Enabling Dissent

I want to write about a concept that I consider essential to success in senior roles.

Enabling Dissent

So the basic concept here is that as you become more senior you get less and less information delivered that is contrary to your personal view of a topic. A lot of us may have encountered this issue in reverse when told by a leader or colleague not to tell the 'big boss' some 'distracting' piece of information.

No one wants to tell their boss they are wrong. The boss is supposed to be right, right?!

Enter the enlightened leader. She encourages sharing of information and has the self control and self awareness to not react to surprising information in a way that discourages sharing. She also has string relationships at all levels and across several functions. She does not lead from ignorance but in celebrated discovery...

I'm reading too much.. This doesn't even sound remotely real.


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Sushigawa-Peoria

Trying for healthy food towards the end of the week. We stopped in for a bite at Sushigawa. The food is pretty good for middle of nowhere sushi.

However, I think the high point was the green tea-- properly hay tasting. It was really good. I only wish they had a more extensive tea menu... I suspect the critical mass doesn't exist in central Illinois.

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Treadclimb Dreadclimb

It's not that I don't want to work out... It's that i'm comprehensively dreading it.

For no other reason than I haven't gotten a good night's sleep this week. I'm so tired it's starting to effect my personality. And, I can't really control it. It sneaks up on me. The only real solution is a couple of good nights of sleep. Defined by at least ten hours without major interruption.

Time to go to sleep...

The yearly city retirement plan

Ok, I have had a thought. And, while I know that my thoughts can be pretty off at times -- this one might be sort of interesting.

The yearly city retirement plan is where you pick a new city to live in every year after you retire.

The up side include things like an opportunity to not only see the world, but experience it too.

Cities like Rome, New York, Sydney, Shanghai...

Other advantages include the fact that all of your friends and family will want to visit. They will actually visit -- because you will only be there for a year. And, you will really enjoy what the city has to offer.

Downsides are things likee the reality that you'd have to start from scratch to make friends in foreign places every year. And health care might not be tops everywhere you'd like to go.

So -- what do my loyal readers think? More upside or downside and what up and down issues haven't I thought about?


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Every other day

Ok I'm on the road to creating a habit. I'm up to going to the gym every other day (we'll see how my legs deal tomorrow). It is so sad when you can't just sort of kill yourself for a few days and you body is magically used to working out... Now it's a laborious journey that has to be taken with care. Get too aggressive in a workout and you could injure yourself. Then you actually have to stop all motion to recover. I learned this recovery requirement the hard way, when I started running too much too soon and with too many hills. It didn't really matter how much I took it easy-- my ankles were wrecked until I stopped working out for a few weeks. Now I'm not running, but using a magical machine they call a tread climber. I walk and the calorie numbers rise like I'm running. I'm kinda addicted. But I'm also a bit skeptical that I'm really burning that many calories... It's too easy. But I keep going. It's definitely better than sitting at home and eating, while writing my blog. I haven't had any big breakthroughs yet on weight. I'm just getting to the levels that it will start to make a real difference. I've generally understood that there is. Huge difference between three an four workouts a week. And they have to be 45 minutes to really get a weight loss effect. So I'm approaching that level- I really hope it's still enough to make a difference... I'm sure I'll keep you posted. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm not really that fat, or why dollar burger night changed my life

I'm sitting in Bar Louie's
It is one dollar burger night.
I feel skinny because I ordered a turkey burger. I wrote a haiku about it...

Dollar burger night
Calories followed by blight
Turkey offers light

So this is not the most successful verse I have ever penned, but there is something satisfying, and falsely cosmopolitan about a haiku.

I made the extra effort to make the 'syllable-based' haiku also rhyme -- but please don't make the error of thinking this is a limerick!

The wiki entry on haikus is extensive. Apparently the Japanese concept of 'syllable' and the American approach don't completely mesh... How disappointing that my haiku wouldn't cut it to a true afficionado. I choose to remain blissfully ignorant-- at least outwardly.


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Girl You'll Be A Woman, Soon

Michelle Tractenberg, the younger sister of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is now a featured character on a relatively new show called 'Mercy'. it's hospital drama that seems to be a cross between ER and Scrubs - with an "oh yes, we'll go there edge."

