I remember growing up my parents used to tell all of us (yes, all – we are Irish Catholic) that there were no such things as dumb questions.
This is the most preposterous comment.
Yes, there are dumb questions.
Period.
Disclaimer: this rant has nothing to do with the article that sparked it. Further, it has nothing to do with the people over at Retail Design Diva; in fact I hold them in pretty high regard and consider a lot of their postings extremely valuable.
However, they did bring something to my attention that I was not aware of. People are following Sarah Palin for their fashion advice.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Are we so zoned-out and insensitive to the issues in this country that we watch a debate to see what Palin is wearing so that we know what shoes are going to be popular and how we should all start wearing our hair?
I wonder if the Republicans know and truly understand the power in this movement. Women (and maybe men, not sure) following her to get advice on clothes, shoes, and hair. FOLLOW HER.
If the Republican Party had half a brain, they could really capitalize on this. Why not start a Palin blog on fashion and where she gets her clothes and tips? Imagine the herd of people following her? What a way to get in front of potential voters every day about what they care about….fashion and clothes?
How powerful is this? Powerful enough that I am not sure it will happen. But what if it did? What if they used social media? It might be too late, but if she ever wants to run for office, she should start her blog now. In fact:
“Hey, Palin, want me to start your blog?”
*I might be underestimating a lot of people, and I apologize to those who do follow politics and carefully weigh each candidate and question some of the issues and promises they make.*
Are you like me at all? Would you rather hear nails on a chalkboard than this answer?
Recently, somebody who I was talking to responded with “This sounds great, let me ask my boss”
My response: “What do you need to ask your boss? If it sounds great, let’s move forward.”
Internally I was thinking: Why does this person exist in an organization if he/she cannot make decisions after being employed there for 8 years?
So, of course, this got me to thinking about how we run our organizations. Granted we all know and expect this type of response when working with/dealing with a high-context culture, but not in the US (low-context). How can US-based organizations continue to treat their people like minions?
Perhaps a new company retention strategy should read as follows: “We encourage you to grow 
through making decisions and making mistakes. Hey, mistakes happen and the majority we can get over and move on. Additionally, you will not be a peon on minion here (but I may still ask you to send in TPS reports).”
Has anybody else ever come across this? I imagine mostly in sales. Does it drive anybody else up the wall?
Perhaps I should have make this a gear grinder
So I was sitting here today wondering about Labor Day and what it means. Luckily, we have wikipedia to tell us. Here is the definition:
….a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September. The holiday originated in 1882 as the Central Labor Union (of New York City) sought to create “a day off for the working citizens”…..Congress made Labor Day a federal holiday in 1894.[1] All fifty states have made Labor Day a state holiday.
Ok, am I the only one here who thinks this is a bit odd? At the risk of sounding like a hard-ass, why do we need another day off? I do understand that over 100 years ago, work schedules were different, and many jobs were 7 days a week and possibly more than 37.5 hours. However, we are not all blacksmiths and farmers now.
A good friend of mine brought up the fact that Labor Day was the official end of summer and we needed to celebrate. I asked, celebrate what? The fact that the days where the windchill is -15 and by the time I walk the 1.25 miles to work I look like a snowman? Granted I will celebrate the end of humidity. Wow, I sound like a real weather-cynic.
Back to the subject on hand. Why can’t Labor Day be during the week. More of an unexpected day off, rather than a long weekend? I take that back, if it was on a Wednesday, you would probably lose more in production than just keeping it on Monday.
So where does this bring us? Good question. I guess it brings us to realize I am in the office right now typing about Labor Day – AND getting work done – while most are going to read this post tomorrow.
