Here’s my story from the LinkedIn post, published this afternoon at : “Friday the 13th and Synergies. . .” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/friday-13th-synergies-jo-ann-m-radja by @Coach_Jo_Ann on @LinkedIn
Category Archives: Personal Growth
Is it an Escher Artwork or A Natural Event?
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Math is where the answer is right and everything is nice – you can look out the window and see the blue sky – or the answer is wrong and you have to start all over again and see how it comes out this time.
Carl Sandburg
Earlier this evening, LinkedIn Pulse published my Blog entitled, “Why We Sometimes Don’t Make a Choice” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-sometimes-dont-make-choice-jo-ann-m-radja by @Coach_Jo_Ann on @LinkedIn. I used a few photos to explain Choice and how the Philosopher Tom V Morris, offered insights into that subject.
I shot the photo, above-left, yesterday morning. It is frost on a window. As I was putting away my flash drive, I remembered the graphic artist and mathematician, M.C. Escher. He was well-known for intersecting images, similar in concept to nature’s frost pattern. An example of Escher’s artwork is shown above-right. As we are almost at year’s end, we often think about what went well for us and what we want to improve in our careers. While we are not all artists, artwork in all forms within social media, offer a space away from our careers to relax and enjoy life for what it is. Relaxation brings clarity to our thoughts so we welcome each day for its own sake.
As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As during the new year of 2017, may your choices bring peace, happiness and contentment in your chosen career. Happy New Year!
“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach
What’s Your BEST Daily Change?
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It was cold and dreary this morning and yet, a few hours later, it is brisk outside and full of sunshine. Was this a change in opposites or just a 180 degree change of outlook – (from which we had no input)?
Change is in the air this Friday in October. The Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in a Pennant race. Halloween is around the corner. Night football is played on television, and many businesses are gearing up for the last quarter of the year and we find ourselves “right in the middle of it all.”
If we want to focus on one item in our career development before our life becomes more hectic than it already is – what would that be? In other words, What’s your Best daily change? Here are some thoughts on this subject:
Choose a path to stretch yourself, or:
However you define your Best daily change, I hope it becomes intertwined with how You Choose how you want to be Known As. Have a great Day and Weekend!
“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach
What’s Your Popularity Choice?
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Earlier this afternoon, I published the following post on the social media LinkedIn; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-your-choice-popularity-jo-ann-m-radja
Here is the text of that post:
What’s YOUR Choice for Popularity?
Associate Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter is known for choosing to include an American colloquial phrase in one of his Opinions; namely, “I’ll know it when I see it.” Although Justice Potter used that phrase to define pornography, many of us also use our visual sense in deciding moral ethical issues. It’s generational, isn’t it? We’ve moved from, ” A picture is worth a thousand words,” to “Selfie, anyone!”
Three Researchers, two from Oxford University, Jim A.C.Everett, Phd Candidate and Molly Crockett, Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology and David Pizarro, Associate Professor Department of Psychology from Cornell University, created an ethical scenario to understand whether a decision based on Popularity had any influence on its choice. The creativity of adding a choice of Popularity to well-established interpretations of ethics allows for inclusion of present-day understanding of morality. The scenario is:
“Imagine that an out of control trolley is speeding
towards a group of five people. You are standing
on a footbridge above, next to a large man. If
you push him off the bridge onto the track below,
his body, will stop the trolley before it hits the
five people. He will die, but the five others
will be saved. Should you push the man off the
bridge.”
The Researchers also added a twist to their “trolley problem” as they asked a question: how would you trust a social partner, based on their answer to the trolly scenario. Here is the May 5, 2016 URL for, “Want to be popular? You’d better follow some simple rules”: http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2016/05/cross-post-want-to-be-popular-youd-better-follow-some-simple-moral-rules/
While many academics may challenge the findings of these Researchers, their result is applicable for business settings. It is:
“So the next time you have to make a tough call, remember – people like people who follow moral rules.”
Have a great week as you Choose Who YOU Want to be Known As!
“Jo Ann ” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach
Pepper Spice, Nuts, Fruit and other Bounty
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Our workplace demonstrates how diversity enhances our well-being. We like to hear: “We’re glad you’re here.” “Thanks for bringing up that point, it adds to our conversation.” “I didn’t know that’s what it means in your culture.”
Our commonality looks for the difference we bring to the Table. It enables us to understand another viewpoint and how the viewpoint impacts the discussion.
With pride, we may bring to the Thanksgiving Table, pepper spice, nuts, fruit and our local Bounty – just a few of the diversity items we add to the mix of celebrating Thanksgiving. Because it is a centuries old tradition of giving thanks for a good harvest, our ancestors taught us to recognize how adversity shows us to step back and give thanks for what we did right during the year – whether during our career or personally.
New beginnings definitely took place during our career this year and we survived events we never contemplated. As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As this Thanksgiving, have a safe and enjoyable Holiday!
