps and failures in another part of town. Thus stealing resources from one school to deliver to another school would fix the discrimination gaps. This is a glorified wealth redistribution scheme, and it has failed miserably! It refused to discuss the reality in schools that the teachers and the school boards have attained power based upon discriminating upon race, gender, sex, socioeconomic status, and the intentional child abuse of the students. Plato 3

President Bush failed to understand that raising the bar will require destroying more than a century of ingrained thinking and training of teachers to abuse students. Eradicating the discrimination will demand the rejection and destruction of the school board models, the Federal Hold on education, and placing states back in charge of the education in their states even if it means that each state has its own model of education. Angry Grizzly Bear

Regardless, the main problem in America’s schools is not the gender, sex, socioeconomic status, religion, etc., of the students, but the bigoted and racist minds of the teachers and school boards who would hinder students’ potential by setting low expectations for academic achievement. I have worked with students across America; they are worth more than their teachers claim, can do more than their teachers think, and possess innate abilities, skills, talents, and raw potential. But, without high expectations to aim at, the students fail themselves and live lives more diminutive than their worth and value, thinking they are stupid, dyslexic, unable to learn, and more. All because the teachers and school board members set low expectations, refused to challenge the students’ own beliefs, and failed to do their jobs!

When a school board, principal, and teacher fails to do their job, they commit child abuse in the most heinous and deceitful manner, and this abuse must cease forthwith! As a new school year opens, let us challenge these low expectations, these abhorrent standards for performance, and these Neolithic ideas that should have died with John Dewey!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot: The Illinois Edition

Exclamation Mark The story is linked in case you missed the news on 09 July 2021; Illinois has become the first state in AMERICA to mandate ASIAN History be taught in K-12 education. Let that sink in for a moment. AMERICAN History has been abused, twisted, contorted, and NOT taught in AMERICAN schools in ANY of the 50-US States. But Illinois wants students to learn Asian History. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot Illinois!

What is the reported reasoning for this move?

According to a statement from Governor JB Pritzker, the reason for this move is as follows:

“With the recent rise in acts of violence and bigotry against the Asian American community, teaching students about the rich culture and important contributions of the Asian American community throughout history will help combat false stereotypes” [emphasis mine].

For your information, the legislation is called the “Teaching Equitable Asian American History Act,” and the special interest group pushing this legislative nightmare is Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago. The website includes a Los Angeles branch, the Asian Law Caucus, AAJC, and an Atlanta branch. Another special interest group involved in this legislation is PAVE (Pan Asian Voter Empowerment). My first question about this legislation comes from the name, “What is equitable Asian American History, especially when American History is not being taught?” Lemmings 5

What is in the curriculum?

The curriculum declares it is compliant with Common Core standards, which doesn’t mean anything as teaching masturbation to first graders is compliant with Common Core Standards. However, PBS Learning media has a website dedicated to the curriculum plan for teaching Asian American History, even though the curriculum does not describe “equitable.” PBS Learning media claims to be “pleased to present over 30-lesson plans based on a fiver hour documentary Asian Americans in American History. While the Illinois legislation claims that K-12 will begin learning about Asian History, the reality on the PBS Learning media is that the published lesson plans only go from third grade to twelfth grade. Leading to my next question, “Where is this push for historical teaching coming from?”

Plato 2 I have not viewed the series; I have barely scraped the surface of the curriculum offered. What I have seen of the curriculum worries me. I call it “whitewashing” history, to glance over the actions of one group to reflect how other groups were treated, with the intent of stirring the racial divides and creating more chasms based on race alone. What I see in this curriculum does nothing to “ … teach students about the rich culture and important contributions of the Asian American community throughout history” or to “combat false stereotypes.” I ran a search engine using the string, “Violent migrant worker strikes, involving Asian people,” and the first item on the list returned originates with the Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project, sponsored by the University of Washington.

The context, labor union organizing, which everyone should know, includes the growth and development of Marxist ideology in America. How did the labor unions create a space for themselves? They drove wedges between groups of people based solely upon race, creating contention, becoming violent, and hiding behind equity and fairness to escape responsibility and accountability for laws they sundered.

Let me be clear!

