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ask-the-clergy-bc · 3 years

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what did our ghoulies do for the clergy before they became band ghouls and why were they picked out?

Ooooooh, love this!! Love getting to explore different clergy roles! I love getting to play with the origins of Era IV!

Since I also make a LOT of references to my ideas of leader ghouls, I'm gonna go ahead and link that headcanon here to avoid confusion! --> [Link]

Era IV Jobs Before the Ghost Project

Aether: Aether was summoned when the ministry decided to start training successor ghouls to the current ghoul leaders. Air had finally stepped down as Beta ghoul, and the ministry was afraid others would do the same. Ather was summoned specially to become the next Omega ghoul. While Aether has his own powers of healing that took over as his main duties, he mainly shadowed the head quintessence ghoul. This included a lot of traveling, learning about Earth and human culture, and working with many different types of ghouls. There was also a lot of personal assistance to the Emeritus line, as aether ghoul healing is more effective for demon blood than normal human medicine.

When Omega was on his tours, Aether took care of his business in his stead to test how close he was to being ready. Aether was never originally meant to take part in the Ghost project until a few albums ahead. But with Omega’s sudden departure and being needed back in the Clergy, Aether was once again tested by being a band substitute. Luckily, he was a natural and has been proving himself as the next head ghoul! Handling both responsibilities and the pressure of being the Omega Ghoul.

Cumulus: Cumulus has been around for a few decades and has served enthusiastically. Her first decade was as an assistant to Papa I- her summoner. Namely as his ritual assistant and with his paperwork. She has always had a good eye for detail and organization, with a queenly air of authority about her. But Papa believes in letting his ghouls flourish to their strong suits. Until Copia’s ascension, Cumulus has been the lively and loyal personal ghoul to Sister Imperator. Serving as everything from bodyguard, personal confidant, and even enforcer to the Mother Superior. Cumulus was the very first selected for the job of band ghoul when it was Copia’s turn to head the Ghost project.

Imperator wanted a ghoul who was smart, capable, and with a good grasp of leadership to help supervise the other ghouls. Cumulus was also vouched for by Air. Her and Cirrus were both personally trained by the older ghoul when he was looking for a successor for the Beta ghoul position. While neither were chosen for that particular duty, Cumulus is happy to be a part of the band. She still keeps in touch with Imperator and sometimes acts as though she is Copia’s manager. If something goes wrong or needs to be done, Cumulus is the first to know.

Cirrus: Cirrus has gone back and forth between two duties. Serving the current Imperator and studying under the former Beta ghoul, Air. Cirrus is a tough cookie and has been a ghoulish enforcer for many abbies. Essentially keeping ghouls and siblings in line when it comes to fights or rule breaking. There are always ghouls who make sure the will of the clergy is followed and those who commit crimes are punished. This was her preferred job, rather than work with Air. Who tended to find stuffy, traditional research more important. Cirrus, as calm as she is, prefers hands on work. She’s also worked security detail for all of the Papas but most importantly, Grand Papa Nihil. Cirrus is a long time bodyguard (and baby sitter) for the Grandpapa and Sister Imperator.

Cirrus was recommended by both Cumulus and Air- since they were both practically raised by Air to be potential leader ghouls. Nihil was particularly sad to see Cirrus disappear from his entourage, but agreed she would be a wonderful fit. Also Nihil and Imperator can agreed that Cirrus keeps Copia in line by her sheer intimidating presence and powerful aura. Cirrus would be lying if she said she didn’t also enjoy the chance to do something more fun and get away from the clergy for a bit!

Mountain: Although Mountain was summoned by Papa II, he was never strictly a ghoul for the Emeritus. Personally summoned ghouls tend to be bodyguards or close entourage for their Papal summoners. For a couple of decades Mountain was an effective and reliable body guard for Papa II. But Papa eventually realized his ghoul’s talents were being wasted. Stone ghouls have been shown to have natural strength beyond most ghouls and a good eye for architecture. Mountain has been responsible for helping build new cathedrals, quarters, and even clearing land. His level headedness and bluntness have also been excellent when working with Papa II, who has supervised many of these new buildings.

Mountain being assigned to go with Copia was actually a sort of ‘good faith loan’ from Papa II. Don’t get me wrong, Papa II does NOT like Copia. He finds him opportunistic and a usurping leech… However, Copia IS chosen by Lucifer. Papa II cares about his ministry MORE than he hates Copia. Since he hasn’t had Mountain as a bodyguard for years he decides to recommend him. After all, it also looks good on him for being generous enough to support the newest singer of the band. The Ministry was happy, mainly to let the Cardinal practice working with ghouls of different types and skill sets to delegate. On tour he was accepted and chosen for both his natural talents but to help balance out all of the incredibly strong personalities of the current ghouls.

