It takes time to get to ” we”. A lot of persuasion and education, it’s not a Eureka moment, it’s more of a ” shit happens or happened”, now what? The now what, follows when people want change and realize, right or wrong no longer matters, only correcting the situation matters.
- In Great Barrington, my friend told me, she was frustrated with the voting community because they didn’t listen to the concerns of the non voting retailers, as the Community embarked on a massive Down Town Development Plan. Many of the retailers tried to explain that the Down Town improvement program may not work to everyone’s advantage. Instead of resolving the problems, the shop owners gave up, renovation proceeded as planned and now the renovation works for no one! There’s less parking , blown tires and tripping on the curb cuts instead of the side walk! Perhaps, It should never have been “us vs them” ? . However, it’s never too late to listen to each other and present opposing views while working toward a solution that works for the Town. If they listen to each other now, all is not lost . It merely means Community cohesion and the eventual Town Plan will cost more money and time. In the long term, this could be a win win.
Which brings me to how we managed contamination of Streptomycin at PFIZER. ( I’ve told this story before, I know!) We all gathered in one room. Charts in hand and on several stands, as we confirmed the problem, confined the problem, stopped the line and worked on uncovering everything we knew about the manufacturing set up. Everyone was involved, hourly personnel, management. No blame cast. We found the problem. Cleaned the space and started the line again in less then 24 hours. A win win. Every problem can present an opportunity to do better .
- ” United we stand , divided we fall.” A maxim to live by. Preachy? Polarization works toward our disadvantage, if we are blind sided by someone’s argument, we may forget to understand someone’s right to their position and our right to be the “loyal” opposition!
- It’s OK to be passionate about our “wish lists” for America. The challenge, for those of us interested in America, is listening to others. Gridlock is not an answer. Bipartisanship at the expense of the Middle Class is not acceptable. Our challenge as citizens requires that we educate others and develop strategies to move our Country forward enabling more of us to achieve a better quality of life. Why not use our new technology, Periscope, to spread our ideas?
- I’d like to be better off now then I was in 2007. What about you?
“the heart and pulse of the Middle Class”