Shown below are a few websites that may bring a smile of knowing new facts about Thanksgiving —
8 Terrific Turkey Facts: http://www.livescience.com/17057-turkey-facts-thanksgiving.html
11 Surprising Thanksgiving Facts: http://www.livescience.com/41506-surprising-thanksgiving-facts.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=most-popular
Historical Facts about Thanksgiving you may not have known: http://www.plimoth.org/learn/multimedia-reference-library/read-articles-and-writings/thanksgiving-history
Enjoy! “Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach
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Monday Musing – 16 days into November 2015
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Continuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm. Pascal
New words that describe continuity, words we might want to use and one word with 12 meanings are the subject matters of the following three recently posted articles on different aspects of continuity in today’s workplace.
http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/38-convincing-words-and-phrases-to-adopt-immediately-.html
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/12-reasons-to-hire-employees-who-make-mistakes.html
Have a great week in your careers!
“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive & Career Management Coach
Impossible fun . . . with curiosity
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It’s kind of fun to do the impossible. Curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. Walt Disney
Earlier today I published a post on LinkedIn Pulse with the Title of The Three R’s. http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/three-rs-jo-ann-m-radja. Here is a modified version of that post.
A man in a creative job had been working on a new project. He submits it to the client and a discussion ensues. Even though the project was deemed unacceptable for the marketplace, he believed the discussion was fair. It was such a shock and a setback to subsequently learn his staff was hired away from him (except one man) by the company who deemed his work was out-of-fashion. This story occurred sometime during the 1920’s. Whether it is a myth or a restatement of history, unfortunately, this story rings true for many people.
The terms of reinvent, re-engineered, retooled or right-sized were not spoken in this creative man’s era; his story has universality for us today, some 90 years later. What Walt Disney did with his one employee was to collaborate and re-work his original drawings. Mickey Mouse was then born and introduced to the community. Many of the action terms we use today – customer driven, vision and focus, brain-storming new ideas and visualizing real-world activities for the new character – took place in the development and implementation of the Mickey Mouse character.
How quickly do you rebound from a serious let-down? What did you tell yourself to regroup and continue on? Did you re-frame the situation or just recognized perhaps the timing was all wrong? Stating these questions another way: What feedback did you receive that continued the spark in you to recognize, relate and resolve your actions to the next step? How frequently do you rely on YOUR three R’s As You Choose Who You Want to be Known As?
During the month of October, I hope your three R’s work to your best advantage as you recognize, relate and resolve.
“Jo Ann” M. Radja Executive and Career Management Coach
LINING Your Portfolio . . .
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I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along. Betand Russell
I’m not sure when it exactly happened; I think it started with my first photography course at college. Lines fascinate me, perhaps because what they represent in your mind becomes a design that you live with in your life and your career. As we approach the end of the month of August, another opportunity presents itself to create, enhance or begin a new line, lined or lining in your career.
Earlier today, I published another version of this theme as a LinkedIn Publisher at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lines-lined-lining-jo-ann-m-radja. Here is a copy of the text for your review:
“It’s somewhat rare that we do not find a line running through our careers. When our career began we had straight lines between a resume + interview + job offer. Within a year or so our performance may have warranted a testimonial or recommendation. Our performance lined a file and formed a lining within our portfolio.
Today, many of us have accepted we move though our careers via a step line of asking many questions. How are we able to >>>>>? How can I modify my >>>>> to achieve >>>>>? What do I have to do to complete >>>>>? What are the expectations for this assignment and how will my performance be measured? What questioning gives us are steps to embrace whatever perceived or real negative may lie before us. More importantly, we exercise whatever control we have to accept and choose a line of action.
We are presented with options and possibilities as we approach the last four months of 2015. As you choose Who You Want to be Known As, what questions will you ask yourself to continue lining your portfolio? Enjoy your 4th quarter of 2015!
“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach'”
“Talk to Inform” – Your Storyboard
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As is often the case when you are looking for something, you come across another idea. Here is an idea that may be of interest to you when you want to create a storyboard for your next writing, presentation, or meeting at the office. It’s called, “Talk to Inform – Visual Aid Mate.” [I am not the author and unfortunately, this color visual aid shows no company name or copyright information.]
It consists of 10 boxes printed on legal size paper, landscape print setting. Talking to Inform not only requires a Subject, but the Importance of the Benefit to your audience as well as an Outline of how you are going spend the audience’s valuable time during your Talk on the Subject. [Boxes 1 through 3]
Boxes 4 through 8 contain the Body of the Talk that may contain your personal experiences, expert opinions, analogies, statistics, facts and examples of how your Subject Matter relates to the audience. Boxes 9 and 10 represent how you Recap and Confirm the Benefit to the audience. So completing these 10 boxes and you’re done!
We all look for ways to streamline our work flow and I hope this brief idea is helpful to you when you need a self-management tool. Have a great week in your career!
“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive & Career Management Coach
2nd Day of July 2015
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Today’s Musings on the 2nd Day of July, 2015: We continue our preparations for celebrating the 4th of July. Taking a moment to learn about what is also occurring on this day, A federal website shares information on the history and why so many Americans are excited to celebrate the 4th of July at http://usafederalholidays.com/independance-day/
The publication, “Medical Daily” printed a number of quotations on the 4th of July Celebration, which were posted by Anthony Rivas last year on the 3rd of July, as follows:
Freedom lies in being bold. Robert Frost
The real American Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people, a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. This radical change of the people was the real American Revolution. John Adams
We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it. William Faulkner
Scientists also share the happy news that during this month of July, there are two full moons and accordingly, the second full moon is called a Blue Moon – http://www.earthsky.org/tonight.
Enjoy your Day!
“Jo Ann” M. Radja, Executive and Career Management Coach
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