Knowledge Check! Let me be clear; every group across the skin color spectrum has historically had problems in American society. Any time race separates, chaos, confusion, and violence are bred! I am proud that America has grown out of oppressing people based on the color of their skin and do not judge American history as racist just because historically, people acted out of fear when treating their fellow men fairly. History is full of people who made terrible choices, and teaching that these choices were poorly made is important, but race, religion, handicap, etc., should NOT be the focus on the content in history. The focus of history should be on what grew out of specific actions in specific epochs of time.

America IS better for the Civil War, even though the US Government continues to hinder economically and is biased against the states that formed the Confederate States. A dumb historical decision that has kept many states from achieving greatness is due to President Lincoln’s death and the hostility in the US House of Representatives, the US Senate, and President Andrew Johnson. All of whom believed that the Confederate States needed to be mightily punished. In contrast, President Lincoln was pushing for national forgiveness. Thus, we need to focus on the events, not the race, color, lines of separation and division, but on the outcomes and the fruits from those decisions when teaching history! The Duty of Americans

State’s Rights

I affirm in clear language that a state has the right to set the curriculum of government-mandated schools. I support state’s rights to the fullest and would see each state prepare their students to meet the world and win! Paradoxically, I also affirm in language clear that this legislation will do NOTHING to “combat false stereotypes” but will only increase racial division and disharmony in Illinois and any other state who refuses to learn the lessons from history.

History and Racial Focus

Content of their Character Think about this quote for a moment, who are the biggest race hustlers in America? History has taught that when race is the only concern worth knowing people care only about race, to their demise. Focusing on race is the sole reason why I have questioned, and continue to question, the validity of the arguments for National “Name your Favorite Minority” Month celebrations. There are absolutes in this world; focusing solely upon race as a choice, will breed racial tensions as a consequence, is an absolute. Recent history under President Obama reflected this exact issue to the Nth degree, yet nobody wants to have that discussion. Why; because of race!

Bob Marley When your focus is solely upon an individual’s race, race will be the only thing learned, the only lesson absorbed, and the fruit of that lesson are bitter. Have people from various races achieved great things; absolutely, but why should their achievements be diminished by focusing solely upon their race? Why should their achievements only be mentioned during “Name your Favorite Minority” monthly celebrations? Has the 1960s taught us nothing about the character, knowledge, talents, curious minds, and the work performed where race was NEVER an issue? I have books galore in my home; I continue to collect books about famous people of great accomplishment; I have never cared a whit about that person’s sex or gender. Why; because their sex and gender, race, skin color, religion, handicap, or heritage have never been a factor. As a kid, a thrill ran through me when I read the preamble to the US Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” [emphasis mine].

Even today, these words continue to guide me. Show me; where in the Declaration of Independence does it discuss sex, race, heritage, religion, handicap, etc.? NOWHERE! A lesson America needs to relearn if she is to survive. What hinders the pursuit of happiness, capturing inalienable rights, and stops liberty; focusing upon that which divides instead of that which unites!

Patriotism From the National Archives website, we find the following regarding the Declaration of Independence:

“The Declaration of Independence states the principles on which our government, and our identity as Americans, are based. Unlike the other founding documents, the Declaration of Independence is not legally binding, but it is powerful. Abraham Lincoln called it “a rebuke and a stumbling-block to tyranny and oppression.” It continues to inspire people around the world to fight for freedom and equality” [emphasis in original].

Think about this for a moment. The American Identity, the bedrock principles upon which America was built, the power cell for liberty and freedom across the world, begins with a simple truth:

A document that is not legally binding holds power to inspire actions that unite people, provided our focus is not on those things which separate us. Cementing the lesson discussed herein, focus on race and racial division is the only lesson learned, and the resulting fruit is bitter, chaos ensues, and problems abound in violence. Why have we not learned these lessons from the 1960s, the Watt’s Riots, the death toll in Chicago that makes war zones safer than the streets of Chicago; the focus is on race, not the potential. The focus is on the sex, the invented genders, the handicaps, the religions, the heritages, etc., not on what is essential, character and potential, freedom, liberty, and equality under the law.

