Thursday, February 25, 2016

Trump Truth

We need to be afraid of what he stands for

Saturday, March 07, 2015

Pearl Harbor - What God did that day, Dec 7, 1941

Received the following in my email this morning and thought I would share it.

Pearl Harbor, What God Did That Day

Really interesting, and I never knew this little bit of history:

Tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii every thirty minutes.  We just missed a ferry and had to wait thirty minutes.  I went into a small gift shop to kill time.

In the gift shop, I purchased a small book entitled, "Reflections on Pearl Harbor " by Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Sunday, December 7th, 1941--Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending an afternoon concert in Washington D.C.  He was paged and told there was a phone call for him.  When he answered, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone.  Pearl Harbor had been attacked.  He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet.  He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941.

There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat--you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.

On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.  Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters every where you looked.

As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?"  Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice.

Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?"

Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?"  

Nimitz explained:

"Mistake number one:  The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning.

"Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave.  If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk, we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.

"Mistake number two:  When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships.  If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to the mainland to be repaired.

"As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised.  One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to the mainland . And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

"Mistake number three:  Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill.  One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply.

"That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make...or God was taking care of America."

I've never forgotten what I read in that little book.  It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it.  In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas -- he was a born optimist.  But anyway you look at it--Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism.

President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job.  We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat.

There is a reason that our national motto is, IN GOD WE TRUST.

Why have we forgotten?

PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Self Programing

Funny how we can program ourselves to do certain things without conscious thought. I have had about 4 hour sleep in the last 36 hours. I decided to walk 3 miles around the parade field. Put on my Karate warmup playlist that I use to get into “the zone” for various events. It’s a mix of metal, classic rock, techno, and dance music. I was dragging my butt around the field when about three quarters into the distance I noticed that I was walking through my blocks,chops and strikes without even thinking about it. No wonder i was getting some strange looks 😊 off to bed hopefully I get some good sleep time

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Top things My Best Bosses Have Demonstrated

Understanding Your Role in Conflict Situations - Sandra Thompson
Setting High Expectations and Expect Your Team to Occasionally Fail - Donna Heaton
Do what it takes to get the job done and know your people - Aldro Grieco
You can never be over prepared - Jason Leavitt

Understanding Your Role in Conflict Situations
One of my supervisors at Kadena AB, Japan was MSgt Sandra Thompson. She had a unique way of assisting people with personnel conflicts.  She made you think about what actions you took during the conflicting situation to determine what you could have personally done to improve the situation.

When I went into her office to vent about the situation her first question usually was “What could you have done differently and was it really that important to have that conflict?”

The advice was always the same two steps each time I would talk to her. 

1. You play a role in every conflict. Only you can control if situation is going to get out of hand. Control your emotions and try to think from their point of view to meet them half way.
2. After every conflict, always self evaluate what actions you took and determine what you could do better in future conflicts.

Setting High Expectations and Expect Your Team to Occasionally Fail

Donna was my first Site Director at the UPS Call center located in Las Vegas. Her management approach was to set high expectations that could be achieved but you had to work to get the results required.  She also did not want to hear why we could not get something accomplished but what actions we were going to do to overcome the challenges we faced.

She also had the expectation that people are going to occasionally fail when trying to get to her expectations.  She would pick you up, dust you off and then ask you “What went wrong and what could you have done to prevent the failure?”  She always provided an example of where she has failed in the past and how she overcame it. Failure is painful but something necessary to be successful.  There is no successful person in the business world that has not failed at something along the way. We learn from our mistakes.

Do what it takes to get the job done and know your people

The toughest boss I have worked for is also one my best friends in life.  MSgt Aldro Grieco was the NCO in charge of the TMO office in Misawa AB, Japan.  He took me under his wing and kicked my butt when I was not meeting expectations.  In my youth, I did only enough to get by. I rarely pushed to the next level. He saw potential where others did not.  His candid feedback on my shortcomings was the driving factor in the change of my work ethic. Today, I want to exceed what others are expecting.

His focus for me was to do whatever it took to get a job done, don’t make excuses or settle for anything other than success.  He spent time getting to know his people so he could get the most from each person on his team.  He was one of the few bosses that I have run into that is able to separate what happens in personal time from business time. We could hang out after work but when we were at work it was all business and anything else was unacceptable.
To simplify the impact Aldro has had on my life. I currently have him on my Will to get my belongings if something were to happen to me and my entire family.

He was tough but fair and no nonsense while at work but took the time to know his people.

You can never be over prepared
My current manager is Jason Leavitt.  He approach to being prepared for any significant reviews with senior leaders or the management team is the best I have ever seen.  Time is of no importance for him. I have seen him spend several hours reviewing reports and data to ensure he has a firm understanding of every detail.  He has got that vision of knowing what question may be asked and has everything prepared beforehand. 

It’s better to have too much information then not have the information at your fingertips when asked.