WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

By Vernalee

Recently, , a colleague asked me if I had ever eaten sardines. That question took me back about 50 years or so as I recalled the “chopping cotton” days in Mississippi. When the field hands broke for lunch, the delicacies that were sold were Vienna sausage, potted meat, and sardines (along with crackers, of course). Honey buns or cowboy cookies were dessert items. The field overseer would find a shady spot under a big tree to escape the 100 plus degree heat as the workers lined up to make their food purchases. The bare ground served as the luncheon table with the spreading of an outer garment as the tablecloth. Those sardines had a stinky smell, but they were needed nourishment and a way of life for many Black families in the 1960' and 70's who chopped cotton every day for a daily wage of $15.00 just to put food on their tables. Despite the torching heat, it was a job to make ends meet. Some memories never fade particularly when they were a part of your way of life!

By the way, I love sardines ...stinky and all! Photo credit: www.livestrong.com

SKIN IN THE GAME

By Vernalee

You do not want to win an argument. You want to win!

"To have "skin in the game" is to have incurred risk (monetary or otherwise) by being involved in achieving a goal. Skin in the game is a phrase made popular by renowned investor Warren Buffett referring to a situation in which owners use their own money to buy stock in the company they are running.

When you have skin in the game, you enjoy the upsides of your actions as well as any downsides of the consequences emanating from those actions. Owning your business is the American dream. Although ownership has many upsides, it requires tremendous hard work. It is not as easy as it looks. So before you make that entrepreneurial dive, make sure that you are willing to do what's required to accomplish your goals - be it long hours, hard work, financial resources - and the whole ball of wax. Work diligently to minimize the risks. The rewards and benefits of ownership can be great. Remember, skin in the game extends to so many other aspects of our lives. No doubt about it -

We get back what we put in!

Hard work, strength, endurance, etc are needed to succeed. A strong mental mindset can make the difference between success and failure!

ARE YOU IN A WAR ZONE ...WHILE WORKING?

By Vernalee

Many viewers tuned in for years on Thursday’s nights to watch Kerry Washington in her role as Scandal’s star, Olivia Pope, a crisis management expert to the President and high profiled individuals. However, some of us need not wait to see the weekly series now in re-runs, when we can get a daily snapshot of scandalous activities in our respective workplaces! The intriguing/ inappropriate accompaniments – lies, harassment, innuendos – are included in the roundup that we call standard office conduct. How about that! If shouting matches, humiliating comments, degradation of coworkers, abuse, sabotage of material, discrediting others’ professional character, intellectual gymnastics to prove who is the smartest …. describe your office environment, you can perhaps identify with several of the above imaged post it notes (scandals, rumors, lies, enemies, spying, backstabbing…..). Unbelievable, isn’t it? If your office environment can put the successful “Scandal” to shame, send your information to its creator, Shonda Rhimes. It may become her next blockbuster television series! You then will “be in the money” and out of your scandalous office!

The verdict is out as to how much of this conduct regularly displayed in our physical office environment

will transcend through the airwaves to our virtual offices. We hope that it stays where it is. But as the clock ticks, we’ll see!

Photo credit: www.womenpoweringbusiness.com