Knowledge Check! We need to get back to teaching history, where the focus is on how the decisions and actions from the past hinder or help the present so that the future can be better. Failing that, we desperately need to cease focusing upon race, gender, sex, religion, handicap, and heritage as these things only matter to the individual and not to historical records. Failing that, America fails, and the light of liberty and freedom will be lost to the annals of history forever. So, gather the fruit you choose, focus on race if you prefer, focus on gender, sex, handicap, veterans status, and every other line of separation. Your fruit gathered will be most bitter indeed, for you will miss the rich tapestry of human interaction, for the dirt caught in the fabric.

Powering my third and final question to the legislative and executive branches of Illinois, “Knowing all this, why are you focused on race and forcing students to focus solely upon race?”

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

The Proper and Improper Role of Government – Chapter 5: Socialism, Communism, Capitalism, and Envy

As a kid, the USSR loomed as an ever-present force that could at anytime wipe America off the map with a pre-emptive nuclear strike. Of course, America would retaliate with nuclear weapons, and this would create MAD or “mutually assured destruction.” People understood MAD was bad, but the communists among us were more insidious about portraying communism. The news media showed bread lines, soap lines, and the bitter pictures of enslavement under communism. Thus, socialism was the way to go, and the communists were selling socialism as the better way to government.

Except, socialism is communism light, and when the socialists run out of other people’s money, communism takes over. All because under capitalism, the results of one’s choices and consequences are harsh and cannot be hidden. Those preaching socialism and communism were envious of the capitalists who achieved and wanted what others possessed but without the hard work required to obtain benefits.

One other reality is critical to understanding the role of socialism; there is an axiom that states something like, “today’s students are tomorrow’s government policymakers.” This is precisely what has happened; the students of the 1960s are now setters of government policy, holding onto the reigns of power through sheer willpower, to see America die before they do. Socialism has been taught in the classrooms of government-mandated schools since the early 1900s to purposefully bring down the liberty and freedoms of the citizens of every representative government, out of envy for those in power in communist countries. Refusing to believe that under communism, less than .01% are powerful, rich, and mighty, whereas everyone else suffers, grovels, and struggles!

Socialism, Communism, and Capitalism – Detailed for understanding.

What is communism? Webster relates that communism is “A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which the people equally share all goods.” Except, everywhere communism has been tried, one-party rule leads to sycophants and ideologues ruling and taking what they want, while everyone else suffers, held in power by hired guns. Cuba was an incredible island nation, then Fidel Castro came along, and now Cuba is a cesspool of suffering, misery, and stagnation. Venezuela used to be the crown jewel of South America; now, it is a war zone, a catastrophe, and a pit of wasted potential. Czarist Russia was no picnic, but it was much greater than the vulture of communism that feasted on the body of Czarist Russia while it poisoned the world. China before communism was enlightened, capable, able, and has joined the ranks of failed communist planning and operations.

What is socialism? Socialism is defined in Webster as “Any of [the] various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.” As well as, “The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which the means of production are collectively owned, but an utterly classless society has not yet been achieved.” Is the connection clear as to why socialism is referred to as “communism light?”

One last point about socialism, “legislation intended to improve the condition of the working-man. Among the measures include the insurance of workmen against accident, sickness, and old age, and the establishment of cooperative associations under state protection.” Envy of other countries having benefits has caused legislation that never should have happened in America and many other representative governments due to costs, loss of liberty and freedom, and the destruction of fundamental processes in the “Rule of Law.” How expensive has unemployment insurance been in non-monetary costs? Jobs have been lost forever, the expense of hiring has pushed jobs out of America, the expense has reduced wages of those lucky enough to be hired, but the growth of government and the millstone of bureaucrats has cost more than money, we have lost liberty, freedom, and potential.

What is capitalism? The common definition of capitalism in Webster states capitalism is “An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned, and development occurs through the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.” Webster’s dictionary has come under the same influence of plastic words and liberal ideology. Webster also defines capitalism as “The concentration or massing of capital in the hands of a few; also, the power or influence of large or combined capital.” Do a few condense capital; yes, no doubt. Except, when there is less government, and people keep their envy to themselves, capitalism brings the most freedom to the most people better than any other form of government attempted in human history. So, while capitalism has its faults, which are legion, capitalism is not the problem as it embraces private property ownership. Private property ownership is freedom from government oppression!

