Strengths and Weaknesses

Over the years I've held positions with the responsibility of hiring manager.  Trial and error, along with do's and don'ts from the HR folks, helped me develop a technique that can applied to more than just hiring a new employee.  It's a fast way to drill down to the core of an individual's personality, can also be used in performance evaluation, and it's a neat way to just get to know someone.

It's a hard lesson to learn, but your strengths are your weaknesses.

I would ask the inevitable question of most any interview process:  "So, tell me, what are your strengths?"  The classic elevator speech ensues - that 10 second timeframe to show up your best assets.  I'd hear: "I really enjoy working with people and I'm extremely detailed oriented and always, always on-time."  Applying my theory of your strengths are your weaknesses, I would reply:  "Oh, so you enjoy gabbing, drive your co-workers crazy with inane pickiness, and have high-blood pressure trying to control the minutes in the day."  That usually wins me the "deer in the headlights" look.   Now, it's too late for them to re-state their strengths, but it's interesting to see how the candidate "rebuts" the analogy.  

Example: "I tend to carefully analyze all  options" could be "I delay making a decision as long as possible."  Or, "I give full support to an idea and carry it through" could be "I'm a pit bull on an idea and won't listen to other viewpoints."  One more, "I love to teach others new processes" could be "I love to expound on my proficiency to elevate my sense of self- importance."  

Here's the thing - it's kind of cool to think of yourself this way.   What it tells me is whether or not the individual's strengths will fit in the job/team, and if those strengths could be mitigated or exacerbated by other team member's strengths.  I apply this philosophy to myself.   It's an effective way to keep  grounded and focused on the "weaknesses" that need work.  And if you're improving your weaknesses, your improving your strengths, right?

Just my two cents.

Gadgets

As a long-time member of the household kitchen - aka chief cook and bottle-washer - I've developed an affinity for gadgets, especially gadgets that save time.  There have been some new ones lately that are outstanding.  

At what point does the proliferation of gadgets make the process less satisfying?

To go back to the kitchen analogy (and the seed that started this post) - today I bought a package of 2 already shucked ears of corn, which I brought home, washed, and stuffed into a microwavable bag.  Three minutes of nuking, and - voila! - corn on the cob.  

Used to be a couple of us kids were commandeered to go out to the backyard garden to pull ripe ears off the stalks (the result of months of tilling, sowing, weeding and praying for rain), and drop them into a old peach basket (after picking off the worms, of course).  Then, we stood by the fence line shucking the ears and throwing the shucks and silk to the cows for a snack, making sure to get as much ON the cows as possible (which for some reason was hilariously funny).  After bringing a huge pot of water boil, adding the ears to cook for awhile, then draining, we could spread on the butter and feast.  

Yeah - gadgets save us time but it was kinda quiet cooking my ears of corn today.    Just not the same.  

What do you do when lightning strikes? Invoke Bob-A-Louie?

Rain is rare enough in Vegas, but when it does rain, it's usually a fairly violent affair.   Fortunately, it doesn't last long - 15 minutes or so - but Mother Nature's special effects in the desert are - well - Vegas-style over the top.

Last evening we had a quickie storm with some vicious lightning.  A neighbor was visiting me at the time and she murmured a few words every time a bright flash of light hit.  Turns out she's afraid of lightning since a bad childhood experience, and she's in her 60's.  What she says is a Korean phrase that she tells me simply doesn't translate into English because it's pretty much nonsense.

Oh, I can relate.  My sister and I shared an attic-level bedroom of a two-story house growing up in Virginia.  We were always afraid of the lightning outside our window as it seemed we were so much closer to it.  For the life of me I can't tell you how the ritual started, but I distinctly remember we would say "Bob-A-Louie" three times - had to be three times - when we saw lightning.   

How's that for nonsense?  

Putting lipstick on a pig

I bet you think the theme of this post is political.  Nope, it isn't.  Though, it is interesting to note that all is well with the world when every day phrases are catapulted into fame as easily as ever by the media and good old fashioned exposure.

No - today's topic is pretty boring, so I thought a spiced up headline would be just the ticket.  Just call me the spin doctor.

I have dragged my eyes away from disturbing pictures of destruction on the TV and the internet in post-Ike times, just long enough to do some introspective thinking on my answer to the question "Are you prepared?"   I'm not.  Not in the least.   If my power went off for days, my water stopped running, and/or my house was invaded by water, dust, noxious fumes, dirt whatever - I am most certainly not prepared.   Food? Water? Roof over head? First Aid?  Safety?  News?  Connection to family?  

