Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips It is often better to replace a piece of troubled writing than to fix or revise it. Once again, I was talking to a person who had written a large item. The item wasn’t good. It had little focus, and most people walked away from it wondering, “what was that about?” The […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Football players are not weapons. Please stop being so lazy as to call them such. The National Football League playoffs are in full stride. I like to watch, but I hate to listen to the ladies and gentlemen who talk during the games and on the sports shows during the week. One […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I finally realize why I can’t watch the news on television: the information flow is relatively slow. I haven’t watched news on television in years. I stay abreast of the issues of the day via reading from the Internet. I scan probably a dozen major news sites as well as about a […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes events don’t occur as I planned. They do, however, lead to what I want. To discover the result, I have to listen to unwelcome messages. I often receive unwelcome messages. I plan something; I invite people who I believe will benefit from the something, and none of them come. There are […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Some thoughts on Seth Godin’s idea of “pre digital” and how some places can become “formerly pre digital.” Seth Godin recently posted thoughts on what he calls “pre digital.” I liked his thoughts. I can punch a few security holes in the example he uses of a hospital emergency room, but that […]

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by Dwayne Phillips As a manager, when an employee provides short, pleasing answers sound all the alarms you have. Ask more questions until you pull usable information from the employee. Manager: How are things going? Employee: Fine, okay. Manager: (thinks to herself) Great! I’ve communicated with the employee, and we are good. Gosh. How many […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Take care when you have opposite types of people in the room for a meeting. Be sure to have someone in the room with the primary interest of ensuring communication among the groups. A few months ago, I sat in a meeting. On one side of the table were customers; on the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There are times when I ask if my situation was caused by one of two shortcomings. Neither answer is pleasing. Then I move on to ask why I am in such an unsatisfactory situation. A couple decades ago, I heard a statement about explaining a bad situation. One paraphrase of the statement […]

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by Dwayne Phillips All bureaucracies, in my experience, stop the flow of information at each level of the hierachy. About half the important information is stopped at each level. There is hope, but people at the top have to work hard at getting the information they are being denied. The title of this post is […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Several years ago, I saw a sign proclaiming “Cubicle Suite” outside an office door. Cubicles are cubicles – yuck. A suite is some place really nice. The two works next to one another are nonsensical. What other words can we place next to one another and make no sense? How about: Short […]

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