Higher Overtime Pay, Hardship for Whom?

“That’s not FAIR!”

Remember saying that as a kid, maybe while playing a game with your friends?  Of course you have.  Today’s children can be heard saying the same thing—when they feel that a fellow playmate is taking undue advantage or doing something that just doesn’t measure-up to a sense of justice and fair-play in the game.  No doubt your own children have said it to you, if they felt that you were treating them unfairly with respect to their siblings, for example.  “How come he got the bigger piece?!”

Who doesn’t react vehemently when feeling unfairly treated?  Who doesn’t get angry when one believes that he or she is a victim of injustice?  As adults, we may no longer actually cry-out, “That’s not fair!”  Nevertheless, the feelings are the same, though we may have found a more mature and adult way of making the point.

In short, we all expect fair treatment.  We expect all players in this game called Life to play by the rules in a fair and just way—be it in sports, business, or politics.  Indeed, we expect that the rules themselves will establish fair and just practices so that the game can be played “on a level playing field.”  After all, it’s only fair!  Is it not?

So, what’s just and fair in the realm of business and the workplace?  Is it right, fair and just, that a low-level manager be asked to work long overtime hours, virtually doing what non-management low-wage payees do, and not get paid extra for it—just because they’re called a kind of manager, for example?  Or is it right that business owners and entrepreneurs be forced to pay higher wages, which, they feel, will result in having to downsize staff and/or lose income in the face of already thin-line profit margins?

What’s fair?  What’s just?

The business community is upset by Obama’s intention to take “executive action” to expand overtime pay.  And now, as usual, the whole debate takes on the form of a Right/Left power struggle: he’s wrong, I’m right, he’s an idiot, I know better, he’s against business, I’m for business, etc.  Is Obama anti-business?  Seriously, what president would ever be anti-business?  Okay, the intention may be good, perhaps the means is questionable, maybe, maybe not.

But what is the real issue?  The real issue is one of equality of opportunity as well as economic justice and fair-play.  The fundamental question is not simply what is good for business, but what is best—fair and right, good and just—for ALL economic stakeholders, employees and employers, business owners and clients, entrepreneurs and investors, and most especially the hard working (almost overworked) middle-class American family.  To rob Paul in order to pay Peter is wrong, but to give heavy economic advantage to Paul at the expense of Peter’s potential to do economically well is also wrong.

Why is it so difficult for our politicians to make good and wise economic decisions respecting our economy?  It’s simple: Tunnel vision!  A too narrow focus on special interest groups and local constituents; it’s a failure to see and adequately address the BIG picture.  Adding to that, greed, fear, territorialism and un-checked power and influence by hidden political forces, and so-on and so-forth, it’s rather amazing that anything good comes out of Washington at all.

As political maneuvering and power-plays take place between parties, which inevitably results in ecstatic winners and fuming losers, perhaps we voters should regularly ask ourselves the following: Which State or Congressional representative shows the most concern for all sides and is willing to do what is best for all parties involved?  Who is being most fair or is considering what is most just, respecting all economic stakeholders?  Who seems to be showing the most respect for the value of all groups concerned?  Whose economic policy gives consideration for the benefit of the many rather than the few?

In short, who is looking at the BIG picture and considering all levels of interests and needs, with a view toward a prosperous America as a whole, so as to lift up the majority of Americans and leave as few of us behind as possible?  For it is a question of economic justice and fairness for all stakeholders, all interested groups, and all individuals and parties involved.

How Should US Congressional & State Reps Speak to International Crisis?

Libya, Venezuela, Syria, Ukraine and Russia, Palestine and Israel, Iran, and more!  Problems, problems, and more problems, what are we to do as a World Power?

Retreat into isolationism?  No can do.  Obviously!  But some talk as if the polar opposite of isolationism is the answer; as if we can unilaterally take on the world’s problems and dictate to other nations anything we wish—out of the big-headed presumption that we are the Number One Superpower in the world and have the means and therefore the right to do so.

For example, some of our esteemed representatives are bemoaning President Obama’s foreign policy strategy, calling it “leading from behind.”  They seem to be saying that Putin’s actions, in the Crimea, for example, is Obama’s fault, for his lack of in-your-face show-of-strength foreign policy approach.  These comments are obviously political in nature, election-year grandstanding, rather than the giving of wise advice or prudent counsel toward advancing fruitful and productive international policy.

