[www.keralites.net] Story: Honest Abe

 

Storyby:Adam Khan

We celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday (February 12), and we should. Lincoln was one of the few great men who really was great. Before he became president, Lincoln spent twenty years as an unsuccessful Illinois lawyer -- at least he was unsuccessful in financial terms. But when you measure the good he did, he was very rich indeed. Legends are often untrue, but Lincoln was the real thing. George Washington never chopped down a cherry tree, but Abraham Lincoln was honest. During his years as a lawyer, there were hundreds of documented examples of his honesty and decency.

For example, Lincoln did not like to charge people much who were as poor as he was. Once a man sent him twenty-five dollars, but Lincoln sent him back ten of it, saying he was being too generous.

He was known at times to convince his clients to settle their issue out of court, saving them a lot of money, and earning himself nothing.

An old woman in dire poverty, the widow of a Revolutionary soldier, was charged $200 for getting her $400 pension. Lincoln sued the pension agent and won the case for the old woman. He did not charge her for his services and, in fact, paid her hotel bill and gave her money to buy a ticket home!

He and his associate once prevented a con man from gaining possession of a tract of land owned by a mentally ill girl. The case took fifteen minutes. Lincoln's associate came to divide up their fee, but Lincoln reprimanded him. His associate argued that the girl's brother had agreed on the fee ahead of time, and he was completely satisfied.

"That may be," said Lincoln, "but I am not satisfied. That money comes out of the pocket of a poor, demented girl; and I would rather starve than swindle her in this manner. You return half the money at least, or I'll not take a cent of it as my share."

He was a fool, perhaps, by certain standards. He did not have much, and it was his own fault. But he was a good human being by anyone's standards and I'm glad we celebrate his birthday.

Honesty makes you feel good about yourself and creates trust in others. It improves your relationship with yourself and with others. It is not much in fashion these days to talk about the benefits of honesty and decency, but the benefits are there and they are valuable and worth the trouble.

Honesty. It may be corny, but it is the finest force for good in the world, and it always will be.

Do some honest good in the world.

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[www.keralites.net] Coach and Mentor to Improve Performance

 

Coach and Mentor to Improve Performance

by Craig Mindrum

Coaching and mentoring can be effective ways to help diamonds in the rough - employees who appear to have potential, but who are underperforming for one reason or another.

David Joyner, executive vice president of sales and account services for pharmaceutical services company Caremark, said he occasionally sees employees who are "a bit rough on the edges. In many cases they are incredibly talented people, but they need refinement in a few specific areas that are holding them back."

A 360-degree feedback tool is one way to get them to notice those areas, but Joyner said, "They also need the personal coaching and modeling that shows them the right way. I've had some cases where we've had middle-of-the-road salespeople become our top performers, year in and year out. It's because they got that coaching and feedback early on in their careers."

Bruce Fisher, director of the Leadership Academy at Illinois Institute of Technology and director of an organizational psychology consulting practice, makes an important distinction between objectives for coaching and those for mentoring.

"Coaching is to a great degree targeted around specific developmental opportunities, or even behavioral issues with employees," Fisher said. "It's driven primarily by the organization's agenda and needs. With mentoring, on the other hand, the employee or protege takes on a role almost like a client; it's about his or her needs and career development. Mentoring takes more of a whole-person approach and thus is highly personalized to an individual."

That need for personalization becomes challenging when designing and delivering leadership development programs, however. Coaching has general lessons and thus can be incorporated into leadership training. Mentoring, on the other hand, can actually suffer if it's treated as a program.

"You can't structure a mentoring experience, match people up willy-nilly and tell them to go do it," Fisher said. "Research suggests mentoring is not effective when administered that way. An authentic mentoring experience is based on chemistry, charisma and mutual values; it happens or doesn't happen as part of the natural workings of a relationship." Can mentoring be taught? Maybe.

"There are certain types of leaders who have it in them to mentor effectively," Fisher said. "And there are others who just don't care about it and who aren't good at it. I don't think it's necessarily impossible to turn those people into effective mentors, though certainly it's difficult."

[About the Author: Craig Mindrum, Ph.D., is a strategic talent management consultant.]

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[www.keralites.net] കാത്തിരിക്കും ഞാന്‍ നീ വരുവോളം ഈ വീഥിയില്‍ ........

 

കണ്ണ് നീരിനു മുന്‍പില്‍ തോക്കുക സ്നേഹമുള്ള ഹൃദയമാണ്, പക്ഷെ... സ്നേഹമുള്ള ഹൃദയത്തെ മനസിലാക്കാന്‍ ചിലപ്പോള്‍ ആ കണ്ണുനീരിനു കഴിഞ്ഞെന്നു വരാം ഇനിയും ഈ മരച്ചില്ലകള്‍ പൂക്കും... ഈ ഇടവഴികള്‍ കാത്തു നില്‍ക്കും നമുക്ക് വേണ്ടി.... പക്ഷെ .., പറഞ്ഞു തീരാത്ത സ്വകാര്യങ്ങളുമായി നീ ഇനി എന്നാണ് എന്നോടൊപ്പം......? കാത്തിരിക്കുകയാണ് ഞാന്‍ സൂര്യനെ കാത്തിരിക്കുന്ന സൂര്യകാന്തി പൂവിനെ പോലെ..... കാത്തിരിക്കും ഞാന്‍ നീ വരുവോളം ഈ വീഥിയില്‍ ........

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Good Morning

 

Have a Nice Day *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*

Prince

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[www.keralites.net] FATHER HELP US NOT TO JUDGE

 

Father Help Us Not To Judge     Forgive Us Father As  we  walk by the man in the gutter, with a  tear in his eye!     Did we offer a prayer for that helpless man, Or pass him by , Not lending a hand!     Do we pray for the teenager lost in drugs, Or Judge and Condemn and act so smug!     Do we sit in our pews, To worship You , or look around, and Condemn a few!     Where is our heart Oh Lord Most High,That we can just pass, Our Brother/Sister by?     Do we pray for those who are bound for, divorce? ,Or ignore all signs, and follow our course.     Do we Intercede For those in despair, Ruined lives, Lord do we truly care?   Where did we learn to Hurt and Condemn? When Jesus taught us To Love All of them!   Help us Oh God to hear the cries, of  the broken souls, Open our blind eyes.   Judge not, Says God Nor be filled with Hate, Or my Kingdom child you will, you will never see the Gate!     God forgive Us for Judging so, When we have not walked In, in their shoes or know.   What life they have lived, That only You see their broken spirit, Crying out to Thee.   Open our eyes that we can feel, What Your eyes behold Oh Lord, to us reveal!     Let your Spirit descend on Each of us, Fill us with pure devotion And in You, place our trust!   How else can we reach the down and out? If we walk in Judgment Will they ever turn about?     We could be that one empty and bare, lying on the street With no one to Care!   Let us be Your helping hand, Ministering God's Love In this dry, barren Land!

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