Why it pays to be a stay-at-home mommy.

You get your own song sung to you.

5 Things Remarkable Bosses NEVER Do

As a leader what you don’t do can sometimes make as much or even more impact than what you do. Here are five things remarkable bosses never do:

Say, “I’ve been meaning to apologize for a while…”

You should never need to apologize for not having apologized sooner.

When you mess up, ‘fess up. Right away. You certainly want employees to immediately tell you when they make a mistake, so model the same behavior.

If love means never having to say you’re sorry, leadership means always having to say you’re sorry.

Deliver annual performance reviews.

Annual or semi-annual performance appraisals are largely a waste of time.

Years ago my review was late so I mentioned it to my boss. He said, “I’ll get to it… but you should know you won’t hear anything new. You’ve already heard everything I will say, good or bad. If anything on your review comes as a surprise to you I haven’t done my job.”

He was right. The best feedback isn’t scheduled. The best feedback happens on the spot when it makes the most impact, either as praise and encouragement or as training and suggestions for improvement. Waiting for a scheduled review is the lazy way out.

Your job is to coach and mentor and develop–every day.

Hold formal meetings to solicit ideas.

Many companies hold brainstorming sessions to solicit ideas for improvement, especially when times get tough.

Sounds great; after all you’re “engaging employees” and “valuing their contributions,” right? But you don’t need a meeting to get input. When employees know you listen they bring ideas to you.

And if you must ask, the better way to ask for ideas is to talk to people individually and to be more specific. Say, “I wish we could find a way to get orders through our system faster. What would you change if you were me?”

Trust me: Employees picture themselves doing your job–and doing your job better than you–all the time. They have ideas. Sometimes they have great ideas. Be open, act on good ideas, explain why less than good ideas aren’t feasible… and you’ll get all the input you can handle without a formal meeting.

Create development plans.

Formal development plans are, like annual performance reviews, largely a corporate construct. You should know what each of your employees hopes to achieve: Skills and experience they want to gain, career paths they hope to take, etc.

So talk about it–informally. Then assign projects that fit. Provide training that fits. Create opportunities that fit.

Then give feedback on the spot. “Develop” is a verb. To develop requires action. “Development” is a noun that sits in a file cabinet.

Call in favors.

I know lots of bosses who play the guilt game, like saying, “Mark, I was really flexible with your schedule while your son was sick… now I really need you to come through for me and work this weekend.”

Generosity should always be a one-way street. Be flexible when being flexible is the right thing to do. Be accommodating when being accommodating is the right thing to do.

Never lend money to friends unless you don’t care if you are repaid, and never do “favors” for employees in anticipation of return.

Remarkable leaders only give. They never take.

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Did you get that????? A REMARKABLE BOSS NEVER TAKES.

Sheesh.

TIME

The Truth

..."We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor's arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: 'If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what is happening to us.'

That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way—an honorable way—in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory...."

- Viktor Frankl

Mother's Day

Thank you God for allowing me to be the mother of THIS child. I have no doubt in my mind that Psyche Calypso will be one of the movers and shakers of the 21st century.

I mean gosh JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE! That's the face of someone who can totally cure cancer and end world hunger. =)