He's Baaaaaaack....

As I began to create a new posting this morning, I realized that it has been quite some time since you heard from me. It was not intentional. It just happened.

Quite honestly, I have to say that I have been so amazed at the external issues at play for the last few months that I have been chomping at the bit to write about them but I have tried from day one to leave my political views out of this blog. I want this blog to be about doing the right things, about leading the right way and personal acheivement. I wanted any one who read my blog to be able to take away something that could help them or remind them of something that helps them. I have a need to add value in what I do. I wanted this blog to be a blog that people want to read no matter what their political view might be.

The events I wanted to write about to give examples of important values and qualities since late last year all seem to have political twists in them. A lot of that comes from the fact that a lot of bad behavior through the years has created a mess that is requiring much government intervention. It is hard to separate the private arena and the public arena right now.

I decided this week that I needed to get back to my writing. There are important lessons to be remembered or learned on what is going on today. I will still keep my political views out of this publication. We are at a period of time where the emotions and passions of partisan political views is tearing a country apart and while my humble little blog is incredibly insignificant in the overall scheme of things, I do not in any way want to add fuel to that fire. I do want to talk about the lessons that I am remembering once again.

The first lesson I want to restate once again is "That actions speak more loudly than words." Watch what people do and see if it matches what they said they would do. It it doesn't, you should be alarmed. If you have people that work with you that tell you they are going to do something, then do something totally different, be on guard. They are not to be trusted. The same is especially true for your leaders.

The second lesson is that if you sleep with big dogs you get big fleas. I am sad that a number of innocent people were hurt by Madoff's Ponzi Scheme. Folks who did not know their pension funds were invested with Madoff have been hurt badly. They had no control over that. Many people were innocent victims of Madoff.

However, there were those who said immediately after the Ponzi Scheme was exposed that they knew he was doing something illegal, but they thought it was insider trading and the returns were good so they invested with him anyway. I feel absolutely zero sadness for them. As I have said many times, Karma is a Bear, and they just slept with a big dog. They have big fleas. If you know someone is doing something wrong, you walk away. Those folks received what they deserved.

Thirdly, cheating is cheating no matter how small or big the cheating. You either cheated or you didn't. If you lied on your taxes whether it is $8000 or $800,000 you gained, you cheated. As a leader, you can not look the other way when someone cheats. If you do, you just established the standard for your organization. Watch what the rest of the people do moving forward. There is no shade of grey in honesty.

Be who you say you are and do your best everyday! It is truly what you do everyday that counts!