Principles For Tenacity
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Albert Einstein could not speak until he was four and did not read until he was seven. Beethoven's music teacher said, "As a composer he's hopeless." The great inventor Thomas Edison did not do well in school either. His teachers thought he was stupid. F. W. Woolworth couldn't get a job. Merchants said he didn't have enough sense to wait on customers. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because the editor said Disney didn't have any good ideas. "You can't sing. You have no voice at all,” said the voice coach to Enrico Caruso. An editor told Louisa May Alcott she was not capable of writing anything that would appeal to a popular audience. And some well meaning relatives of my wife told her years ago that she has chosen a loser for a husband. I would like to think that they were all wrong. Rather than carrying a grudge against them I took upon me to nurture the drive to prove them wrong. And this takes a lot of tenacity.
Being a Slow Learner
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Are you a fast learner?
Some people are. I think I am not.
It will have to take me time to “Get It!”
I envy people who learn quickly. I wished I could be a fast learner.
And then one day I realized there are many people who can learn fast but they forget fast. There are people who learn quickly but get bored easily.
Now I know myself better. The reason why I am a slow learner it is because I want to internalize everything I learn. I want what I learn to be a part of me.
A Secretary’s Rules for Her Boss
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One time the boss became upset and talked to his secretary.
Boss says: Every time I want you, you're on the phone, Miss Gonzales!
Secretary says: They were all business calls, sir.
“Oh really?” says the boss. “Well, in the future don't address my clients as darling.”.... oops!
In another office the boss was giving the secretary some very important instructions.
Boss: If Mr. Santos comes into the office today, tell him I'm out.
Secretary: Yes, sir, anything else?
Boss: Yes. And don't look too busy when he shows up or he'll know you're lying.
Secretaries. How can bosses and leaders like me survive our career without them?
It is to my loss that I will miss speaking in this year’s National Convention of the Philippine Associations of Secretaries. Hands tied due to other commitments. But I distinctly remember getting to meet so many lovely people when I spoke to the same group some years ago. Many of them have become my friends to this day. Interesting personalities. All faithful in protecting their bosses. Overworked, underpaid? Maybe but one thing is obvious. Many of them are not given enough credit and recognition for their crucial roles in the work place. Despite this they wear a smile on their face and carry a grim determination in their heart to make their bosses succeed, secretaries are the heroes in the work place.
Is Your Boss a Jerk?
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The boss was complaining in our staff meeting the other day that he wasn't getting any respect. Later that morning he went to a local sign shop and bought a small sign that read:
"I'm the Boss!" He then taped it to his office door.
Later that day when he returned from lunch, he found that someone had taped a note to the sign that said: "Your wife called, she wants her sign back!"
Do Not Ask “Why Me?”
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The meaning and the name Arthur Ashe to many young people is simply a label attached to a pair of a world famous tennis shoes brand. But Arthur Ashe the tennis player was respected for his gentle-manliness and his commitment to his faith.
Stricken with AIDS because of an infected blood transfusion he had during a heart surgery in 1983, the legendary Wimbledon player kept a very positive outlook in life. As he was dying, he received letters from his fans all over the world, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?
Are Soft Skills Important?
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I get invitations to speak to people in the corporate world all the time.
I smile a little whenever HR people say, “Francis, we feel there is a need for us to train our people on “soft skills.” Others would brand it as “values training.”
The question is: “Are soft skills training necessary?”
When it comes to soft skills, most people think they are all about those warm-and-fuzzy people skills. While hard skills refer to the technical ability and the factual knowledge needed to do the job. However you define them, soft skills still suffer from a fundamental lack of respect. After all, how could anything described as “SOFT” be valued in the hard-charging, results-driven business world or impact the bottom line?