I'd like to be, so I fired up Google and here's what I got - a fine example of our tax dollars at work: Ready America.   I plowed thru it to learned that September - go figure - is National Preparedness Month.  I'm right on time!  There are helpful checklists - seriously helpful as I never would have thought of some of this stuff - as well as reasons to be prepared.  Here in Vegas, my disaster to worry about is earthquake.  Little ones happen all the time here, and of course "they" say, a big one could happen at any moment.  And it doesn't have to happen here, as a ripple effect of something in SoCal just hours away could be just as disastrous.  And I don't want to even think about the potential disaster of toxic nuclear waste trucking/training across Nevada into Yucca Mountain, just north of Vegas.

So, I've printed out the checklists and moved this project to get at least marginally prepared for disaster a little further up my "to do" list.  

I just hope I never have to use it.  My preparedness kit just sitting in the garage and gathering dust forever will be just fine with me.

On second thought....maybe the headline was perfect.  

A rose by any other name.....

A popular old saying:  "A rose by any other name is still a rose."  Actually, it goes like this - and Juliet said it (via Shakespeare):

   

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet." 

 

 Romeo and Juliet - now there's a story!

And it's appropriate as an introduction to the topic of this post.  I've always had a great deal of respect for anyone with the talent for storytelling.  It is indeed a talent.  I can tell a story, but oh my, a storyteller can TELL a story.  Well, it seems that there's a fairly new field in psychology called "narrative psychology" and it studies, yep, storytelling, and how that ability impacts our identity, and indeed, explains our mental health.

It makes perfect sense, now that I think about it.  Too often stories, and the telling of those stories, are invaluable to the teller in making sense of them, of defining the way the event of the story fits into our lives - or not.  We write blogs, we meet for coffee, we stroll in parks, we play with kids - and inevitably a story is told - long or short, funny or sad, sensical or non-sensical - that helps fill in the picture of what we are all about.   When my family is together, oh my, the stories flow.  Funny ones, silly ones, serious ones.  Is that perhaps why we are all productive, mentally sound (at least most of us!) citizens?  Because we readily and freely share stories?

Apparently, we're learning that we each have a style of storytelling, and that style can speak volumes about how we handle things in our lives - or  not.  I know this - when I can tell someone a story about a negative event, it usually help me understand it, and then helps me so I can put it away and move on with my life.  Make the "epilogue" that it is rather than "the never-ending story."  Others tell a negative story to hold on to it, almost to revel in it to seek attention, and the negativity that smolders defines their world viewpoint, and they don't move on.  

Isn't that ultimately what "therapy" is?  Albeit, we tell a shrink, a therapist our "story" - at least our side of it -  but mostly "going for counseling" is when we can talk freely about something, and that opportunity to verbalize does wonders.   And if we can't talk about it, we can't verbalize it, well, it appears it's not a good thing.  I don't have a link, but a great article on this was in the July 2008 issue of Good Housekeeping in the Good Advice section, pages 119-125; ”The Story That Can Change Your Life” by Louisa Kamps.

This also, in part, points out a sadly lacking part of our society that I lament - the nearly virtual disappearance of the "art of conversation."  No TV, no blaring music, no sport games - just conversing, sharing stories.  That was how we got to know each other when I was growing up.  We need to work to bring it back.

So, what's your story?

All I want is five minutes!

I've said it before, but I believe it warrants repeating:  All I want is five minutes with a spammer!

Seriously.  Spamming is out of control.  No one is immune.  It used to be just the big companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, etc.   Today these companies have entire departments dedicated to keeping the spammers at bay.  What spamming costs the business world is outrageous, and yes, brothers and sisters, that cost is passed down to you and me in one way or the other.

But what makes me want that five minutes with a spammer is that now even the little ol' average everyday folks - like my group of friends who have had a private message board to discuss topics related to their love of  snow skiing - have to enter unique codes just to post a message.   I want those five minutes with a spammer so they have a chance to explain the worthiness of their work.  I seriously doubt they will have a reason that will prevent the bodily harm I so fervently wish to exact on them.  What the heck are they thinking?

And now this news from last Friday.   Gag me with a spoon - they are serious!  Jeremy Jaynes gets off in deference to his First Amendment right to free and anonymous speech.  I am embarassed to say I am a citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia.   

I can only hope the US Supreme Court is smarter than my fellow Virginians.  ARGGHHH!!