10 comments

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  Tim

  1 year ago

  Yep, in the world of being a full time blogger, you have to blog whenever the creativity is sparked. You're not in the 9 to 5 world anymore! There's also no good time to take off as your readers will notice when you stop posting for a week!
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  guinness416

  1 year ago

  I thought the "motivation" comment was weird and completely contrary to my experiences as both managed grunt and manager of my own wee teams/departments too. But in reading further it seems he's a middle manager in some gigantic megacorp running people across many states, which may make a difference (and sounds hellish).
  
  I only drink water, Barrys tea, and beer. And frankly I'd rather expire than give the tea up.
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  Ron@TheWisdomJournal

  1 year ago

  Maybe a little clarification is in order...
  
  I am a middle manager (one rung between me and the CEO) for a pretty large corporation and I do run profit centers located across many states and it is hellish.
  
  I DO motivate many of the couple hundred people I supervise, but I believe that all people are only marginally motivated by someone else. REAL motivation comes from within. I've stopped looking for people who can be motivated and started looking for those who are self motivated. I don't have to supervise the self motivated person as closely and the work they do is superior. I DO hand out plenty of praise and I'm glad to do it
  
  Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't MAKE people summon up from within themselves the drive, the motivation, the work ethic that they need to become a superior performer. I can give them tools, praise, resources, goals, and my expectations and then follow up with them, but I cannot make them do it. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't "manage" him to drink.He has to be thirsty from within himself.
  
  I believe people are motivated by three things.
  Fear - the weakest and worst motivation. Effective, but short lived.
  Reward - costly and more effective if the reward is "worth it." Take away the reward, take away the motivation.
  Personal - this is the best motivator. These people are motivated to do a good job because it's who they are. These are the people I need running the show from 6 states away.
  
  If I'm off base, I'm more than willing to learn a different approach.
  
  Sorry for the long reply. Didn't mean to hijack the thread!
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  Mrs. Micah

  1 year ago

  I like a little milk on the side, but water keeps me going. :) Thanks for including it and congrats on the dawning of your empire.
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  Pinyo

  1 year ago

  Best of luck with pro-blogging. It certainly comes at the right time. Congratulation.
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  Curmudgeon

  1 year ago

  Around 1980, the conventional wisdom was to load up on long-term debt (mortgage, car payments), and pay it off with cheaper dollars in the future, because inflation was very high relative to today (though nowhere near the level of Weimar Germany, for example).
  
  The talk of depression mentioned in your Prosper post is absolutely bogus. Today we have no clue about what our ancestors went through in the 1930s. The fundamental problem today is that a segment of the population is so highly leveraged that illness, loss of job or even loss of overtime, or the increase of a mortgage rate sends us over the edge.
  
  @Ron: Great comment. I believe you are correct.
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  Curmudgeon

  1 year ago

  Also regarding your Prosper post, Steve, your prescription for whatever the world may bring is dead on. I do believe that you would make a good career coach.
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  Steve (Brip Blap)

  1 year ago

  @Curmudgeon: Thanks very much, I appreciate the compliments on my Prosper post, and thanks for the encouragement on the coaching. And yeah, I think the article from Wealth Building Lessons that I linked to in the Prosper post was correct in saying a depression, in the strict sense of the word, was unlikely. People are going to talk about a depression but the government is significantly more interventionist (if that's a word) today and has more tools at its disposal to prevent the meltdown that occurred in the 30s - although I do worry about the lack of controls over the financial services sector after 20 years of deregulatory trends in the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush presidencies. But you're right - institutional failures are much less concern than mass personal financial failures. So many of my acquaintances are one paycheck from being unable to pay their mortgages that it's horrifying.
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  Steve (Brip Blap)

  1 year ago

  @Ron: No, no, it's no hijacking at all! It's an interesting question of whether the manager can truly motivate, or if it's simply the manager's job to create an environment where self-motivation isn't hindered. I guess I base my theory on the fact that some of the staff I've managed who were, according to their evaluations before they worked with me, sub-par managed to 'right the ship' and succeed after I managed them. Whether I did it, or whether I just gave them the environment to unleash their inner drive is almost irrelevant, in a sense. But I can't know whether I did it, or whether they might have succeeded simply because of their own mental growth or family support or whatever. It's hard to know.
  
  I don't disagree at all about your assessment of what motivates people. I thought your post was great, and actually your comment about managing people has given me something to think about - whether creating the environment for success for staff (or for myself, frankly) is more important than trying to build the skills for success IN staff (or myself).
  
  And really, it's hard to know what the answer is. Hey, thought-provoking posts are always good, even when you get some disagreements!
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  Steve (Brip Blap)

  1 year ago

  @guinness416: I actually didn't mind working for a megacorp managing people globally. It was fun (for a while) and I built some valuable organization and productivity skills that have helped me personally. I wasn't cut out for it long-term, but different strokes for different folks... and who's to say, if Ron enjoys it somebody has to do it!
  
  Yeah, I would have a tough time giving up the tea, which is weird, considering I never drank hot tea growing up in the South. You damn Europeans got your hot-tea hooks into me in the end - now iced tea just seems weird. :)
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