CAREER
No Corporate Corruption
By Dan Miller
48days.com
CBN.com –
Be sure to check out the current 48 Days Success Story with Tina Tobin and her LuvemOrLeavem Web site. And right now Kimmie Beasley from Charleston has her picture up on the Wanna be Famous section of the 48Days.com site. Kimmie says reading 48 Days helped her create her position as “virtual spokesperson” for ViewThisHome.com.
If you want to bump one of these gals and have your picture on the 48Days.com site, tell us in 100 words or less how 48 Days or No More Mondays has changed your life. We will feature one success story each week! E-mail it to: mysuccess@48Days.com.
I’ll be speaking more in the next few weeks. I’d love to meet you – just check the items in 48 Days Highlights below to see if I’ll be in your area.
If you’re “just doing your job” we’ve got The Ultimate Fresh Start Package, which includes 48 Days to the Work You Love and other materials that will help you move into work that matters – for only $48.
“I have the world’s best job. I get paid to hang out in my imagination all day.” — Stephen King
Just Doing My Job
Henry David Thoreau once said: "A man had better starve at once than lose his innocence in the process of getting his bread."
Just doing a job cannot justify doing something unethical, immoral, or dishonest. The guards in the German concentration camps, after becoming friends with the prisoners, would often justify walking them to the gas chambers with, "I'm just doing my job."
I know we have all been inundated with the messy details of the unraveling of Wall Street, so I won’t bore you with more of the same. However, hopefully we will learn the lessons from this blatant example of what’s wrong with the common corporate mentality. Greed, deceit, and a “culture of corporate corruption” can never be justified.
Unfortunately, this is just one more historical example of moral meltdown. When people at the top justify one little breach of integrity and then compound it with another to cover the first, there is no limit to what can be encouraged. Adolf Hitler, Jim Jones, and many others have served as models for leading “normal” individuals to lose all ethical perspective for the good of the cause. And the end result seems to be very predictable – devastation to thousands of innocent people.
Thomas Stanley, in his landmark book, The Millionaire Mind, lists the top five factors most often displayed by millionaires in explaining their economic success: (1) Integrity – being honest with all people, (2) Discipline – applying self control, (3) Social Skills – getting along with people, (4) A Supportive Spouse, and (5) Hard Work. Notice the number one characteristic – Integrity. Without that, any “success” is likely to be short-lived.
What is it that you are justifying doing just because it's part of your job? Just because you have the ability to do something is not enough reason to continue doing it if it violates your values and common sense. If in the completion of your job or business, someone else is ultimately made poorer or taken advantage of, you are in great danger (Prov. 22:22-23). Stop immediately, no matter what it takes.
If your work doesn't express your true values, you're setting yourself up for deceit in other areas of your life – and for the invasion of ulcers, migraines, and cancers as evidence of a less than authentic life. In the movie Cool Hand Luke, a guard says, "I'm just doing my job. You gotta appreciate that." And Paul Newman responds: "Nah, calling it your job don't make it right, boss." I agree.
(Incidentally, we all had to say goodbye to Paul Newman. He appeared to be an actor with unusual integrity in real life as well.)
Happy Birthday, Hula Hoop!
The Hula Hoop turns 50 this year – at least as we know it. Actually, hoops were used as toys, being pushed along with sticks over 3,000 years ago in Egypt. Native Americans used hoops as a target for teaching accuracy in hunting. But then in 1957 Richard Knerr and Arthur Melin of Wham-O started marketing a lightweight plastic version of the Hula Hoop. They sold over 100 million from January to October of 1958 at $1.98 each.
Knerr and Melin were not able to patent the Hula Hoop as it had been around for many years. All they did was make it out of a new material and then market it well. Which highlights a very important point. I see people stuck in the “patenting” process – wasting time and money on what may be an insignificant part of their success.
Keep in mind that most people put too much emphasis on developing their product or idea, and not enough on Marketing. If you have a new invention:
- 2% of your challenge – Protecting your Idea (Patent, Trademark, Copyright)
- 8% of your challenge – Is it a valid idea or product?
- 90% of your challenge – What is your Marketing Plan?
Most people spend too much initial time, energy, and money protecting their idea rather than selling or marketing it.
Knerr and Melin did trademark the name Hula Hoop® and that became the recognized and requested name around the world. What could you do with your idea? What could you do to tap into the viral power of the masses? Remember the Pet Rock; the Frisbee?