Please note, it is entirely acceptable to reach a level of financial comfort, look around, see suffering, and want to aid in the relief of suffering. This is a good thing and expected in a capitalistic system. Those paying for the relief of suffering are not government officials hired through forced taxation. In a socialized system, the money is stolen, legally, through forced taxation, then handed freely to those suffering, with several cuts made for wages and benefits of the workers doling out other people’s money. In a communist system, political leaders get fat and enjoy all the benefits, while everyone else suffers without relief. Yet, too many people would see you in a communist system and suffer, for there is no envy. If you believe that, I have a gravity-resistant bridge to the moon for you to buy.

Envy

Envy has been one of the seven deadliest sins for a reason; it breeds violence and discontent. Webster shines a light on envy describing it this way, “A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another.” Fear is disgust and envy paired for the weak to overcome the powerful. The disease of envy includes admiration, jealousy, discontent, disbelief, lies, and a host of emotions that overwhelm a person’s mind to the point where they become irrational and hostile. Another resource claims envy (from Latin invidia) is an emotion that occurs when a person lacks another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desire it or wishes that the other lacked it. Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune, stirred by “those who have what we ought to have.”

While academics continue to split hairs between jealousy and envy and strive to create more distinctions, what has been described regarding envy is sufficient for my purposes. The purpose of discussing envy is to aid in clearing the confusion surrounding envious people who have a modicum of power, as they perceive it, and then abuse that power for their own benefit. For example, Trump Derangement Syndrom (TDS) was already a disease long before President Trump left the private sector for the political arena. TDS remains rooted in envious people acting violently, abusing power, and acting unethically and immorally because of the envy they feel for President Trump’s success.

Consider Speaker Pelosi (D), who ripped her copy of President Trump’s State of the Union speech up in front of cameras. She was jealous; her pride was hurt, and she felt envious and lacked a weapon to harm the president, so she acted immaturely and disrespected the sitting president. All this because, at heart, Speaker Pelosi (D) is nothing but a shallow and useless person, stuck in Congress and hating every minute of her tenure there because she could not obtain a higher office. She is envious of the Americans she despises and works 24/7/365 to destroy America, all because of her envy of other people’s success.

Social justice warriors, including President Obama, are full of envy and do everything they can to obtain revenge for self-inflicted wrongs. Envious people hate consequences for the choices they make. Envious people turn to drugs, alcohol, and other forms of self-medication, which in turn makes their self-loathing and self-hate worse. Then, these same envious people curse the success of others while demanding that someone else pay for the help they need to overcome their self-inflicted consequences.

I recently talked to a gentleman who was severely upset that democrats stole the 2020 elections, stuffing ballot boxes, allowing illegal immigration, and a host of other crimes that occur for votes. While I can understand his distress, he was envious of a political party for their success at suborning American Law. He left the conversation mad because he could not understand the role of envy in himself and what he was observing in others. Worse, the belief that justice and mercy are alive keeps him from acting to help change the situation, shift the paradigm, and improve the problems he mentioned to a solution. Envy captures the mind, placing shades and shutters over logic while unlocking emotion, many times without the person realizing what is occurring until that mind is chained in the captivity of envy.

There is a reason why envy is a deadly sin in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, mentioned in all the ancient books as a problem, and continues to infect people who refuse to learn. Unbridled emotions are captivity, not freedom! There is danger in the extremes of everything. Envy is in the extremes and imitates a minimal issue to capture the mind and control the person. Consider this, capitalism is the best, and envious people implement socialism to chain capitalism while rooting for communism to come in a takeover, thinking they will be better off and the “rich will finally pay their fair share.” Reality is always disappointing for envious people, and the result will be that everyone detests them when their plans come to fruition.

Understanding Money: Shifting the Paradigm on Money

Several years ago, I spent a significant amount of time trying to explain the different types of money to a very inexperienced young man. I was highly unsuccessful; so, I take this opportunity to explain various types of money and how they work in the scheme of things. I hope this explanation helps others to not only understand their own money, but also to become more cognizant of how governments spend your tax money.

Green money is cash. Green money is the dollars and cents in a bank account or your pocket and is easily spent. Image result for images, green money Green money is often called liquid money or liquid assets, liquid because the holder is presumed the owner, who is in possession of it and who can spend it freely any way he wishes. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. One of the first lessons most of us learned growing up was if you wanted to buy something and your pocket was empty you went without. Liquid assets are cash, green money, and are available to be spent in any way the holder chooses.

