T.A. Wilson & Associates

I think I’m the only one in the world who could care less about Ellen DeGeneres leaving American Idol. Honestly it doesn’t bother me that she is leaving a boatload of money on the table. What I do appreciate are her reasons for leaving.

As an entertainer Ellen DeGeneres is very good at what she does, and I’ve seen her show and she is indeed about being a nice person, so the job she was asked to do is not something she is comfortable doing. It’s similar to when a company promotes the lead person on the shop floor to be the supervisor. At the time it seems like a good idea, after all she’s great at getting the work out and making sure that all the production goals are being met. It makes sense to promote her to supervisor right, maybe not.

There is much more to being a supervisor than making sure the production goals are being met. While that is part of the job it only one part of the job of being a supervisor. A huge part of supervision has to do with managing people and if you’re not trained for that you will have problems.

Ellen may be a good entertainer but when it comes to making decisions that will impact people’s careers she realized that’s not something she was good at or comfortable with. There are those who may think she’s foolish to leave a ton of money on the table, I don’t think so. I’m guessing she knew that it’s not in her makeup to tell people they have no talent and no amount of money would make her feel good about that. So she figured it would be better to leave than be asked. I think she was right.

Makes you wonder, what if more people in management followed her example, we might just have supervisors and managers who were actually qualified to do job.  Well, one can dream.

© Timothy A. Wilson 2010. All Rights Reserved

David Morales an eight year old adorned a baseball cap with some of his toy soldiers and wore it to school as part of his show and tell presentation in support of the troops. For that he was told he couldn’t were the hat because it violated the school zero tolerance policy around weapons.

Any of you familiar these small plastic figures – that have been around for years – fully understand that this claim is as ridiculous as they come.  You would think any teacher would have the common sense to know these figures offer no threat of violence and that their little rifles are completely incapable of firing a shot.

When I read about this I remembered my childhood and how I use to carry one of my favorite toy soldiers with me, that had a flame thrower. I can only image what would happen to me if today’s rules applied when I was David’s age. For that matter, some of the pictures I drew of pretend battle scenes would have clearly been my invitation to have a front row seat in the school’s psychologist office. I can only think it was because I grew up during the Korean Conflict – the war that wasn’t a war.

One has to ask are these teachers so lacking of common sense they are incapable of thinking about what truly constitutes a weapon that would meet the criteria they claimed these toy soldiers did. In his blog Alan Weiss refers to it as “dumb-ass stupid management.”  Not only do I agree, but it is as General Honore said “it’s being stuck on stupid.” You’re stuck on stupid when you look at a three inch toy and equate that toy to a violation of a zero weapons tolerance policy which is clearly designed and developed to deal with real weapons.

I would like to think that our teachers, our educators understand the concept of critical thinking you know the ability to assess and comprehend a situation and apply a logical and reasonable solution to addressing the problem facing them. But this most recent example clearly demonstrates those we call teachers are in tremendous need of being taught not only the concepts of critical thinking but need a heavy dose of common sense added to the process.

However, we may have ourselves to blame. For every David Morales story, there are stories about parents coming in to challenge the teachers about a grade given to their precious little Johnny or Suzy saying it will impact their ability to get into Harvard even though their kid is only in the second grade.

As ridiculous this story is, we have to get back to having some level of reason in how we train our teachers and how we act toward them. What happen to David Morales, is beyond ridiculous, common sense must prevail, for if it doesn’t we’re going to continue to be stuck on stupid.

As we prepare to celebrate Memorial Day, I’m reminded of how it was done back home in Syracuse. There would be those who would visit the cemeteries to place flags on the graves of solders, along with the official proclamations by the mayor. But what I remember most of all was the parade. Twice a year the city had a parade, Memorial Day and Veterans Day. It was an awesome thing to see when you were young. I remember the solders marching past in their uniforms and at time thinking how cool it would be to be a solider. I never really thought about the reason for the parade and why they were marching. When you’re young you don’t think about the reality of being a soldier and the wars that they fought and the anguish they were part of and witnessed. You just saw the fancy uniforms and how they marched in perfect unison. Now that I’m older and have had the opportunity to understand the true meaning behind Memorial Day I can’t help but be in awe of those who fought and died so that we can enjoy the freedom we have.

As a history buff, I have often lost myself in reading about famous battles such as the battle at Thermopylae, the Alamo, Gettysburg, Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Bulge. The fact that there were men who were willing to give their lives in the support and belief in freedom can’t shouldn’t be lost. While for some Memorial Day, signifies the unofficial start of summer, it’s still a time for us to reflect on what being a soldier means. I won’t spend a lot of time discussing it but suffice it to say those who make a choice to put their lives on hold and put on a uniform do command our respect. When we consider that today we have an all volunteer army it’s is indeed astonishing that young men and women are willing to step forward and do what they do. 

While May 5, 1868 is said to be the official establishment of Memorial Day it was actually celebrated on the 30th of May that same year. Each state and town has it way of celebrating it with the most common of laying of flowers on the graves of soldiers. While we think and remember those who have fallen, we must also consider and remember those who are still in harm’s way. There are thousands who are away from friends and families, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, faithfully serving and standing guard so we may happily attend our backyard barbeques and family gatherings. I don’t think they begrudge us enjoying ourselves, in fact I think they wouldn’t have it any other way, perhaps wishing they could be home with their family and fiends enjoying the celebration.

So when you lift that beer, or take a bite of that hotdog, take a brief moment to thank those who aren’t able to be with their family. Just take a small moment in time to think about what they are doing and have done to allow us the freedom we sometimes take for granted.  I don’t say this to make you feel bad, just to cause you to consider that we pay a price for everything we have and we should take nothing for granted. We have our freedom because there were those who answered the call when those freedoms were threaten and were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that we could continue our way of life.

Keep not only those who laid down their lives in your thoughts, but also those who still live and stand tall, and pray they may return home to their families safely.

Happy Memorial Day and enjoy your summer.