In a book called Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud published by HarperCollins, NY, 2010, the author discusses how we can change our perspective and go past the necessary endings.
Continuing with the theme, sometimes you will know when something should be fixed and when it should be ended. Other times you are more on the fence – you are hoping or wishing, what is the difference?
The past is the best predictor.
A wonderful story is Dr. Cloud writes a friend’s daughter’s boyfriend has asked to meet the friend, what should he ask him? The answer was to see his credit report and his last two years tax returns. The money was not what he was looking for – the credit report tells if he has fulfilled his promises. Can he be trusted? The tax returns show he takes responsibility for the daily things in his life. How much money was immaterial: the important aspect was his past behavior – promises, commitments and responsibility.
If you are evaluating personnel or projects
- What has been the performance been so far?
- Is it good enough?
- Is there anything in place that would make a difference?
- If not, am I willing to sign up for more of the same?
The answers will lead you to the correct actions.
If evaluating personal – an easy way is to put people in 3 categories
- Wise people
- Foolish people
- Evil people
Wise people – when the truth presents itself, the wise person sees the light, takes it in, and makes adjustments
They like feedback; take it in and own it.
Foolish people – tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it.
When given feedback they are defensive and come up with an excuse on why it is not their fault.
Evil people – protect yourself by documenting everything. Then use lawyers, guns and money to get their attention. Evil people want to bring you and your business down.
How to bring about change – make in urgent, have deadlines to ensure action is the new normal.
Linking to dividend paying stocks, similar to most things in life, people are the key to investing. Whether you like them or not is a good reason to invest. People are the people from the retail shop to the executive suite; they all have attachments, they all have reasons to invest their time and energy in the company. At the senior levels it is important to prune on a regular basis – as a shareholder do you see that reflected in the annual reports, if not why? Economies go through cycles and no one can predict all of them, however regular garden tools can help your investment thinking.
There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions
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