Non-liquid assets are conside Image result for images, house, car, boat red green money as a result of their sale; this is why a house, a car, a boat, and other such items are considered assets. The sale of the asset provides the opportunity to turn a non-liquid asset into a liquid asset. However, since many times the asset is employed as collateral for a loan, the sale of that asset means the loan holder is paid first from the sale. If the resale value is insufficient to cover the full loan owed, the loan, which is red money, can still be collected; this process is why red money is so important to understand.

Red money is debt. Red money always comes with a penalty called interest. Interest is green money turned red to return the profit to those who lent the initial funds or principle. That debt, be it a loan, a credit card, or other debt model, remain Image result for images, red debt trap s a burden to the borrower, continues to accumulate interest, and can be called due at any moment in time. While some laws protect the borrower from excessive interest rates, it remains important to know about and be cognizant of the interest rate trap.

The interest rate trap comes in several forms. While in the US Navy, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, a sailor buddy bought a beautiful car for $4000 with a 45% interest rate. He put $1500 in green money down, so the full loan amount, principle and interest, for 60-months was $7805.49, including the sales tax. When the car was stolen, later that month, the insurance company valued the car at only $1000, leaving the sailor to pay immediately $6805.49. This is one type of interest rate trap; another comes from Payday Loans. Borrow your next paycheck today, get the money today, and pay your paycheck back during the next 36-months at an interest rate between 30-60%. By the time the payday loan is paid off, more than four separate paychecks to cover a single paycheck loan will have been invested provided payments have been made on time and as quickly as possible.

While paying off this loan, you lose your job. You can lose your car as well because your car is sometimes used to insure your payday loan. If the resale value is insufficient, you lose your car, you lost your job, and now you still owe a considerable sum that gains interest. Red money is dangerous; like the sword of Damocles, the danger hangs by a tiny thread above the borrower; one wrong move and the sword falls. Debt, red money, can be helpful; but, careful planning and budgeting are required before entering into debt obligations. Always it is better to save and budget green money, or obtain investors, before contemplating debt.

Black money is dead Image result for images, black money money. Consider the person who takes green money and places those dollars and cents under a mattress or in a coffee can in their home. The cash is out of circulation, is not valuable enough to collect, and no one is benefiting from the money through interest. Black money can be created in other ways that will be explored later in this article.

The next type of money is blue money, also referred to as potential money. Consider a hammer. The hammer might cost $20.00 in green money to buy and bring home. In the hands of a trained construction worker, a $20.00 hammer, over the course of the hammer’s effective working life, has the potential to earn thousands of dollars in green money for the construction worker. Image result for images, blue dollars In the hands of an inexperienced worker, the hammer has the potential to cost thousands of dollars in green money. Training a person to improve their performance might cost $300 in green money; but, if that employee is able to improve his performance on the job, potentially millions of dollars are able to come into the company because of the training.

Money is created when it is borrowed and interest is paid on the loan. For example, Jack has an extra $500 (green money). He gives this money to his friend Joe in the form of a loan (red money). Joe takes the loan, adds to his business potential (blue money), and through increased profits is able to pay Jack his $500 loan plus the interest of $300. Hence, $300 (green money) is created as profits for Jack. While a simple analogy, understanding money should be simple.

Joe’s loan to Jack showed on Joe’s books as red money until the loan and interest were paid. During this time, Joe was also making green money, or profits sufficient to pay his workforce, his other obligations, and still retain sufficient to pay himself. Small business owners are not paid until everyone else is paid, and it is not uncommon for small business owners to be scraping by on the smallest margins because all their non-liquid assets are locked up in loans to keep the business afloat. When poor business practices begin risking inventory and equipment and shareholder investments are added into the equation, is it any wonder why small businesses struggle.

Money is also created when saved in the various saving tools offered by banks. The diligent saver can save $40 a week until he or she is 65 years of age and potentially have millions in the bank for retirement. Why, because the bank will pay interest to the saver from the interest collected on the loans the bank makes with the green money invested. Many different savings tools can be considered as non-liquid assets because of the agreements made between the saver and the bank. Generally, the longer the agreement for the bank to hold the money, the higher the interest rate paid as the bank can schedule payments and loan the same dollars more easily when the money of the saver is scheduled to be in the bank for a longer period of time.

