Feedback

If I could, I would stop performance reviews ...
To be more precise, I would stop their use to negotiate salary and bonuses.

Performance reviews are a source of fear, and contribute to skewed measures.

Would you dare to openly confess your errors under threat of stick and carrot.

Let me be very clear:
I fully support respectful non-manipulative feedback.
I am against manipulation.


Fungus

Tears

To me, emotions are like little personal compasses that help us drive our lives by pointing at right and wrong.
If it feels right, then it is right, If it feels wrong, then it is wrong.

Reading and using those little compasses is much harder than using the North/South magnetic needle kind, because they are subjective and easily manipulated. You may recall that after a few conversations with the Emperor, Darth Vader's emotions moved him the wrong way.

Emotions are felt as physical sensations: your bowels ache, you lose your breath, your heart runs wild, and your throat goes dry. I will not bore you with the details, mainly because I don't understand them, but tears are one of the ways your conscience tells you things about you. You know ... things.

I could tell you about my tears, when they come, and what they mean, but I guess that is a little too personal to be shared and understood.

Fungus

Sales

Some times I just feel I've been left outside.

I believe sales techniques should inform potential customers about the true characteristics of a product or service, so that the customer may take an informed decision to buy or not.

When the advertised quality is that the product is worth walking a mile, or that it will make me smell soo good that girls will fall for me, or that it's so delicious that a handsome teenager would kiss an ugly old lady to get Klondyke's double chocolate bar, I just don't get it.

I feel that I've been left outside looking in, and glad to feel so.

Fungus

Leadership

From what I read, a good leader is a person with the ability to manipulate the will of others to engage and energize them to do as he pleases in order to reach his own objectives (frequently called organizational or strategic).
Darth Vader called them imperial objectives.

Fascinating creatures indeed.

Fungus

Politics

There was a time when "political" was a way of serving fellow citizens. It seems that now it means self service, manipulation and deceit. Political implies a purpose. To serve or to manipulate, depending on the politician you're thinking of. Other than that, political skills and interpersonal skills are the same. Fungus