Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips We have moved from “everyone is a censor” to “everyone is a reporter.” All these reporters work for me, and the rest of us, for free. In our not-too-distance past, we entered the age of “everyone is a censor.” Everyone had a camera in their pocket. Everyone had a thermometer in their […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We tend to allow others to use us freely. A simple example. About every ten years I buy a new automobile. Yes, I am “cheap,” and yes, today’s automobiles are built well enough to drive efficiently for ten years or more. After buying my last automobile, I arrived at home and noticed […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Great ideas have a different and necessary perspective when I look at another person and say the words aloud. The man with 30 years experience and accolades as an expert in his field sat across the table from me. He looked me in the eye and, before he opened his mouth, had […]

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by Dwayne Phillips How can we communicate better? First, let’s try to communicate better. How can I communicate better? How can I say this better? Look for a better word Look for a better word or two Look for a better phrase Look for a better arrangement of thoughts Look for a better sentence Look […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It isn’t easy to admit that I lack knowledge for something that “I should know.” Most people are like me in this respect. How can I “help” without looking over their shoulder? “Maybe if you did it that way instead of this way,” said the eager, wanting-to-be-helpful person standing behind me and […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We each have a reputation, something about us that others “know.” What is it? What do I want it to be? I go to a coffee shop on Saturday mornings to view the Internet and write blog posts. On a recent Saturday I found car keys in the bathroom (shows how old […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Simple desires for the workplace. Years ago, a wise old man once told me, “The workplace should be pleasant and profitable.” He worked in a commercial business. No profits, no business, no jobs. Profits were necessary. Also necessary, in his experience, was that the workplace be pleasant. If it wasn’t pleasant, people […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I’m all for brief meetings, but sometimes we walk away too soon. I’m an engineer. I work with engineers and scientists. You know, insert-you-favorite-derogatory-word-here’s. We don’t concentrate on social skills. When we talk, and we admit that we have to talk with another human now and then, we state the facts, decide, […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Of course no one agrees with me when we read, hear, see, etc. the same thing. We are in different places in different times while in the same place at the same time. As a kid, the most enjoyable episodes of my favorite programs were the ones where they played one scene […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Have we sunk so low that we give prizes to those who teach that lying and theft are wrong? Back in medieval times when I was in college and used punch cards for computer input…professors used to joke about (or so it went), “So and so was a programmer for such and […]

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