Often Federal treasury departments of governments create money by printing more or larger bills. The problem with printing more money is one of surplus, which begins to increase interest rates and decrease value. Consider for a moment, if the only way to create money is to work money through lending, improving business, etc., then printing only makes harder putting money to work. Too much money on the market creates negatives; negatives include lower dollar value, which makes items cost more, and increased interest rates, which makes borrowing costs increase. More importantly, except for necessities, the willingness of producers to spend money stops. These are normal cause and effect actions. A long enough period of decreased willingness to spend money and an economic downturn is initiated.

State, City, County, Town, municipal governments are even more pernicious with their plots and plans. On the local government level, money cannot be printed; hence, debt is entered into and municipal bonds are sold to create money in the private sector, which is then paid to the government in increased taxes, but the money lent to the local government was already spent. One truth discovered about government, when taxes are increased, money is asked of the voters to borrow. The truth is, the government body asking for more has already spent the increase, spent the budget, and usually spent twice as much as they are asking the voters to allocate. Consider special elections for increasing taxes, the money being asked for has been spent, the budget was spent, and now the voters are asked to pay for the cost of the special election. Many times, the increase being asked for has been spent three to four times before the election is even considered.

Poor fiscal planning increases debt by decreasing the value of the original municipal bonds, and the government has to borrow more to get relatively close to the value of the first municipal bond sold. Note, municipal bonds are considered as debt to the local government and as green money non-liquid assets to the purchaser; municipal bonds are able to be bought and sold on the private market. Government focuses upon the holder of the most bonds; because elected leaders are focused upon the holders of the most bonds, citizens bear no weight in being heard. Money talks!

Municipal bonds, in several different locales, can be held as unseen debt, or black money kept on other books, not currently open to the public. The monies owed are not considered red money, because there is no plan by those in power to pay these debts; thus, the amount of a city’s debt could be significantly higher than reported. This is called an unfunded liability. Unfunded liabilities never have a plan for repayment by those in power. Unfunded liabilities can be a mixture of a lot of different debts (employee retirement, some municipal bond types, unpaid bills to local service providers, etc.), but the common denominator remains. No plan is in place to meet that obligation and no budget item covers these debts; thus, black money increases. Unfunded liabilities are hopes of current politicians on future prosperity, and sometimes, depending upon laws, unfunded liabilities are part of the government’s credit rating. Whether it is, the debt does not go anywhere, might or might not accrue interest, and always is hidden from the taxpayer, who is responsible for paying the bills.

While this explanation is very basic, the lessons contained are sufficient to protect the Image result for images, blue dollars bottom-line, improve knowledge, and provide opportunity for improving circumstances. Some key ending points when bottom lines are failing include: before anything else, look to lost blue money as the cause. The more blue money is disregarded is exponentially equal to red money increases, and green money evaporation; this formula is set in stone. Potential blue money is not elusive, but it takes keen observation to protect and grow. Grow enough blue money and green money multiplies exponentially.

SMART Training –Shifting the Paradigm on Corporate Training

Gears Corporate training continues to be a difficult topic to describe, mainly because everyone seems to “know” what training is, but cannot understand what it is not, even when receiving inferior corporate training. As an adult educator, schooled and experienced in corporate training, let’s discuss corporate training, the principles, the need, and the student.

One aspect of organizational development needs to be considered at the outset, the difference between active and reflective listening. In active listening, the person not currently speaking pays attention to content and intent, engages in emotional meaning, focuses on removing barriers, and remains non-judgmental and empathetic. In reflective listening, the speaker and the listener take active listening and employ two-directional messaging to ensure mutual understanding. The central aim in reflective listening will always be the desire to achieve mutual understanding in communication.

The importance of understanding listening in training remains the utmost concern as the process of engaged, reflective listening producing the environment for the most potential positive training results. The needed 360-degree or two-directional communication to safely and more efficiently operate is critical in training and necessary in communication. Trainers must be able to gather anecdotal evidence and hard data to check for validity and veracity in training operations. Without a quality control mechanism that includes open and honest feedback, the trainer is operating in a vacuum and wasting corporate resources.

