Illiterates to Mars

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Bruno Ogorelec
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Re: re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by Bruno Ogorelec » Tue Aug 23, 2005 8:55 pm

Al Belli wrote:The relationship between management and worker need not be adverserial.
Years ago, I worked for The Asahi Shimbun, the second biggest newspaper in the world. It was selling 9 million copies every day at the time. (The Yomiuri Shimbun was even bigger, but considered down-market and tabloidish, while the Asahi was -- and probably still is -- more traditional, upright and proud of its standards.)

Working hours were totally crazy -- basically you worked until the job was done, regardless of how long it took. I was really shocked at first. I mean, you do expect a three-day job to be broken into three parts, with two sleep periods in between. You can’t quite believe your boss will really expect you to work three days straight. Then you discover your boss things nothing of it.

But, you know what – I LOVED it. I did it for three years and it was the best employment I have ever had (not counting my own businesses). I loved my first boss, now one of the very senior political editors at the central Tokyo office of the paper, and respected the guys who came after him. I worked with five and deeply respected every single one of them.

Why did I love it? Because it made sense. My bosses expected me to be intelligent and visibly appreciated it when I actually was. We worked like idiots when there was work to be done, but we NEVER did make-work. If there was no work, we loafed and had fun and games and chatted and had good time. Or we slept.

When I was swamped with work and my boss wasn’t, he would brew coffee for me and make me sandwiches. When I told my first boss I felt strange being served by him, he taught me a very important lesson. He said, you know, Bruno, managers are generators of cost. Workers are generators of income. If I am not helping you generate income, I only generate costs. If I did that, I would not last long at my job. “A manager is a helper to his workers,â€

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re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by larry cottrill » Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:45 pm

Bruno and Al -

Get yourself a copy of the new book, Joy at Work by Dennis Bakke. He is an American CEO who not only believes exactly what you've just said, Bruno (almost word for word), but he made it a successful business model in a big international corporation. He frankly talks about failures and setbacks along the way, as well as successes. It is not a cheap book - about $27 US for the hardcover edition. As soon as I read an interview and review in New Man magazine, I knew I had to have that book, went out and bought a copy, and I'm about halfway through my first reading of it. What a breath of fresh air!

L Cottrill

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re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by Hank » Wed Aug 24, 2005 1:48 am

Hello- I have seen so much of the guile of folks, acting in self interest at the expense of the greater good. To my view that is where the problem lies. There is an old adage that states, "Stolen Fruit is the sweetest." I do not know the origin of it, I do not adhere to it.

The 'Bottom Line' is the great controller on things mortal. Payroll is a major consideration in buisness. Al, the way things are structured buisness would sooner take the losses in scrapped parts and broken tools,garnering them back at Tax Time, than spend on payroll they cannot recoup.

The Japanese ethic on work....The job at hand and the greater good first.
Concepts so alien to this USA, now. The covert disenfranchisement and ethinic tensions of this place make it a hard go for the attainment of quality.

As always I appreciate the food for thought provided by you all.

Hank

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re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by Mark » Wed Aug 24, 2005 2:53 am

Presentation is Everything

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re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by Mike Kirney » Thu Aug 25, 2005 2:49 am

Well, at least everybody who speaks English is using the same letters now. Imagine the confusion when printers stopped using that 'f' without the crossbar and started using the letter 's'. Orthography is important, but it should be mentioned that many of the greatest men in Canadian history had terrible spelling habits, although their grammar was generally impeccable.
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Re: re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by ed knesl » Thu Aug 25, 2005 3:16 am

Mike Kirney wrote:Well, at least everybody who speaks English is using the same letters now. Imagine the confusion when printers stopped using that 'f' without the crossbar and started using the letter 's'. Orthography is important, but it should be mentioned that many of the greatest men in Canadian history had terrible spelling habits, although their grammar was generally impeccable.
Mike, what Bruno initiated it's not about spelling, it is about the overall
moral, cultural and educational decline of this most western society.

When popculture and sport rules over culture, lawyers rule over justice, "psychologists" rule over school discipline, weather report rules over the News and egomaniacs rule over political institutions, we can only get
what we got.

Bruno's nartive about his job with Japanese company is quite telling.

Ed
...Nobody is right, nobody is wrong...

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re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by Mike Kirney » Thu Aug 25, 2005 3:25 am

I agree on all points, Ed. Personally, I can hardly wait until the oil runs out and the inevitable massive die-back of the human race begins. I'm getting really tired of seeing oceans of people everywhere. The average human IQ will be shockingly low 80 years from now, but 200 years after that it will be very, very high.
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re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by Mike Everman » Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:33 am

Bruno, I just emailed your essay to myself for distribution to my team. Very nice. My partner and I try to live that philosophy, but have two in particular working for us that just don't get it. They are both "essential" contributors, but are impossible for anyone below to work for. Aaaaaargh. It's literally the problem of the year!
Mike Often wrong, never unsure.
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Bruno Ogorelec
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Re: re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by Bruno Ogorelec » Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:36 pm

Mike Everman wrote:Bruno, I just emailed your essay to myself for distribution to my team. Very nice. My partner and I try to live that philosophy, but have two in particular working for us that just don't get it. They are both "essential" contributors, but are impossible for anyone below to work for. Aaaaaargh. It's literally the problem of the year!
Well, it's easier on paper than in real life. I am far from sure that I am as good to my employees as my Japanese bosses were to me. I am trying to be, though.

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re: Illiterates to Mars

Post by marksteamnz » Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:04 am

MAVERICK Ricardo Semler

Worth a read. Very inspiring like Bruno's bosses. The Company Manager of where I used to work went to a seminar where Ricardo spoke. Came back and said Ricardo was "A nut" We were treading water and loosing local market share. Ricardo Semler's company was a runaway sucess, flex time, no dress codes all senior executives pay out in the open, workers gave bosses reviews and that was what counted etc etc and this was in Brazil with a melt down economy.
This cretin who managed, yea right, the company who I worked for got none of it. He did shaft all of us over a management buy out, play good politics, and line his own pockets.
But the mainstream business world praises and fawns over arsewipes like that company manager. The Donald Trump syndrome. Go figure.
Cheers
Mark Stacey
www.cncprototyping.co.nz

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