Are you passive or proactive?

Since I started swimming seriously as a teenager I’ve been going to the gym. 99% of the time the gym attendants would sit at their desk, usually watching the tv in the corner. I’d see people doing their exercises, often with bad technique, which at best reduces the impact of their work, at worst could cause injury. Very seldom did the attendants ever come over and offer assistance or advice to the people with less experience than themselves.

It seems much the same in business. People may look at others, be they colleagues or customers, and see them making potential mistakes but so often will refrain from suggesting potential alternatives, instead sticking to the bare minimum, until of course things break down and everyone becomes stressed as a result.

If this describes you then make today day zero. From this point on, if you see something that you feel could be done better don’t wait passively for things to break before you raise your concerns. Be proactive and make sure things are right from the off.

Tags: Fitness, Gym

The value of ghost written commentary

Today it was revealed that Barack Obama has never used Twitter before, something that perhaps the 2.1 million people that follow his account may be a little concerned about.

It seems indicative of a growing trend though. The higher up an individual gets, the more valuable their opinion and knowledge becomes, but the less often they actually share any of it. It’s not just Twitter accounts that are ghost written by PR departments. I dare say most of the columns written in newspapers and magazines are done in the same way.

If what you’re reading is really the work of a PR professional rather than the individual you’re hoping to hear from, it has to be asked, what is the point of it?

After all we live in a society where honesty and integrity are valued, yet here we have high power individuals essentially duping their followers. Do those 2.1 million people tuning into Obama’s Twitter account care that it’s not actually him they’re getting views from? Maybe, maybe not, but for me it’s a matter of personal integrity that if you’re putting your name to something then it better darn well be you that’s producing it. Anything else is simply not on.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Ghostwriter, Newspaper, Public relations, Twitter