My father, my hero!

My father, Gerardo "Jerry" Lobo (second from left), 14 months after his arrival in Amsterdam, NY. He was 22 in April of 1965, having left his wife and two sons in the care of her parents in Costa Rica. Within 18 months of his arrival in the US he reunited his family. He had his own apartment, his own car, and was 3rd shift supervisor at Adirondack Mills. Hundreds of Costa Ricans followed my father to Amsterdam and then to Lincolnton, NC where he raised his five children. He passed away at the age of 52 in 1994. The NC-based Latino Diamante Awards recognized him for LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT in 2003 for his untiring assistance in helping Latinos achieve the American Dream. The Jerry Lobo Scholarship Fund, domiciled at Belmont Abbey College in the Charlotte area, assists young people of Hispanic lineage attain higher education. My father believed that education, coupled with ethics and perseverance, produced success. He remains a great example of the potential we each hold within ourselves. 

Perspective is a clarifying lens....

Today I was happily taking the first day of vacation in a long time. Close to mid-morning the phone rings and I hear my wife quietly sobbing while speaking to my son, who is a junior this year. She tells me that the students at his school were just told of a fellow classmate who took his own life yesterday.

Perspective is a clarifying lens.

The issues I had been contemplating related to professional projects, strained relationships, and irritating work matters all become so trivial when seen through this filter. What I thought to be of consequence has become nearly offensive when compared to the grief this family is now suffering. I wrote "IT IS YOUR ATTITUDE" to help discern the meaningful from the trivial. I am very clear again. Love your family, love your neighbor and love yourself.

Good news/Bad news!

First the BAD: This week Congress passed a bill, a part of which outlaws internet gambling. There is all sorts of empirical data damning gambling for social ills, as well as other information that refutes the notion that gambling decays our society. This is not the point. What has happened again, is that YOUR REPRESENTATIVES have voted against your personal freedom to spend your earned money as you see fit. In their relentless pursuit to make YOU accept THEIR values, they have once again reduced your rights to lead your life as you see fit and cause no harm. They will also make the banks their enforcers by causing payment systems to negate the transactions accomplished today on the net. U.S. law is not international law, I am sure the 20M US citizens that enjoy gaming on the net will find more receptive channels.

Now the GOOD: Grammen Bank and it's founder, Bengladeshi, Dr. Muhammad Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in a fitting recognition of the innovative banking concepts and the remarkable services rendered by him in alleviating poverty not only in Bangladesh but also in many other developing and developed countries. Grammen Bank has lent $4billion in micro loans, some as small as $20.00, with a 98% recovery rate. This is one man making a difference in the world! AMEN!

HAMILTON’S 1937 AESCHYLUS (Agamemnon 179-183)

Drop, drop– in our sleep, upon the heart sorrow falls, memory’s pain, and to us, though against our very will, even in our own despite, comes wisdom, by the awful grace of God.

In other words: Sometimes you simply have to "see" things through. Nothing is forever, it just feels like forever!

On Moral Judgement....

Justice is the virtue of judging men’s character and conduct objectively and of acting accordingly, granting to each man that which he deserves. Though the conventional view conceives of justice primarily as a negative – focusing on the punishment of evil – justice is a means of attaining and protecting one’s values. It guides one not only in warding off those who would do harm, but it also guides one toward those (potential lovers, friends, associates) who have values to offer one, whom one can admire and benefit from.

So, how does one judge men’s character and conduct objectively? As an aspect of rationality, justice demands that one be scrupulous in identifying all the relevant facts and in evaluating them according to a rational standard.

It is important to recognize that justice does not include “psychologizing,” which is condemning or excusing specific individuals on the grounds of their psychological problems, real or invented, in the absence of or contrary to factual evidence. The facts should be weighted within a man’s conscious control – his convictions, statements, actions.

shared by JAA

Now what.....

More than 1/2 behind you, less than 1/2 ahead( both for the year and lifetime I hate to admit). There is a great emotional need to add more to what is expected; more strategic efforts, more demands on client service, more emphasis on client connectivity, more, more, more. Yet, when is MORE destructive, when does it add to confusion and frustration. Is it not better to zero-in on specific lower performers than to broad-brush everyone with a sense of alarm? This requires vast sums of self control and clarity with each team leader. It is easier to yell "FIRE", but it is more effective to deal at the individual level. SELF CONTROL AND BIG ATTITUDE, that's what YOU must own.

The most important date in history!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, possibly the most important date in the annals of mankind. This is so because through reasoning and reality, a group of men decided that happiness was their own and created the freest nation conceived by the mind of man. Freedom carries the responsibility to withstand disagreement from others, even as your own may be as patriotic and mainstream as you may think. Freedom allows us to hold accountable our elected and military and government bureaucracy, and we should. Freedom allows you to be selfish and develop your interests and gain confidence as others are wishful of interaction with your concepts, and through mutual collaboration, greater awareness and innovation. Our freedom is fueled by economic progress and the rule of law. Laws are to enforce penalties against the aggression of one against another. Beyond that, government should remain in the background and allow its citizens the freedom to be, to live their lives as they see fit, and to not obstruct man's creativity in the development of ideas, products and services. You today have the freedom to disagree with everything I have posted. This is why the entire world would choose to live where we live. CONGRATULATIONS!

PAY DIRT!!!!