If we are the number one super power that we think we are, than our representatives need to speak and behave with the kind of honor, respect, and dignity that a number one nation deserves from its representatives.  What does that look like?

First, one should avoid using international crisis events as a platform for scoring political points, such as making extreme and exaggerated politicizing remarks, just for the sake of political one-upmanship.  Rather, respect the nature of the situation.  As a representative, if you believe you have something of real value to offer by way of advice and counsel that will truly help this nation succeed in navigating through dangerous and volatile international waters, do so.  Submit your counsel and explain it, the what, how, and why of it.  Then let it be debated.  Just drop the cheap pot-shots at your political opponent.  What we want and need is real concrete wisdom and insight that has actual potential to enhance and strengthen our nation’s international position.  If you have no real insight to offer, then keep quiet.

Secondly, avoid inflated and arrogant posturing in behalf of Americans, talking down to other nations as if their national interests are insignificant and miniscule compared to US.  As a nation, we need to stop acting like a street thug controlling the neighborhood.  There should be no need to even talk like a street thug, effectively saying, “I’m big!  I’m bad!  And I’m ready!  Bring it on!!”  We’ve had enough of that.  We effectively said and acted as much when we started the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and look where that got us.

Thirdly, avoid the temptation to go-it-alone or even the appearance of acting as if we would go-it-alone.  Do diplomacy with strength.  But strength comes in numbers.  No Super Power is ever so powerful that it can or should take-on an international crisis without real engaged allies sharing the cost.  So, let us not minimize our need to work closely with other nations who are also stakeholders in the international scene with a significant interest in the outcome of our foreign policy decisions.

Fourthly, avoid double speak, saying one thing to diplomats and negotiators on the international front, behind closed doors, while saying another thing to your political constituents at home.  When it comes to international issues, you represent America and America’s collective interests as a whole.  Speak true and straight—both to the American people as a whole, as well as to the foreign diplomats and ambassadors abroad.  When it comes to foreign policy, we are one people, not two or three, or a special interested few.

And finally, communicate and explain.  Keep the American people informed (Truthfully!).  Tell us, show us.  Tell us why you believe a certain foreign policy is crucially important.  Show us why you believe a certain country, a people and its nation, are important, critical to our national interests and need our support.  What is at stake?  Spell it out.  Let us know why you believe this to be the case.  Make it clear to the average American citizen on the street.  Your position as a representative demands that you do as much. 

This is how I think our Congressional and State representatives should handle themselves when addressing foreign and international crisis.

Anchor Your Dreams and Visions to Reality

Dream big, you can be anything you want to be.  Go for it.  Just do it.  You’re only bound by the limits of your own imagination.  Sounds good, uplifting, motivating, but it can also lead to some very discouraging disappointment, if it’s not checked by reality.

What often looks impossible to the average person on the street, visionary leaders will see as quite doable—everything from climbing the tallest mountain in a matter of days, to submerging to the deepest parts of the ocean for weeks, from flying around the world in a matter of hours, to putting a man on the moon within a decade.

Visionaries overcome obstacle after obstacle to make it happen.  They are stubborn, tenacious, persistent, and courageous.  They are also practical.  They see the realistic possibility of it, how it might actually be done, and then they go for it.  At least they see enough of the possibility to make the attempt.  And their passion and conviction carries them the rest of the way.  At that point they won’t take no for an answer.

It’s the happy marriage of realism with idealism, that coupling of daring inventiveness with practical know-how that tips the scale in their favor.  They see its possibility, a way of making it work and getting it done.  And their energizing can-do spirit ignites the faith of others who join them in the belief that it actually can be done.

There is a fine line between an unrealistic delusional fantasy and a realistic visionary ideal.  The one is embraceable, obtainable, and doable, as in “Imagineering”; the other is wishful thinking, a pipe-dream, a complete waste of time to even consider.  How can one know the difference?

Consider the common practical, concrete and realistic elements that individual visionaries seem to share in their pathway toward discovering or making great innovations.

