"Not my job!" Ethic LO18968

Luis Colorado (LuisColorado@ndp.com)
Tue, 25 Aug 1998 14:07:24 -0500

Replying to LO18946 --

> A general "rule" about leadership is to not ask someone to do something
> that you (the leaders) would not do yourself. I have found this to be a
> fairly good rule to live by and have made it a part of my philosophy and
> principle base. However I have experienced difficulty when dealing with a
> different (younger) generation who have inherited a different work
> philosophy than mine. That is, a task that I don't think twice about and
> hence freely delegate is viewed as a not my job by a different work ethic
> group.

Well, there is a lot of "rules" about leadership. There is another rule,
"put yourself in the shoes of the other person", and you could call that
rule as "empathy".

I would recommend you to read "7 habits of highly successful people" (by
Covey) and "Emotional Intelligence" (sorry, I don't remember the author).
They show the importance of empathy. Covey says "try to understand before
being understood". In "Emotional Intelligence" the author (Goleman?) shows
how important is to human beings to empathize (not just sympathize) with
other human beings.

About "Generation-X", some weeks I read an article by a History teacher.
He said "a young is a young, is a young, is a young". Generation-X,
baby-boomers, and all young of the history are the same. They may be in a
different environment, but adults of every generation will complaint about
them. Remember how really you were when you was young (do you remember the
fear? The passion? The freedom? The oppression?), and try to empathize.

--

Luis Colorado <LuisColorado@ndp.com>

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