48 Days Online Radio
Each week I create a new online radio podcast that you can hear in iTunes or at the 48 Days Online Radio Show link below.
Here's a sampling of the questions I tackled September 24. One of my pet peeves is hearing people discuss whether they should be in "ministry" or a "secular" job. If those can't go together, I need to burn everything I've ever written. Question #5 below gave me a chance to rant and rave once more.
1. I have a practical idea for a travel shower caddy, especially useful for the camper, but I have absolutely no idea where to start in having a prototype produced. Can you give me some advice?
2. Hi, Dan. I have recently started my own business, which provides a very specialized service to a niche market. I have a list of approximately 70 potential target companies in Tennessee. What is the best way to approach these companies to introduce myself and the services I provide?
3. What are the best ideas veteran teachers have come up with for getting out of the classroom and still making a living? I am an excellent teacher with ongoing resume building experiences in education, but I am tired of the "system" teachers have to put up with.
4. There is a provision in my State's law that allows manicurists to offer services to individuals in health facilities. I would like to offer natural manicure/pedicure services to women recovering from child birth in maternity wards at a few area hospitals using nail polishes that are fume-free and safe for breast-feeding women. Would love to hear your thoughts.
5. Hi, Dan. I'm 48 years old, and approximately one year ago, I left a good job/benefits/salary in Corporate America to pursue something more meaningful. I thought that I would pursue my calling into full-time ministry or perhaps seminary. It’s one year later and I'm not in either. I'm now considering teaching, but not sure. I'm running out of time and money. Can you provide any insight?
If you have a question, just click on the 48 Days Online Radio link and you can ask about starting your own business, getting a better job, or finding your purpose in life.
That’s the same place you can listen to this week’s broadcast immediately – no downloading, no wait.
48 Days Highlights
212ºConnection
If you’d like to be in a group where you can get inspiration for taking your ideas to a whole new level, check out our 212ºConnection. Every day new people are becoming part of the exciting group – sharing ideas and gaining momentum. You can read all about it here – and see the growing number who are turning their ideas into time, freedom, and income.
FishNet Live Concerts
On October 25 and November 1, I’ll be speaking at the FishNet Live concerts along with Mandisa, Chantel Hobbs, Jeff Allen, Mary Mary, and the David Crowder Band. I’d be delighted to have you join us for those events in Woodbridge and Hampton, VA.
Hold Fast to Dreams
Also, I’ll be speaking on “Hold Fast to Dreams” at Discovery Church in Orlando, Fla. on October 6 at 7:00. You can get all the details for this event that kicks off the next series of 48 Days to the Work You Love Seminar at three Orlando locations in October.
Personal Coaching
Many of you are asking about my personal coaching. Yes, I still work with two to three people a month. And, yes, we get a lot of requests. I screen each request and either contact you myself – or refer you to a matching coach in our network. I take seriously the confidence shown by the requests and make sure each one is given personal attention. If you want to review the options and give me some basic information, I’ll be honored to evaluate it and give you some feedback. Just go to Personal Coaching and get started.
Chuck Bowen Coaching - Financial, Career, & Business
"Need to do better (maybe a lot better?) with your personal finances? Is your business as profitable, or enjoyable, as you'd like it to be? Contact Chuck Bowen Coaching. If you want to transform your life permanently for the better, he's your guy. Chuck serves as President of our 212ºConnection and oversees the business side of that part of our business.
PRODUCT HIGHLIGHT
Need help getting past Mondays?
The most popular product in the 48 Days arsenal continues to be the 48 Days Career Profile. Before you begin seeking a better job or self-employment, you need to be sure you are pursuing opportunities that match your personality style and will fulfill and reward you for a lifetime!
Quotes: Good People
“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles.” — Mohandas Gandhi
”Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.” — Plato
“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.” — General Omar Bradley
”Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.” – In Civilization and Ethics, 1949 — Albert Schweitzer
”I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.” — Elie Wiesel
”Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” — John Wesley
 Dan Miller is the bestselling author of 48 Days To The Work You Love and a renowned Life Coach specializing in career fulfillment. His weekly newsletter reaches 70,000 subscribers. Dan’s articles are featured here at CBN every Tuesday, and you can find out more about Dan at www.48days.com.
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