First there is a stirring mixture of personal talent, experience, education, and uncommon insight or perception.  They have personal skills and abilities which they apply and even stretch a bit.  They are studious and attentive.  Whether it’s the study of art or science, nature or history, they are keen observers.  They constantly learn and grow and adjust their sights accordingly.

Secondly, they are passionate and committed.  They won’t give up and will exert a tremendous amount of effort and make a significant amount of sacrifices to make it happen.  They train themselves; they focus, aim, and shoot until they hit the desired target.  Bull’s eye!  They got it.  A vision becomes reality!

Thirdly, they are risk takers, learning from their mistakes.  And they are not afraid to make those dreaded mistakes.  They are not afraid of failure.  To them, mistakes and failures are simply learning-curves.  Now more informed and better equipped, having learned from previous errors, they move that much closer to their desired end.

Fourthly, they practice and they do.  Ideas are put on paper, thoughts are put into words and words are put into action.  They break down the vision into incremental doable steps.  Let’s do this first, then this, then this, and then let’s put it together.  They clarify, organize, and plan.  They count the cost and pay as they go, until, Wham!  They’ve got it.  All the while they stayed the course and kept their eyes on the prize.

And finally they persist.  They will not back down.  They will not quit.  There are always, always obstacles and enemies or obstructionists to great visions.  There are those who not only refuse to believe in a vision’s possibility but will actually stand against it and will do all they can to undermine or destroy its potential for becoming a reality.  That’s just the way it is.  Great and successful visionaries expect it and deal with it.

Personal application:
Great Visionaries who enter our history books are uncommon and unique individuals among humanity; but what about the rest of us?  Can we have visions?  That is, can we do “great” things too?  Yes, yes we can.  Our personal visions and our achievements may be on a much smaller scale than those of the Great Giants of history, but the elements are the same and, more importantly, our achievements are just as important.  The question is: are we willing to reach, focus, plan and do, persist, and stay true to the dream?  If so, we too can have a significant impact in the world.

A Smart Worker is still a Hard Worker

“Work smarter not harder.”  It’s become a cliché.  The idea is that it pays to become more efficient and effective in your work by being smart about it, minimizing unnecessary effort, expending less energy, and saving time on the job, for example.  To work smarter not harder is to be more productive while expending less energy, time, and resources.  That’s good.

But there is a negative side to this quip.  It seems to encourage the idea that hard work is something to be avoided altogether, as if you’re crazy or stupid to work hard for anything, a kind of subtle encouragement toward laziness.

Doing good work and being a smart worker still requires working hard.  For example, a smart worker is a developing worker.  She or he continues to learn by developing his/her skills and talents.  This takes time, effort, focus, and commitment.  It is a form of hard work, if done rightly.

The “smart” part of working smarter doesn’t just happen.  It is intentional, sought after, and worked for, obtained by old fashion sweat-of-the-brow daily practice, pursuit of education and training, and focused attentiveness in habit formation.  And it doesn’t skip steps or take short-cuts.

For example, working smarter not harder may involve reading the directions first, as time well spent, rather than tossing them aside in an effort to save time and quickly get the job done.  Likewise, following through each step properly, without skipping steps, is working smarter, rather than harder, as in the old saying: “Measure three times before you cut once” or more commonly said, “Measure twice; cut once.”  Thus, taking extra steps to do a job well and quickly, may seem counterintuitive, but it is still an example of working smarter rather than harder.

Giving attention to detail takes concentration, mental energy, and extra time; but this too is also an example of working smarter not harder.  As the saying goes, “The Devil is in the details.”  Walt Disney is an example of one who gave much attention to detail.   He was both a hard worker and a smart one. 

While attending graduate school, I had a roommate who was a chef.  He taught me the kitchen-working principle of “clean as you go.”  I don’t cook much.  But, when I do cook, I clean as I go.  It makes the overall cooking experience so much easier to deal with, no big mess to clean up afterward.  This too is working smarter not harder, though it is still working hard.

Planning ahead, staying organized, putting things back where they belong once you’ve finished with them, maintaining a current and updated filing system, making a “to-do” list, not procrastinating but doing immediate follow-through, taking the initiative to contact others to get answers to pressing questions, rather than waiting for them to come to you, these all appear to be extra steps and perhaps unnecessary steps, hard work, but are examples of actually working smarter not harder.

