Leadership

Being a leader is someone who can drive performance without the employees feeling like they are being driven.  A leader models the behavior they are expecting from the ones they lead.  I would never ask of someone something that I would not first do myself.  A leader is only as good as their employees.  You can be a 4 Star General leading your troops in to battle, but if they can't shoot and hit the target, that reflects upon your leadership.  I believe leaders make the mistake of believing everyone who does the job has been properly trained for the job.  I find that in most cases, that is not true. A leader is constantly evaluating the talent entrusted to them.  It is our job to ensure our "troops" have all the tools necessary to do the job we are asking them to perform.  In the cases where they are not, it is our job to provide them with a P.I.P. (performance improvement plan) to get them where we need them to be.  Having said that, more importantly than getting them to where WE need them to be, it our job to get them where they are trying be professionally.  The signs of a great leader is how the team performs when the leader is not present.  If everything falls apart when you are not around, then what kind of leader are you? In my opinion not a good leader at all.  In a nutshell, leadership is having exacting standards, as the great former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin would often say, the standard is the standard.  We coach, we teach, we demand excellence knowing we will fall short sometimes, but we still demand it.

A Father's Worry

I have always been my youngest son’s strongest critic, but I am also his biggest fan.  I would never say I love my son more than his mother.  I don’t believe a man can love his child more than the woman that carried him, but I do believe I can be a bigger fan.  Watching my son work on his craft has been a great joy in my life.  Watching him lose interest or not work as hard on his craft worries me.  It‘s hard to look at someone you love waste a talent you know was God given.  My son has worked tirelessly on his game and now it seems he’s tired of the work.  My worry is, did I push too hard or did I not push hard enough.  It’s hard for some dad’s to not relive their lives through their children.  I often wonder if I am doing that with my baby boy. 

 

How do you teach your son to turn off the noise?  You didn’t let him run the streets.  You didn’t let him hang out all night.  You took him to nearly every practice, tryout, game or workout.  You watched him work six or seven days a week, you kept him too busy to worry about what was going on in the streets.  But what do you do when the streets start calling and now your son feels like he’s being left behind or isn’t as street smart as the other kids?  As his father I worry if I prepared him for the different aspects of life.  All I know to do is to try to keep talking with him. 

 

The best thing I can try to impress upon my son is, it’s okay not to be street savvy.  It’s okay not to know what people are talking about.  If they are true friends they won’t care if you don’t know, they will just explain it to you if you tell them you don’t know.  Even though I was raised with uncles, cousins and family friends who were OG’s, Mr. Nephew, Bo, Pete, Baby Bruno, Big Mike to name a few, I wasn’t in tune and was quite clueless to what was going on.  I was sheltered to an extent, even shielded from the life.  That’s not to say I didn’t learn some things and tried some things; I’m just making the point that I was an outsider growing up.  I was the square kid, the lame kid in all of my circles but having said that, I had a talent that people respected me for, I could ball.  The people I grew up with understood I wasn’t the kid that would look for trouble or volunteer to be involved in dumb shit, although I did get into trouble and do dumb shit, they understood that isn’t what I was about.  They knew what basketball meant to me and didn’t want me to be like them, they were my friends and did their best to make sure I didn’t fall prey to the streets, although I didn’t always make the best decisions, my friends didn’t push me to make the wrong decisions. 

 

Times are different now.  Haters pretend to be friends just so they can say they know you, but in secret they are doing everything they can to tear you down. When you are not “street savvy” it is hard to tell who is actually a friend and who is actually hating on you.  My son had several teammates who were haters.  I tried to explain that everyone wants your spot.  When you are the man, everyone wants to try the man, to beat the man, or to tear down the man.  The higher you go in your profession the more guarded you have to be.  Everyone who is around you has to have your best interest at heart.  Most times they are positioning themselves to be in place, just in case or when you fall.  Understanding they may have you hot boxing to keep you distracted, to get you out of their way.  Providing you opportunities to fail by presenting you things you know you should not be doing.  What I would I tell my son, what I am going to tell my son, is this, it is very hard at times to be comfortable with not fitting in.  We all want to be part of something and feel included, but you will find people out there that don’t care that you are not up on game and are street savvy.  They will like you for being smart, being yourself, being confident, being or engineer or being an NBA player, they will just care about you and not what you have or what you can do for them.  You won’t have to be something you are not and you will be more respected for standing up for yourself the right way and not bending to the will of others.  Love yourself first.  Take care of yourself first.  Do what is right for you first.  Worry about yourself first then worry about others.  There are exceptions to that of course, but God will guide you when those sacrifices are necessary.  Trust God!  Do what is right!  Work hard!   Be the best at it!

 

A Father’s Worry is, will his son reach his potential or will he waste that talent entrusted to him by God?  I pray for my son every day!  So, since I believe in God, I should say, my worry is unfounded because God will make a way.  My wife and I can’t love our son more than God, so we both know he is in good hands.  Reach your dreams son.  We’ll be watching in the owner’s box when you get there.

College by Kaeden Sims

I tickle the mind and inspire generation after generation.  I spend hours and hours bending thought to my will.  Never in your life have you had your own thoughts since you left me.  Everything you have ever imagined or thought of has come from me.  I have poured my soul into you and you have become the fruits of my labor.  Fruit that has produce more fruit.  From you every generation after you have been promised to me.  As you were the first from your father’s seed to join my ranks, you have vowed your bloodline hence forth to me.  I owned you and now you own me.  You own the ideas formed, the training learned, the work ethic discovered, and the process of thinking.  You are the one people of you inspire to be like.

What does it mean to be the spark of generations to come the first of your kind, the one who showed them the way?  Your mother showed you the way as she was the first of her kind.  Now, you will be the first from your father’s line.  Time will tell if you are successful or not, whether or not your example proved true.  All I can do is to continue to bend your thoughts to my will.  Whether you are cut from the leaves of Ivy, or the ward of a state institution, you will forever shepherd the sheep skin.  Forever marshal the lessons learned.  Forever be the beacon of light for everyone to see.  As I continue to say, I will always bend your thoughts to my will.

To become that beacon, you must travel from domain to domain, personality to personality and absorb all that is presented.  You will have to successfully navigate the trials at 90% to 100% rate to not be prosecuted.  To be found not guilty of ignorance by the judges who sum you up and grade you.  For I have done my best.  Your thoughts now straightened by the four years of travelling from domain to domain and from personality to personality, bending to my will, I may now adorn you.  I now present you with this cap and gown, present you with this sheep’s skin.  Whether it is from the leaves of Ivy or from the ward of the state institutions, I welcome you.  The college graduate.

I am College.

Stand

What does it mean to stand?  What stand means to me is despite the obstacles, despite the lies being told, despite the motive of others, you stand for what is right.  Too often people give in just because it is the path of least resistance, just because they are tired and can’t take anymore.  In my own existence taking the path of least resistance has been one often travelled.  Not wanting to hurt people’s feelings, trying to accommodate people who just want things their own way even though you know that is not the best course of action.   Perhaps my trouble is not communicating effectively why I feel the way I do and proceed in the manner I deem necessary. 

Choosing to stand is half the battle.  More times than not we just accept what happens in our day to day routines, instead of drawing a line in the sand and saying I don’t believe in that and I chose to stand for what I believe in.  The other half of the battle is to make certain whether or not what you believe in is right.  This is not something that can be validated by people.  Depending upon their relationship with you, people often take the side of their allies and if you are their ally, then you have agreement not dependent upon the facts presented, but rather the relationships built.  How does one press forward without allies?  How does one fight on alone?  You do so by setting aside self, making sure that what you are fighting for is more about whether or not it is the right thing to do, and not because it is what you want to do.  It is a very hard task, standing on conviction.  People have different backgrounds, upbringing, different values, so a lot of the time judgment is clouded because our lenses are colored with our own experiences, our own circumstance, and our own beliefs, our own prejudices, our need to prove that we are worth something, our own sense of accomplishment. 

So how do we get to the point where we can agree to disagree, do so without being disagreeable.  I will tell you how.  You do so by getting to the root of the problem.  You do so by asking why until all of the issues have been brought to light and resolved.  A certain management development course teaches you to ask why five times, so let us get to the why.  Earlier I stated people cannot validate your beliefs, validation comes from your relationship with God, and the vision God gives you for your life.  Because of that relationship, you never are without an ally, and you are never fighting alone.  Having said that, you cannot always say something is God’s will, because we are not always hearers of God’s voice, not always able to discern the spirit of God.  So all we can do is the best we can, with what we have, and pray that the outcome reflects the wishes of God.  No I don’t really believe that.  What I do believe is God’s will, shall be done and he will equip those he has standing with the tools to succeed.  So my prayer is simple.  God, let thy will, be done. 