.....and then it all comes together! Team members work closely and in unity with other departments, everyone communicates and focuses on the ultimate stakeholder, the client!
WOW, my BEST day in Washington yet. There are few things we can not accomplish, I am clear on this, again. Human nature is to stay in the box, yet when the leaders are able to draw a bigger box, then our own thirst for recognition and accomplishment takes us to those new limits. I am clear again, it is always the LEADERSHIP, the followership is derived from it.

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!!!!!HOWL!!!!!!

The Only Failure

Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between
failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it:
so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it.
How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more
effort, and a little more patience would have achieved success?

As the tide goes out, so it comes in. In business, sometimes prospects
may seem darkest when they are on the turn. A little more persistence,
a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure, may turn to
glorious success.

There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within – no really insurmountable barrier sabe our own
weakness of purpose.

Author Unknown

Finding Purpose aka Why we do What we do!

Make someone do something they find tedious and not mentally challenging, and I guarantee you they will either not do it for long, or if they do so, it will be without enthusiam and lacking in quality. Help someone understand how this task fits into a greater whole and the inherent benefits of the finished product/project and then you may spur creativity, innovation and integration. My father was a product and very effective manager of the late textile industry. People were never told how their work interfaced with other production/product up the line and ultimately how their work benefited individuals, families, markets and the firm. So turnover was challenging, efficiencies tough to garner and output tied to pure demand.

How did Starbucks reinvent the "coffee shop"? Why is going to Target a less tedious experience for even a male? Why does Microsoft inhabit most PC's? Why do some people flourish wherever they are planted? Why do some nations prosper and other flounder? PURPOSE!!! Problem is, you have to find it for yourself, no one will give it to you, it does not arrive in of itself.

180,000 expected at the national mall 4-10-06

I am PROUD to take my son to the national mall tomorrow. I will be there not to contest the equity of laws to come, but for him to "see" why this country is the greatest conceived by the mind of man. NOT created by a supernatural force; NEITHER organized to uphold the religious beliefs of some; NOT to impose the political beliefs of some on the rest of humanity. This colony of Great Britain was organized in the pursuit of profit, and to make a profit, one must produce something desirable to another, and through free trade, men gain the freedom to utilize their labor and skill for their own benefit, and it is only in their freedom to be that men are willing to defend their rights. THAT is why we fought the Revolutionary War: to exercise the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to create laws that come from the consent of the governed, to establish the justice of existing for our own happiness and not for the benefit of the state. This is the United States of America, a place where any man or woman, irrespective of their origins, geographic/financial/philosophical, can test their potential and by doing so, improve the lot of the rest.

Other peoples shoes...

Shared by my friend Anna:

http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/Other_Peoples_Shoes.asp

A couple decades later I learned about one of the Torah's most intriguing mitzvot, the obligation to judge other people favorably. The Torah enjoins us: "Judge your fellowman justly." [Lev. 19:15] The classic commentators explain this to mean "judge your fellowman favorably and interpret his actions and words only to the good." [Sefer HaChinuch 235]

Three thousand years before the advent of Cognitive Psychology, the Torah recognized that our attitudes (and consequently our words and actions) are formed not by what the other person said or did, but rather by our interpretation of what the other person said or did. Therefore, the Torah obligates us, whenever possible, to find or devise a favorable interpretation

Chilly behavior

What to say? I am baffled by the absurdity of human behavior. Then, with a few hours of detachment it comes to me. FEAR, that is why they behave in this manner. Unadulturated FEAR. Fear of failure, fear of not being noticed, fear of not being relevant, fear of being discovered as unworthy of respect or position, fear of the uncertainty of their own beliefs. Question is, why do YOU react to their behavior in uncertain fashion. YOU are sure of your beliefs, sure of your stance, sure of your direction. Yes, but the uncertainty of the outcomes keeps the flame of anxiety burning, probably forever. Same for them. It does not take long for it to become a flame thrower. Stay the course. You the leader will reduce their fear as their behaviors reach better results. It always has, you simply forgot.

Attitudeman (in winter...... )

Bank Opposes Eminent Domain

BB& T Restricts Loans to Developers

By Brooke A. MastersWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, January 26, 2006; Page D01

BB&T Corp., a North Carolina-based financial services company with a substantial Washington area presence, said it will not lend money to private real estate development projects that rely on local governments to seize land from reluctant sellers.

The bank and legal analysts said they believe BB&T is the first major financial institution to announce such a policy since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that using "eminent domain" powers for privately owned projects did not violate the Constitution. The court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London sparked public opposition and efforts in Congress and states to put new limits on local governments' power to condemn private land.

www.washingtonpost.com/ar2006012502022.htlm

Every day is Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I know it is already the end of January; regardless, it is a new year everyday as we spin on this 365 day cycle. Here you are alive, able to read this post, able to make the decision to do something else entirely. That is where change is found, in the fact that you have the freedom to make the decision on how to utilize you precious time. Going around unconcious is also part of this freedom, yet a very costly one. What to do, when to do it, how to do it? There you go, now you are thinking and when you are thinking you are viewing reality and utilizing reasoning (should be) as to how to address that reality, this is called independent thinking and it will cause a result from the action taken. That is what is "HAPPY" about your new day, your ability to act or to react. In many places you would not have this freedom, count your blessings!

Attitudeman