Bottom line: When one consistently does good quality work, you can be sure that he or she is not only a smart worker but a hard worker as well.  Working smarter does not negate the need to also be a hard worker.  We should all be good workers.  And since most of us have to work hard to make a living, let us learn to be smart about it as well.

Good Job or Bad Job? It’s More Than the Work or Position

It’s not so much what you do or the position you have.  It’s the how and why, and the company for whom you work, that often makes it a good job or bad one.

Do you feel good about the company for whom you work?  Or would you rather not think about it?  Consider the following questions about your employer.

Would your company think nothing of asking you to do something that goes against your principles?

Is the company only interested in the bottom line or does it believe itself to have a mission beyond the making of money, believing that it is doing an actual service and/or providing a meaningful product that adds value to people’s lives?

Is your company well-respected in the community?  Does it have a good track-record?  That is, has it legitimately earned the people’s trust and admiration?  Is it known for its honesty, trustworthiness, and community involvement, for example?

Are the company’s values well known, readily expressed, and actually adhered to?  Are they the kind of values that you are happy to support and buy in to?  For example, does it care about the environment?  Does it value people of all ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds?  Does it value women in the work force as much as men, the young and inexperienced as well as seniors with much experience, the disabled?  Is the company family oriented, supporting benefits and time schedules that aid and support family realities rather than oppresses them?

Does the company respect you as a person?  Is the company interested in your personal growth?  Does it provide opportunities for developing your own particular set of personal talents and skills?  Does it appreciate you for who you are and not merely for what you can do?

If you gave your company a plus to these questions, than you are most likely happy with your employment and believe yourself to have a “good job.”  If, on the other hand, you feel disrespected, taken advantage of, oppressed, and abused, you have a lousy job, no matter how prestigious the position may be.

Hence, it’s not simply what you do in your job, or the position that you have, that makes a job good or bad.  It’s for whom you work, and the how and why of your work, that counts.  Considering that most of our life-time waking-hours are spent at work, it’s certainly something to think about.

Politics and Finances Require Trust, a Trust People No Longer Have

A solid banking system requires trust.  Trust is the grease that keeps the banking industry running smoothly, not money.  That is to say: Having trust in one’s bank is more important than having money in one’s bank.

Depositors must have faith in the bank’s ability and trustworthiness to manage their money wisely and profitably.  Borrowers must trust a bank’s integrity and have confidence that loans will not only be made available but will be managed honestly and justly. 

Of course, banks are first and foremost a business.  They expect to make a profit from their services.  Yet, bankers provide necessary and fundamental financial services to a community, all of which presumes a great deal of trust and integrity. 

Because banks deal with huge amounts of money, their trustworthiness must be independently verifiable.  That is, there must be regulatory oversight on our banking system.  Why?  Because: banks are run and managed by humans and humans are not to be trusted with excessive amounts of money (or power)—not without a good amount of oversight, checks and balances.

This is why it was and is dangerous to allow banking and other financial institutions to become “too big to fail.”

In fact, no business or corporation, financial or otherwise, should ever be allowed to become bigger than a community’s ability to keep it accountable through independent oversight.  Note: “community” may be defined as either local, state, national, or even international.

To put it another way: the bigger a corporation or financial institution gets, the easier it becomes for that entity to escape healthy monitoring and to side-step fundamental rules of honesty, integrity, and accountability.  And so the more threatening and dangerous it becomes to the very community it is supposed to serve, the very same community from which it also happens to be reaping a good amount of profit and gain.

In that sense, bigger is not always better—for the community.  Who is monitoring our huge interstate and international corporations and financial institutions?  How is it even possible?  We want large industries to succeed because they provide jobs.  But, are we going back to “selling our soul to the company store” just to have job security again?

Now let us consider the political landscape.  The average American citizen is frustrated with the politics of the day.  Our two parties are often deadlocked in impasse after impasse.  But who “owns” the political machinery these days?  Is it not large special interest groups?  And by “large,” I mean corporations and financial institutions that effectively have an unlimited amount of money to spend on political campaigns, along with their kissing cousins, the collective wealthy-set of individuals who also have vast amounts of money to spend on political campaigns.  Is it no wonder that the people no longer “trust” the political system and have always distrusted the mysteriously well-financed politician?

