Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Wait. Stop. Someone grab that person. That person is about to fall into the pit of endless details. Oh no. It’s too late! I know it’s about to happen. I should be able to do something to stop it. Oh no. It happened too fast. There is nothing I can do. The […]

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by Dwayne Phillips A simple question can start a meaningful conversation that prevents bad things from happening. As I write this post, our elected representatives ended a partial shutdown of our Federal government a couple of days ago. Such shutdown set some type of record and brought lots of grief to thousands of people. I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Each of us has the ability to change something in a direction which we desire. I guess this post is a pep talk or an admonition to “buck up sissy pants” (I think I heard that phrase on a TV show). Unhappy with the current situation? I am. Well, things don’t have […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Other persons are not obligated to do things for me (as much as I wish). I am not obligated to do things for other persons (as much as they wish). I wish people would fulfill their obligations to me. I mean, look at what I have done for them. Surely, they will […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The title is the hallmark of a person in a bureaucracy. Do less; just get by. I have worked in and around government agencies for four decades or more. Gosh, that’s a lot. The title of this little post summarizes the mean of the bell curve in these places. Let’s expand a […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes, the audience knows more than the designation teacher or expert. Great. There is much good that can come from this. Let’s discuss teaching adults or at least a situation where someone says you are the teacher and everyone else in the room is an adult. It is common for one of […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Let not check a communications channel using that same communications channel. It is pretty silly to do so. Since the great pandemic of the early 2020s, I have been part of countless ZoomerTeams meetings. Almost every one starts with, “Can everyone hear me?” Let’s pause and think. If a participant cannot hear […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Here is one way to begin what is likely to be an unpleasant conversation. It lessens the unpleasantness and moves toward a more productive conversation. Let’s begin with, “John, I am upset.” (Substitute the other person’s name for John. That was the most alias of names I could find.) There, said the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips In our personal lives, we often take all the risk without asking others to share it. The basic, but rarely asked, question is, “What does each person have to lose?” I am sitting here sipping coffee pondering what to do. Someone is asking me to wait, and wait, and wait. Perhaps they […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There was a time when a local phone call was special. Today, we have social media. Same thing, but we tend to use it differently. We don’t have to. Many years ago there was such a thing as a long-distance phone call and a local phone call. The long-distance call was charged […]

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