Choices

Learn To Control Life

By Brandon W. Jones on March 2, 2013 3

When you are a leader, everyday brings a multitude of problems, challenges, and opportunities. Each comes from a variety of sources with different people involved. As you face the problems, challenges, and opportunities, think about how to control life. You must realize what is within your control and what is not. As a leader, it is very easy to want to control life completely to the point that you forget that you can’t control certain things. When you try to control the uncontrollable it only leads to stress, frustration, burnout, and disappointment. As a leader, you must truly think about and understand how to control life.

Do You Understand How To Control Life?

So, when do you control life and when does someone else control life? This question is very important when approaching each day. You should ask this question when you set your priorities and determine how to spend your time and money. It is very easy to get caught up trying to control things outside your control, but that creates unneeded stress.

When deciding how to control life, you must grasp the controlled and let go of the uncontrollable. How can you grasp the controlled? How can you let go of the uncontrollable? To control life you must understand what is controllable and what is not. [Read more…] about Learn To Control Life

Make Your Choice Count

By Brandon W. Jones on November 6, 2012 0

As everyone knows, today is the day of the presidential election in the United States Of America. Everyone that is 18 years old or older has the opportunity to go out and vote. By voting, each person can make their choice known. They have their voice in what they want and don’t want in the government and in the policies for the future.

This ability vote is very powerful because it allows you to actively make a choice on what your future brings. By voting, you have to make a choice on what you do and don’t support. If you choose not to vote, you are making the choice that no matter the outcome, you accept the consequences by not taking a stance. When you vote, you make a choice beforehand on whether or not you are going to study the topics and become educated or just go with a guess based on a couple of advertisements you heard on the radio or saw on T.V.

Voting is a very important manifestation of your choice, however, there are many other aspects of your life where you make choices as well. As a matter of fact, everyday you have hundreds of choices. You must decide what you are going to wear, what you are going to eat, how fast you will drive to work, what route you will take, whether you will try for a new job or opportunity, etc. and the list goes on. Some of the choices you make each day are very inconsequential while others have major impacts on the direction you go for the future. [Read more…] about Make Your Choice Count

Wake Up And Be A Leader!

By Brandon W. Jones on July 12, 2012 2

If you follow this blog, you have probably noticed that I regularly write posts about leaders in the news and the impact they have on the world. Leadership is an important responsibility because leaders determine where people end up and how their lives change.

Today, I was going to post an article about leaders in the news. As I looked through articles to find one to write about, I was sorely disappointed in the number of articles I came across where the leader overspent, was dishonest, took the organization in the wrong direction, took too many risks, or did something else to ruin the organization.

In many ways I feel like I am probably preaching to the choir when I say this, but leaders everywhere need to wake up and BE leaders. Leaders need to stop being deceitful and do all they can to stop others from being deceitful.

Be Honest

As a leader, you must be honest. I wrote another post that focused solely on the importance of being honest, but I feel like I can’t say enough about the importance of being honest. Leaders have been in the news so much lately because they have been dishonest. It completely disgusts me that leaders are more concerned with making a few bucks than maintaining their honesty and integrity. Your honesty and integrity should be worth more to you than anything else. Once you give up your integrity, you lose your good name. Is money worth the loss of integrity? If you think it is, you are a fool. [Read more…] about Wake Up And Be A Leader!

Are Your Leadership Choices Building Or Tearing Down Walls?

By Brandon W. Jones on June 14, 2012 0

Today, I read a very interesting article about GM, GM’s Chief Labors to Get Rebuilt Car Maker Into Gear, by Sharon Terlep. She talked about the new challenges CEO Dan Ackerson has been facing as the new CEO of General Motors Corporation. After taking over as CEO, he traveled to the various locations within the company to get to know the operations of the company. He worked very hard to know how and why things operated the way they did.

Know Your People and Organization

As he went to the different areas of the company, he found that each area had their own competitive advantages and disadvantages compared to the other areas. Each area had their own trade secrets they were not willing to share. There was a high level of competition between areas.

The Silo Approach

Many of these areas had to work together in some form or another, but they acted like their own separate company. Rather than work together for the good of the company, they worked for the benefit of their specific department, group, or area.

That type of an environment led each group to outspend other areas of the company. Each group desired to have the best of everything to the point that they spent money on frivolous things. They all wanted “the best of everything” for their department. This high level of competition created walls within the company. Functional groups were not willing to work with other departments or compromise in any fashion. [Read more…] about Are Your Leadership Choices Building Or Tearing Down Walls?

How A Cost Benefit Analysis Will Save You Time

By Brandon W. Jones on January 30, 2012 0

If my life is anything like yours, you have many opportunities that come your way everyday. People will come into your office and/or send you emails requesting your help on everything you can imagine. Can you participate in this group? Can you help me with this project? Can you review this report? Can you take care of this responsibility? There are many other questions that come regularly. So how can you wade through all the requests and still complete your core responsibilities? I have just the solution for you.

Even though many of the requests are for very important things that need to be done, you don’t personally have to fulfill all of them. You can delegate. When you delegate these requests or responsibilities to others, it is important to sift through them so you know what things you absolutely have to do yourself compared to what you can have others do for you. That is where the cost-benefit analysis is very useful. [Read more…] about How A Cost Benefit Analysis Will Save You Time

Ethics in the Workplace

By Brandon W. Jones on September 14, 2011 2

Within the business world each person has to continuously make choices related to ethics. It is an everyday part of life. In many fields ranging from the practice of law to engineering services there are codes of ethics to which people must adhere.

Code of Ethics – The License

In order to receive the professional license in a given field, individuals must sign the code stating they are willing to abide by its ethical standards. As part of the codes, they state how people should and should not behave on matters of ethics. They also state in many cases that a failure to adhere to the code will result in the revocation of the license.

As important as ethics are, there is no business code of ethics that must be signed in order to enter management. In order to be a manager, one does not have to sign a paper stating they will follow specific standards for the rest of their career.

A Missing Code

There is not a code of ethics for managers that must be signed prior to entering the management arena. Although most corporations have their own set of company policies and procedures, there is not a set standard through the business world. [Read more…] about Ethics in the Workplace