August 2000 Flash Points

Unit of One: Training to Work (p. 77)
FC article

What was your first job? How did you get it? Why did you take it? If you were advising someone on how to get that job today, what guidance would you offer? How has the work world changed?
What was your best training experience? What made it work so well? What was your worst training experience? What made it so challenging? What did you do to make the most of a bad situation? Have you ever led a training exercise? If so, what have you learned since you started leading training activities?
How did your first job experience influence what you do now -- in terms of industry and role, but also in terms of work style, how you interact with colleagues, and what you want out of work? What would you do differently if you had that first job all over again?
Joni Evans once got promoted because she knew the poetry editor at the New Yorker. When was who you know most important early in your career? What influence did that one very important person have on the development of your career? How can you give that back to someone else starting out today?
Charles Katz's first job was shoveling snow. Tom Brokaw's was mowing grass. When you answered the first question above, how honest were you? If you didn't think that far back, what was your first, first job? How did you get it? Why did you take it? What did you learn from it that you still incorporate into your work style today?

Character Test: Soul Proprietor(p. 154)
FC article

From the package opener: How big are your dreams? How deep is your commitment? Are you really prepared to fail? How hard are you willing to work?
What makes an entrepreneur?
Troy Tyler recounts a scene in the movie 'Heat' in which a character played by Robert de Niro says, 'One of the things that lets me do what I do is, there's nothing in my life that I won't walk out on in a matter of seconds.' What would you not walk out on? And what would you give up in a second?
'[Tyler] spent long Amtrak trips walking the length of the train, handing a card to every traveler with a mobile device.' What's your equivalent? What do you need in order to do it? What's keeping you from doing it? How can you get past that?

You Want Policies? You Can't Handle These Policies! (p. 220)
FC article

Do you have policies at work? Who wrote them? How long have they been in place? When was the last time they were reconsidered or changed?
What are some of the unwritten policies? How are they different than the written, codified policies? How are they enforced?
What policies hamper you? Why were they created? How are things different now? What needs to be done to change them? Flip side: Is there a case for keeping them? Who do they benefit?
What policies make sense? Why do they still make sense? Is there a case for changing them any way? Who do they benefit? Hamper?
What makes a policy a good policy? What makes a policy wither on the vine?

August 2000 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps