Went to a Memorial Day parade yesterday morning to see our grandson march. Very big turnout, great event and, all-in-all, emotionally moving. Reading the placards brought by many in the the crowd, listening to the conversations, and watching others reactions as the marchers went by, these folks know where they live, what the day was all about and I think represent real grass roots beliefs and ideals. So, I think a lot of people in D.C.are going to be surprised next November and may as well start packing up now.
Otherwise it was the last of the holiday weekend. Long, slow, restful remainder of the day and perfect for entering some more thoughts.
Some time ago, while making an entry, I jotted myself a note regarding “bosses.” Because as I sat and typed I realized that many, if not most, of my comments about them haven’t been too nice. So, I thought I’d explain my conclusions about them. Aside from that, I doubt I’ll return to the workforce in any way where my notations would do me future harm from any of them I’ve denigrated, so I don’t really have much fear of repercussion.
To begin, I must clearly state that opinions, attitudes and thoughts mentioned herein are solely my own, have not been confirmed by anyone anywhere at any time, and may be totally wrong. In fact, there may be those out there who might conclude I’m deluded regarding my slant on "management" in general.
Upon that foundation, I’ll go on to say that from a very young age, going back to my teens, work-wise I’ve always displayed particular valuable talents. That’s not smoke or conjecture, in productivity terms it’s documentable.
As I matured in the work force, and became aware of my talents value, I began to rely much more on those skills than any other factor. Way back when, for example, when I was the only person in a manufacturing plant that had the skills required to perform a particular critical function, and a direct “boss” told me he wanted me to work a weekend because he’d fallen behind in his own job and needed assistance, I told him to have a nice two days in the factory and went home. Naturally, if my talents were readily replaceable I wouldn’t have had the nerve to walk out and spend two days of freedom.
When I realized that I could do something like that and remain employed, I began looking at occupation much more from a “who does what for whom” perspective, and what talents real worth was, as opposed to whom “works” for whom according to an organization chart. In time, though never really abusive in using my skills as “insurance,” I certainly applied them to protect myself from abuse, exploitation or the particular whims of some so-called "boss."
There are many illustrations I could type in to further the basis for my beliefs before I ever graduated to a career in sales, but I’ll move on to selling because it’s among the purest forms of self-employment that exist despite that a salesman might “work” for some kind of entity or operation. It’s my contention that salespeople always work for only themselves, regardless of who signs their paychecks.
And, for the best of salespeople, though they might tolerate the burden of bureaucratic hurdles because they receive some kind of compensating benefit for that, if push comes to overbearing shove, those same best performers will quickly head for the nearest exit and take their skills somewhere else. Now, that may not be the best of attitudes for ones who are supposed to be employees, but as they say, if you’re fortunate enough to have the talent, sometimes you have to flaunt it.
I guess what this all boils down to is, that if you really can survive and support yourself no matter, employment isn’t really a “job’ it’s a convenience. And if employers can conveniently accommodate superior talent so-be-it, and if not, quick good-byes are in order for both sides. Thus, in the last analysis for those who rely solely on themselves for results, there’s really no such thing as a “boss” in their lives. And the best “bosses” in the world are the ones who understand that trade-off and simply accept what top-producers deliver without saying a word except “thank you.”
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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