So discover the why of it, stand, and see what happens.

What If

The age old question, what if? This question is asked millions of times a day. Everyone no matter the age, sex, or race ask this question. What if I had looked left instead of right? What if I had told her this instead of that? What if I had said yes to that job? What if, might be the single most asked question on the planet.

I am of the opinion that the “what if” question depending upon your age, is a tool used to keep doubt in ones mind. What if has gotten a lot of people in trouble. Never being satisfied is good in some areas of your life but may not be so good in others. What if I called my Shorty tonight while the wife is out and see if we can hook up? What if I robbed that fool and came up? What if God doesn’t forgive me?

How many times have you asked the question what if? Why are you asking that question at this point in your life? If you are a young man just getting started what if can be a self correcting tool utilized to improve upon your situation. If you are an older man, what if may be your way of trying to see if the grass is greener on the other side. It may allude to the beginnings of a mid life crises. What if can set you free or ruin everything. Ultimately what if is a choice, a decision, not an afterthought. What if should be something that is planned for ahead of time, not reacted to or a happenstance. Too many times we miss out for not planning for the “what if’s” when, had we only taken a moment to discern the Will, what If, would not be a part of our vernacular.

Take a moment if you will to think about the challenges you face in life, the burdens you bear, the people you love and respect. Take a moment to fathom the possibilities of life and the ramifications of what your “what if” question represents. Does it represent the strategic reset button of your life? Or, does it represent the destruct button of your life? While all of that is on your mind, let me give you a sneak peek, a clue if you will, as to the answer of this question. Come closer, be very, very, quiet, I am only going to share this with you, shhhhhhhh. (Whisper) If you are operating in God’s will, you have hit the reset button, outside of God’s will…… BOOM!! Self destruction!

What if God didn’t exist?

Unfathomable!!!!!!!!!!!