Whatever it takes to have really freaky episodes -- we're gonna do...

This is a show I'd like to write for. It's fast paced and is full of people experiencing things more interesting than eachother's beds. Though, let's face it, that in bed stuff needs to be there too -- to sell any show now days.

But, the best thing about this show is that Michelle is no longer a fourteen year old uber- waif. She's a real woman with hips and the like... Frankly, once I got over the self-involve inner dialogue about. "how old is she now? And, how old must that make ME?!!" I realized how great it was to see her this way. And maybe there is hope for this culture yet.

This Life Ephemeral

First off, I've been trying to improve my blog titles -- let me know what you think of the last week or so.

Now on to the subject at hand... Life is fleeting -- you know this. As a child you hear the addage and suppose that those who have flown have a good idea about such things. I have entered an age where I'm starting to have peers suddenly die (young). Sudden accidents. Tragic, lingering diseases thy finally win. And, the finite nature of life takes on new meaning. Cliches seem a little profound.

But, it is my personal belief that one way to make life longer is to make it fuller. So what are you doing to slow down the times of your life? Make your life as full as possible -- I feel a list coming on... Stay tuned.


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My 'Future House'

As I look through winners and honorable mentions of a future house, architectural competition I wonder where all the new ideas need to be.

Clearly the new ideas are having problems getting to the main stream. The new houses in my neighborhood have traditional water heater tanks, regular hvac systems, no exceptional attributed that distinguish it from then house I lived in in the 1970s. Except the microwave is built-in, and the fireplace is gas logs rather than wood burning.

I wonder, is it cost that keeps the future at bay? Demand? Awareness? Taxes?

Whatever it may be -- my prediction is that in the next generation a great leap forward will happen. And housing and architecture will be deeply effected. But we'll probably still have built-in microwave ovens.


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Cake Bossy

Watching the tv show Cake Boss is an interesting phenomenon. It indulges the vanity of the "Cake Boss" in a way that doesn't seem to have a healthy perspective about what it is to be a baker.

What disturbs me about this indulgence is that it implies that this guy is a good boss.

He's a decent guy, with a decent sense for day to day operations. But there is no real vision about what the business should become, or how to get there.

This whole thing leads me to a phenomenon I call celebu-me. The idea that anyone can be a celebrity -- if they are obnoxious enough. Or, let's be honest, creepy, shocking, socially deplorable, or whatever squeezes an extra few moments out of their fifteen minutes of fame --- or maybe a YouTube addiction.


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Ettiquette in Cube City

I am sitting at work... In a cube... And I know how much my coworker is paying for a house...

Cubicles are NOT private people. Resist the temptation to make personal calls. This is the miracle of the modern cell phone. You essentially can keep an office in your pocket. So take your pocket outside or to a conference room... Please.


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The mute game

Ok, in the movie "Love Potion Number 9" there is a reference to the mute game. In this game a person suddenly goes silent and you have to guess what they want.

I have decided to test the mute game in meeting where I am dissatisfied. Will anyone even notice that I have stopped participating? That would be an interesting litmus test of my necessity at a given meeting "did anyone notice when I went mute" ???

Be careful when employing said tactic/test. Do not confuse the mute game with the mime game -- very different test results will ensue.
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List: Things NOT to do before trying to get a Good night's sleep

1. Eat
2. Drink coffee
3. Drink a lot of water
4. Have an exciting phone call
5. Play a video game
6. Watch an intense tv show
7. Work
8. Workout
9. Argue
10. Stub your toe
That'sy first pass at this.. got a better suggestion -- let me know.

Is Meeting Working?

I don't like to talk too much about the job I'm this data rich world. But, I do have a question I have been contemplating for a while.

Is attending a meeting as valuable as working as an individual contributor?

I find myself having a full day of meeting (which I see as 7 or 8 hours of meetings), followed by me sitting down at my desk and feeling like I'm finally getting sething done.

Work - life balance aside, am I not understanding something? Is this a perspective issue? Or maybe a transition of perspective, required of certain types of jobs and at certain levels of seniority?

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