Here we are again, talking about “trust.”  As it turns out, both a healthy financial system, as well as a healthy political system, demands the ability to trust.  This is why a good working democratic system, and/or financial institution, is an “open” system rather than a “closed” system; which is to say they are transparent—are held accountable and readily submit to independent and verifiable oversight.  Yet, sadly, our two most important national systems, the financial and the political, are losing, or have already lost, the people’s trust—and for good reason.

What will it take for the people to regain their trust in our great systems?  The answer is obvious.  Open up!  Full disclosure!  Our major political and financial institutions must have open books to public scrutiny, if, that is, we are to trust them.  Transparency is what makes both a strong and healthy democracy as well as a strong and healthy capitalistic system.  A healthy capitalistic democracy will not allow powerful influential institutions to hide behind walls of secrecy.

Facing our Hardening Hearts

Are you familiar with the phrase, “Hardness of heart”?  It’s a Biblical phrase.  Jesus Himself refers to our human tendency toward hardness of heart.  What does a hardened heart look like?

The more obvious and well known depiction of a hardened heart is one of sheer coldness, caring not for and unmoved by the plight of human suffering, heartache, and pain.

Biblically speaking, the heart’s source of cold uncaringness is disbelief, refusing to accept the fact of a God of goodness, a God of peace, truth, righteousness, justice, and redeeming love.

However, even believing hearts can be icy cold and quite hardened.  These hearts tend to slice others with their sharp-edged sword of intolerance, are quick to judge and condemn others for failing to live up to their standards of rightness and goodness.  This kind of cold heartedness is hidden behind a veneer of righteous indignation (self-righteousness).

For example, our society seems to be moving more and more in the direction of discarding the historically hard fought for legal and moral differentiation between juveniles and adults, when it comes to applying justice.  Nowadays, more often than not, when a juvenile commits a heinous crime or is even indirectly involved in one, the local District Attorney’s knee-jerk reaction is to immediately ask that he/she be tried as an adult.  And this, despite the abundance of evidence that juveniles do not yet have a fully mature developed brain/mind.

Why?  I’d say that it is a form of our society’s growing hard-heartedness.  We have a growing desire for swift and immediate vengeance (as in “shoot first, ask questions later”).  Indeed, I’ve noticed that the attitude and spirit of a victim (or victim’s family) can often be more exacting and cold-blooded than that which was initially in the heart and spirit of the offender when he/she committed the harm against the victim.  Are there cold-blooded criminals out there?  Of course there are.  However, the justice process requires that we take the time to understand the context and true mitigating circumstances of a crime that has been committed.  We seem to no longer have any patience for this.  We want immediate blood-for-blood, and more!

Another example can be seen in the way we deal with drug addicts.  Switzerland, like any modern Western country, including the U.S., recognizes that there is a drug problem affecting a percentage of its citizens.  However, instead of categorizing the drug problem under the heading of “criminal activity,” they categorize the problem as a health issue.  Thus, instead of throwing addicts in prison and building bigger and more expensive prisons to house addicts, they spend less money by diverting social resources toward more effective means of helping addicts deal with, manage, and hopefully eventually overcome their drug addiction.  What a concept!  Meanwhile our hard-heartedness has little patience for even entertaining the idea that drug addiction can actually be seen as a health issue rather than a criminal one.

It was Jesus who said in effect, “he who is without sin cast the first stone”; referring to the idea of stoning to death one caught in obvious wrong-doing that is deserving of death.  As a society it seems that we are moving further and further away from the enlightened principle that Jesus was trying to teach humanity, the principle of having mercy, grace, compassion, and forgiveness, allowing for the possibility of change, renewal, and transformation.

The next time you want to apply swift harsh and exacting justice on one who has harmed you, be sure that you are willing to receive the same when it is your turn to face judgment for the harm you have caused another—for you have indeed harmed others yourself.  Jesus made it quite clear that no one is guiltless in that realm.  Only he/she who is without sin can claim otherwise.

“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” – Jesus Christ, the Messiah (Matthew 7:2)