The majority of adult educators in the US today, and possibly much of the world, have become convinced of several untruths because the colleges teaching adult education seem fixated on teaching misleading concepts that ultimately do more harm than good. For example, ADDIE, as a methodology tool used to govern training, is useless without a quality control and a return and report function, both of which must be added to the basic ADDIE model; thus changing the design and interposing more personal opinion and bias into what became, with the addition of quality control and two-directional communication, an untested model. Colleges continue to press the ADDIE methodology as the only proper method for instructing adults, without changing or testing the basic ADDIE model. Other untruths include Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs,” which has been researched and found not entirely accurate, nor does it explain the natural needs and the current model of the world; thus, remaining just Maslow’s opinion.

By teaching untruths to the soon-to-be-adult educators, the adult educators go forth professionally to train other adults, using the same untruths. Thus fulfilling the axiom of GIGO, programmer’s aphorism meaning, “Garbage In results in Garbage Out.” Hence, the untruths are disseminated into future classrooms, and the company and the adult students lack proper training, resources are wasted, and the potential in training is lost.

Putting the value of training in dollars and cents is difficult, but the following will give an idea of the problem. Two kinds of money govern business, blue and green. Blue money is all about the potent blue-money ial for good or ill to the bottom line of an action, process, tool, employee, etc. Green money is cold, hard, cash, and the food of bottom line health. What is the potential of cross-training employees? If done properly, incalculable positive results and consequences are forthcoming. If done incorrectly, immeasurable adverse effects and consequences will abound. Leading to a stunning observation; if enough blue money is burned, green money evaporates, and the business leaders have no idea how or why the bottom line is vanishing, and market share is shrinking. Since training is all about increasing an employee’s potential and runs the risk of the employee leaving the company, the potential costs and benefits remain difficult to quantify in dollars and cents.

As a newly hired operations manager, I made three expensive presumptions: 1. All the production employees were cross-trained. 2. The machine maintenance had been done properly, and the production machines were in top order. 3. The production employees knew the jobs they were being paid to accomplish. The presumptions cost a lot of blue and green money until rectified, which cost the plant valuable production time, temporary staff increased costs, and the need to perform the production floor manager’s position as well as the operations manager’s role until these three presumptions were corrected. Total cost from my hire date until resolved, 3-months of 50-hour weeks, and more than triple my annual salary in green money. With the total savings from higher potential after addressing the deficiencies, the annual salary of every employee in the plant multiplied by five.

Leading to how to increase potential, decrease blue money evaporation, and develop SMART Training, I have found the following ideas helpful to consider in creating hybrid solutions:

Quantify and Qualify blue money loss. This sounds technical but is quite easy to implement. I suggest the following principles for review and application:
1. Respect those around you as potential superstars. Respecting includes employees or customers, vendors or shareholders, deemed less useful. Respect first, last, and always. People will always rise to the level of respect shown.
2. Change your perception. How valuable or costly is a hammer when directly proportionate to the amount of training in the hands of the operator? If you, as the business leader, are not willing to change how you see the hammer, then it will be impossible to see the worker differently.
3. Focus on people. Processes are how work is accomplished. Products and services support the company, but the people remain the variable requiring attention. Get out of the office, get onto the production floor, interact, ask questions, and know people.
4. Freedom to act is a blue money saving principle. If the actions taken by individuals are rigidly controlled, the customer is not served, the problems multiply, and the result is wasted potential. Remember, for every dollar in potential money spent, five dollars in cash evaporates.
Believe in cross training. It is said that Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines love to train. They might grumble, moan, and complain, but the training helps lift the morale, empowers the individual, and enhances the individual self-image and self-worth. The same is true in business and every other human endeavor; embrace a love for training.
In accordance with item two above, make sure that the training is valuable and SMART. Relevant training is a knowledge object that can be used immediately, often, and is easily recognized by other employees as something to aspire to obtain.
1. SMART training is specific; if the employee is to be a cashier, do not include forklift training with cashier training.
2. Measurable, can the employee feel they learned a job-ready skill. Attainable training is training that can be achieved. For example, not everyone needs to be a nuclear physicist to perform well in customer interactions. Scale the training to meet the tasks at hand. Yes, training should be tough, but attainable.
3. Realistic training is directly applicable to daily tasks, not trying to cover 20-years of hypothetical nuance, but realistic to daily production goals.
4. Timely training means to train the employee to the job standard, as it is designed currently, not 5-10 months down the road.
Training has a shelf life; thus training must adapt and change as the business changes. Allow training to live and die as needed to meet the business needs. This also requires cognizant and purposeful planning for strategic and tactical goal realization. Nothing is worse than receiving training in a classroom, then needing to receive different training on the floor because the trainers do not know current operations.
Organizational design. This topic seems peculiar to mention in an article regarding training, but please note, many times, the disconnect between training and operations is not the training or operations, but how the organization is designed. An example, during a project recently concluded, I saw this principle first hand; a common theme on the production floor was a feeling of disconnect between higher levels, e.g. director level and up leadership and senior manager level direction and down. Because of the perceived disconnect, e.g. front-line employees thinking and feeling the higher level leaders are not interested and engaged, and the real disconnect, e.g. the leaders changing methods of work without understanding the processes, procedures, and technology in the work performed, many problems on the floor were never discussed and resolved, simply Band-Aid solutions applied with the hope the core problem goes away, while complaining that the leaders did not have a clue. Use the following to improve organizational design concerns:
1. Problems in organizational design are easy to spot and discern during process reviews; this is a valuable time; use it well. Thus, never let a process age beyond 18-months and always ensure each process has a single individual responsible for the shelf life of the process.
2. Use the quarterly, semi-annual, and annual employee events to listen to employees, talk with staff, and take these thoughts back to strategic and tactical planning meetings to direct resources to qualify and quantify the comments from employees, then act promptly, and keep the employees in the communication loop.
3. Stop the Band-Aid solutions. If the problem needs a Band-Aid, the problem is bad enough to invest actual time and resources in fixing properly. Communicate using reflective listening to achieve two-directional communication with mutual understanding.
The student in corporate training can be the customer, a shareholder, a vendor, another employee, etc. Training should be an ongoing topic looked forward to as an enabling event. Want to quickly see if the training is SMART? Listen to the comments made by employees when annual compliance training is announced. If there remains a monumental lack of enthusiasm, training is not SMART, not valuable, and blue money fire pits are raging, burning potential directly and green money by remote. Hence, the following tips should help in understanding the student more completely:
1. Regardless of mode, make sure the student is known before training occurs. Knowing the student ensures the proper language is employed in offering training, and the trainer and the student can relate to each other and the topic under discussion.
2. Know what the student expects to receive from the training and then adapt the training to meet the expectation. Even if the student does not know what they desire in post training, allow the student to vocalize and establish expectations.
3. Confidence in training comes from trainers knowing who they are and what they offer. If teachers are not confident, students will never be confident and will have been taught how not to be confident in acting upon the training principles.
4. “Enthusiasm,” per Henry Chester, “is the greatest asset in the world. Enthusiasm “beats money, power, and influence.” Enthusiasm is sourced in confidence and trust. Faith in the topic is acquired by being trained and trusting in the application and organizational design to support the issue being taught. Enthusiasm is easily taught; teach by example and others will follow!

Employ voice-of-the-customer (VoC) surveys more completely. Make a team of highly professional, and soon to be promoted to team leader, employees and have them administer the VoC program. Employ the VoC as a tool to improve the business processes, procedures, and organizational design. Possessing inputs for training topics, directing customer interaction resources for marketing, and understanding the role of potential (blue money) inherent in the business products and services, as well as the employees delivering on the company promise for customer interaction, improves the business processes, procedures, and organizational design. By employing seasoned employees, the VoC becomes an organizational tool worthy of the customer and the cost of collecting the customer’s input.

There remains a great need in business for SMART training, which includes realizing the potential in people and processes to influence for good or ill. Too blue-money-burning-2 often the problem in lost bottom-line or dropping market share is not found in green money costs but in blue money waste. When costs need cutting, always look first for lost potential and save the potential first. If the potential waste is not stopped first, the blue money will continue to burn and will morph into different budget areas because the potential lost is a raging forest fire untended and burning green money.

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