Money Choices

Here's a thought/question...

For the guys, would you rather be tall (6' plus) and make a modest amount of money (~ $75,000) OR short (5'4") and rich ($250,000 or more) ?

For the gals, would you rather have your definition of the "perfect" body and make a modest amount of money (~ $75,000) OR not the perfect body (open to interpretation) and rich ($250,000 or more) ?

Try to make your decision without considering things like "If I was tall, I could marry a model that would support me"

Self Managing Employees

Is it the responsibility of the employee to take ownership for their situation at work and help themself improve upon their situation? How much affect can he/she really have? I'm struggling a lot with this question. I suppose if an employee worked in an environment that fostered that type of ownership, it would seem more plausible, but that's a pretty big supposition. If on the other hand, the employee's environment does not allow for this type of ownership, what then? How does the employee go about improving their situation? A lot of questions my friends. One would hope that the answers will come next... but I'm at a loss. How can I help this employee?

Management

How do non-technical people manage a technical department? Good question. The answer, of course, is that they trust and respect the ability of their technical people to make the technical decisions. "What happens when this doesn't occur?" would be a natural followup question. Chaos, my friends, chaos.

Company Policy

A co-worker of mine sent this to me the other day. Quite relevant to my job these days.

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb toward the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new monkey. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey, then a fourth then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey can ever again approach the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.

That is how company policy begins.

Welcome to my head

Finally, a place where I can post whatever... thoughts, feelings, ponderings, etc.

Makes you wonder what will appear here? Me too. I guess only time will tell.