Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The weakness of this nation are bosses that want to see your resume...

Las Vegas night club crooner Dean Martin set hearts on fire when he’d torch the stage with, “Everybody needs somebody…to love.”

Yeah ok…

Outside those four nicotine stained walls it’s a different game reality plays; everybody wants to be somebody and love is the billion dollar chip dropped on the alcohol flooded floor.

Reaching such a point has evolved into the new millennium/post recession back into another recession guessing game. How can companies survive when those in control of budgets and decisions are stuck in the middle of believing they can do it all by them self?

Bosses are just as much injured as worker bees! Companies that once promised can no longer be trusted because somewhere on the food chain is a pyramid of investors expecting a high return that isn’t being met.

Dented is the American dream with no inspiration, influence or leadership to properly grow the mind, body and soul.

If we can resurface a seventy five year old California desert hot highway there’s hope to be found in what little is left in our desire to keep giving and not receiving.

Author and big business mentor Art Williams clearly paints the truth, “Too many managers fail to recognize their people’s potential.”

Walk through any door in Whoop tee doo U.S.A and the stories are the same. From bank tellers to Wal-Mart greeters, Big

Mac Builders to roofing specialists that have just learned insurance companies will pay for hail damaged tiles; work being done doesn’t reach quality status because managers have been trained or have elected to let go of seeing the importance of recognizing someone’s full potential.

One of my pet peeves is the over used have nothing better to say because it hurts to be creative, “You da man!”

For the longest time I’d be a smart a** and quickly return, “If I was truly the man I’d be in Los Angeles or Chicago. Not in Charlotte, NC.”

One problem…such sloppy talk infected what the city reflected. Faded from the city were the tingles the Charlotte skyline generates even on cloudy windy bitterly cold mornings. The Boom Boom Pow was 2008 and I was extremely late. Gone was the passion to play in the streets electing instead to stop dreaming of being and just do…nothing.

Art Williams has a solution, “True leaders recognize the hidden qualities that bring about success, and focus on the specialness of their people.”

Which walks side by side with Julia Cameron’s book The Artist Way At Work; a room blessed with overachievers, over sellers, eager to get success, an ice addicted fanatic, two computer nerds and an employee that seemingly never brings anything to the meetings…which one do you want to invest in?

The quiet one that never brings anything to the game; while everyone else seems connected to the spirit of winning for the team…they aren’t interested in bending their ways to improve the game. The quiet one is the thinker. He quietly waits to plan things out. The quiet one doesn’t need an ego stroke to feel important. They appeared at the meeting as told and will continue doing a brilliant job when the leader unties their grip and lets them slip back into a normal workday.

Art explains, “There’s a difference between someone who thinks they’re special and someone who is someone. We all know a person who’s attained the right to lead. They helped the company pull in the bucks while motivating the staff to give, give and give a little more. But do you see yourself as that person?”

People want to sit in the giant chair but once there…hmmmm

I sit with Broadcasting interns everyday and although we’ve been introduced to internet radio, IPods, MP3 players, I Heart Radio, YouTube and blah blah blah…landing that morning radio show gig is still the big stick they want most, “I can do it! I’m ready right now! I just need someone to believe in me.”

Have you ever stared into the eyes of a morning show talent at three in the afternoon? When I did mornings on 95.1 my worst fear wasn’t waking up late but getting hit by a drunk driver. My three in the morning rush hour was their wrapping up the party hour. I trained myself to never stop for gas that early due to a phobia of walking in on a robbery. Going to bed at eight at night gives you no life so the decision to stay up until eleven makes you feel like a better man which rips to shreds the desire to meet the demands in less than seven hours.

“I can’t wait to do a morning show!” They instantly shout back, “People have always said I’m funny! I can be funny that early!”

That’s the only sprinkle of realty I put at the base of their tree. From that moment forward the door is wide open for them to explore the paths that could very well lead them beyond John Boy and Billy.

I’m sure Wal-Mart greeters get the same people.

Art Williams believes in a Push up Principal: There’s more to a person than what is on their resume. If you want a leadership driven job then you better have the right credentials.

Just because my waist is decorated with a second degree black belt doesn’t guarantee my life will be saved outside the school. Living the black belt path means being on the dirt and knowing the way of peace not clouding up the situation with sparring and wrist locks. Bosses have been trained to exceed the limits of business success without understanding the end results of what it is they’re truly accomplishing. The numbers may show but the people didn’t grow.

The Push up Principal won’t start in the leader’s office. It begins with you. Stop racing around hollering, “You da man!” and get back to proper coaching. Look Cam Newton in those Carolina Panther eyes and say, “You might be good but your team is keeping that end of the year ring from being wrapped around your finger. Be a leader and let’s motivate the quiet ones in the meeting to begin the process of believing even in those that take, take, take.”

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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