What IF

What if..........a question posed of uncertainty, a plea for clarity and truth
What if..........the world was flat instead of round
What if..........we were our brother's keeper
What if..........my lips were more pronounced instead of unseen and lack the fluff for adorning glamour
What if..........my eye lashes were long and curled upward without my having to purchase my winks
What if..........my hips were mounds of perfections so my buttocks is an art for sculptures and wondering eyes
What if..........my teeth were the models orthodontist used to make his patterned plates
What if..........I no longer had any teeth would I be more willing to smile
What if..........one day we awakened blind would the joy of living contain our living
What if..........french nails never existed, would we be any less a woman
What if..........curling, frying, banana peeling, corn rows and straightening our hair was never a trend
What if..........body oils, fragrant perfumes, lip gloss and shoes thought sexy never became an idea
What if..........the title of "Dead Beat" dad's only meant that at the end of their work day, dad's were dead beat tired
What if..........a family rarely had to deal with an absentee parent
What if..........a child came home from school to 2 loving and caring parents, what that does for his order in life
What if..........a dad made sure his time was equally divided with household and family matters
What if .........dad's were taught to love and nurture and passed that along to the loved ones
What if..........men could be happy with themselves rather than adorn themselves in gold, piercing's, tattoo's and alluring images and profiles to attract
What if .........men kept their boxer's under wear with a pair of men's cotton brief under wear on top of each other with pant's sagging unless slowing the vapor quantity
What if.........saggin was because our modern day men has had an abnormal testicle growth pattern that the pant companies haven't discovered they need to extend the inseam for a better fit
What if.........filing women's toe nails even was as simple and wearing open toed shoes that allow you toes to drag the pavement
What if.........a thong couldn't shield dress slacks from a mishap after digesting a colon cleanse capsule after a cough
What if..........the souls of the feet only walked the earth and stomped mud and adobe to construct a place to live
What if..........our hands were calloused and cracked from labor without tools
What if..........lips never came into contact with the opposite sex
What if..........underwear remained non-existence and we loitered naked in the forest or covered with leafs and vine bindings
What if..........we knew nothing of sex or is carnal knowledge what drives desires for pro-creation
What if..........the human touch is so emotionally overwhelming that without it we are disconnected to purpose
What if..........the first growth symptoms of pregnancy were never known as the body grew and the baby began to move
What if..........education was learning the ways of survival in a world and villages of hunter's and gatherer's
What if..........the educational bench marks and standards were to know your social environment and live for one another
What if .........in that world remedies for health care were roots, leaves and plants for healing at the cost of bartering
What if..........in the beginning God did not create the Heaven and Earth
What if..........Darwin's Theory of evolution is the truth and the light
What if..........Adam and Eve was a fabricated story for consequences for disobedience and shame
What if..........Adam relinquished his rib to make woman so he too would have a procreating partner to do the begot thing
What if..........the begot thing is of incestuous relations, does that make us all family under the Patriarch of Adam
What if..........we were all cousins, if so, are the wars, beliefs and differing ideologies what allows for bloodshed and violence
What if..........the only light in existence was the sun, moon and fire
What if..........the only light for the world today was seeking truth and asking, "why are we here"
What if..........in our hearts, soul and spirit we feel and believe that there is a force greater than our own intelligence in charge
What if..........listening to our own voices and ego gives greater advantages for reaching our life's destination to a death of darkness or for everlasting life
What if..........there were no animals, no fish, no fowl of the air, no insects, no reptiles, no mammals and no bodies of water
What if..........Darwin's evolution theory didn't pose the cosmic and heavenly body study of life being borne of what origin to man walking upright, if Adam was first born
What if truth and self purpose was every man's journey and baton to pass along for procuring the sought after top rung on the self esteem ladder for acquiring an identity of Self Actualization and how humans fit into an environment of hypocrisy, schizophrenia, betrayal and violence for co-existence
What if......... the word, LOVE, really meant God's favor
What if......... the word, friend, was a special term that rang true
What if..........thou shall not kill had meaning, would we do unto other's as they would to unto us
What if..........jealousy was just a word we learned to spell, but unlike a verb, had no action, but more understanding
What if..........the actions of governing bodies were equal, would we know and embrace it
What if..........the elite ruled the common folk, is that a more perfect union, capitalistic and democratic democracy or ideology
What if..........a government and a population of tyrannical leadership reigned supreme on the helpless and make slaves of their being powerless by controlling the laws and regulations of the land,,,,, is that liberty and justice, for whom
What if.........babies didn't cry
What if.........humans wouldn't die
What if ........there was no open place to pray, would there be the opportunity to say; I Love my creator
What if.........God Loves Us and is our Sheppard, whom will we fear
What if.........What if, was just a question or platform for us to educate and continue to research the many questions of life.
What if.........any of these thoughts ever crossed your minds
What if.........the "what if" question never ends

What if?

Geronzo
11/12/2010
2:45 pm

Ordered Society

I look over the precipice at iniquity and witness the continuous downward spiral of humankind. With so much going on, one wonders why we should even exist. With morality’s degradation ever abundant what hope can one have? We live in a society today that has lost what it means to be a community. Often times we look around for what is best for me, trying to elevate our own status forsaking the greater good. There is something innately wrong with the all about me syndrome. I can remember a time when the community took care of their children, a time when your neighbor was a surrogate parent.

Today what we find is everyone is for himself or herself, I got to get mine and the heck with everyone else. We are truly becoming a society of only the strong can survive. If we are truly that, a society where only the strong survives, then what happens to the weak? Are they simply castigated, or eliminated? How does man fulfill its destiny if there is no one to help, no one to show compassion, no ones spirit to lift? Where does this feeling of superiority lead us? I would argue it leads to citizens being sold to foreigners, people being tattooed with numbers, others being marshaled to gas chambers, the best of what we have to offer being crucified.

How can man justify its cruelty, justify its lack of reverence for life? Let’s just put humankind on time out. Go to your corner and stand their for ten minutes and don’t you come out until you can follow the rules! That works for our children does it not. 1 2 …. What did I tell you to do? 3. Great results. I only had to scream at you a hundred times between 2 and 3. So how do we impair morality’s decline? Let us start first with, “God is grace, God is good, let us thank you for our food. Amen”. Then we can move to, “now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. God Bless mommy, daddy,”… Prayer is the only way we can get society in order. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord” Psalm’s 37:23.

The only true way to become an Ordered Society is to become the men and women God has ordained us to be. Will you come?