Harry – Page 2 – The Exercise of Vital Powers

Creating a Vision and Mission Statement – Part 2

Part Two

“Any suggestions on how to go about the process of defining where I’m going and what I’m doing. “

Suggestion #5: Use a Development Plan Template

Below is a template of a development plan, which reflects the development process. It is a template of one approach to development planning. The template can also be applied to developing a web site, or other things where outcomes – results – are targeted. Also, the template may be applied to plans of different scope, such as plan to move to a new role/position.

Creating a Vision and Mission Statement – Part 1

The following question was posted recently on GaryNorth.com

“Any suggestions on how to go about the process of defining where I’m going and what I’m doing with the site and with my career?”

Like any other complex endeavor in life, we realize the highest probability of success if we focus on requirements, and plan the work, and then work the plan.

Get SMART!

A powerful method of getting an organization working toward the same goal or objectives is to clearly define that goal or objectives in SMART terms.

There are many definitions of SMART extant around the world, some specific and some not-so-specific. The purpose of this post is to provide a working definition that can be applied within any organization.

“It’s the relationship that counts.” NOT!

Originally posted January 9, 2017.

“Performance” and “politics” don’t mix.

But like Yin and yang, they coexist.

They are the oil and water within every organization’s culture. That is, every organization is a mix of performance and politics within every function, and within every element of the organization. Every member of the organization will experience some combination of performance and politics within their organization and while doing their job.

Like Yin and Yang, they are in constant flux, always fighting for dominance; but achieving only temporal equilibrium.

Book Review – Vaquero Style Horsemanship

By Harry Hobbes

A review of Vaquero Style Horsemanship: A Compilation of Articles and Letters

by Ed Connell.

Original illustrations by Randy Steffen. Wimbley, Texas: Lennoche Publishers: 127 pp., $24.24 USD

One of the costs of modernity in our “Age of the Common Man” is the loss of traditional, long-working methods of craftsmanship originating in antiquity, and thence handed down from generation to generation; particularly those arcane parts of craftsmanship that were raised to art forms. The hallmark of such craftsmanship and art was the perfection of the product; a perfection honed down through the millenia.

Social Media vs. Establishment Gatekeepers

Re-posted with permission from GaryNorth.com

Reality Check (July 15, 2011)

Social Media vs. Establishment Gatekeepers

Almost ten years ago, I first applied the term “gatekeepers” to the media’s control over what ideas get to the public. I wrote to Matt Drudge about it, and he and I corresponded briefly. I regarded him as the premier example of crashing through the gates: his 1998 report on the spiking of the Clinton-Lewinsky story by “Newsweek.” The master of political direct mail, Richard Viguerie, picked up the phrase and graciously gave me credit. I may not have been the first to use the phrase in this context, but I was an early adopter.

Policy and Standard(s)

The purpose of policy is to articulate a strategic statement of requirements, usually in business language, that sets and/or communicates strategic direction of how the business requirements shall be met. This “strategic statement of requirements” serves to require an end state – a result, an outcome, rather than to mandate specific methods (which is the “how”); and allows implementors great latitude for creativity and flexibility in meeting the requirements. (Implementors become more that mere order-takers.)

Oh! That Elusive Value…

Value is the result of the subjective assessment that answers the question: “What’s in it for me?” Value is subjective, and is “in the eye of the beholder,” as determined by individuals. But in the business context, we can model value with the following formula:

Value = Benefits – Cost

Ode to the Dog of War…

This article is dedicated to The Dog of War; the person that is at war with his fellow man in the workplace. He is a destroyer, but presents himself in the guise of a “fireman,” needed and valued by his principals as the one person who can sort through the issues, determine acceptable solutions, and save the day. He is the one who will be known as “…he who put out the fires.”

Unfortunately, in putting out fires, he causes more…

Selling Productivity By The Hour Versus Selling Results

“I want to know what to do if an employer increases your work time or load and continues to pay the same hourly rate for your additional time worked? Should you still try to limit your employment work to 40 hours?”

You’ve asked three related questions in the context of a fixed hourly rate. That is, three questions based on supplying resources by the hour:

1. “…if an employer increases your work time” (Applying more “productivity” resources, using per hour measurement for the resource.)

2. “…increases your work…load” (Requiring the resource to do more. That is, to be more efficient.)

3. “try to limit…to 40 hours” (Limiting – fixing – the supply of resources at 40 per week, using per hour measurement for the supply of the resource.)

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