Rain: Rain was a very behind the scenes ghoul, and rarely worked in the public congregation. He was the archivist assistant to the current head water ghoul, Delta. Delta is one of the oldest serving ghouls who now takes care of the Ministry’s protected collections of records. Rain has happily kept a quiet existence processing old and new registrations for the entire ministry. At one point Rain had studied directly under Delta with Water and Mist- all powerful water ghouls who are being trained for greater works. Rain loved playing music but never considered himself one to be ever picked for anything but reorganizing entire archives and dusting off old books.

Rain was recommended by Mist after her short stint with the Ghost project and Papa III. While she wanted to go on tour, she was needed elsewhere to train. She could vouch for Rain’s hard work and need to open up and embrace his potential. Copia was happy to take the water ghoul, as was shown to have indelible talent and an agreeable personality. The touring has definitely made Rain want to be more active in the ministry and with his fellow ghouls.

Swiss: Swiss was actually pretty high ranked before he became a band ghoul! While not part of the leader ghouls for the entire ministry, Swiss was the top ghoul in one of the main cathedrals outside of the head abbey. This meant he directed, advocated, and watched over all of the ghouls a part of the cathedral. Making sure all duties were done and all ghouls were taken care of. Swiss is a pretty strong ghoul in his own right. While he is fire he was born from two mixed ghouls of different elements. So he is well versed in different elemental energies and knowledge. His easy going nature and quick wit makes him a favorite among siblings and ghouls alike. Higher Clergy also worked with him to make accommodations and holidays for the ghouls.

Swiss was hand picked by Copia who worked with him pre Ghost project. Copia has always valued Swiss’s hard work and ability to get along with everyone he met. Swiss was agreed by Imperator and the ministry to be a great ghoul. Not just in vocals but bringing everyone together and interacting with the fans and staff. Swiss accepted the position with glee. He loves doing ceremonies at his home abbey, and a Ritual is nothing different- just bigger! Plus, Swiss will never turn down a chance to sing.

Ember: Ember has been strong but an entire pain in the ass of the Ministry for a LONG time. There have been many times he was almost sent back to Hell because he was difficult to control. Ember has calmed down in recent years, but he can still be a bit of a thorn in everyone's side. But he has so much potential within the Ministry, he’s too valuable of an asset. At first he was summoned as the potential candidate to be the next Alpha ghoul, for when Alpha eventually steps down. But to help him adjust to the responsibilities he had been shipped to many places with many duties. He’s been everything from a guard, to ritual assistant, to attack dog.

Eventually he found a spot with Papa III right before he went on tour as his bodyguard. Their energies actually worked very well together and he was one of the few before Copia who was able to give him the right outlets he needed. Ember was hand chosen to be a bassist by Papa III when Alpha had to return with Omega to the Ministry. Ember had originally asked to be guitarist, but the Ministry was interested in testing Ifrit to be the next Alpha ghoul. Ember was just happy to play but was absolutely thrilled when Copia asked for him to play head guitar.

#the band ghost #ghost bc #ghost headcanon #world building #nameless ghouls #ghoulettes #ember #swiss #aether #cumulus #cirrus #mountain #rain

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reyeslonestar · 3 years

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Question what are some things you wanna see in season 3 of lone star? Character development, plots, anything

I want to see Tonya Kong write every episode. that's all. thanks for asking!

sadfkja I joke, I do have other ideas, but that is definitely high on my wish list! i'm gonna go through by character and talk about what I'd like to see for them, so this is gonna get quite long whoops...

the main thing that I'd like to see overall, though, would be evidence of an overarching season plan or arc - it doesnt necessarily have to be a plot that stretches through all the episodes or anything major, but I'd love them to have plotted out the season before they start. from watching this season and then reading interviews after the finale, they dont appear to plan many things from the start and end up throwing in ideas as they go along. if they plan it from the start they can foresee how theyre going to affect character development more, and they can have a bit more balance in the types of episodes they have, so that the season is less insane and more naturally ebb-and-flow with a few light episodes to break up the drama.

okay, onto the characters! just going to do this in billing order for simplicity's sake. customary reminder that these are just my own opinions and thoughts, and this is more of a wish list than a realistic expectation.

if you want to search for a specific character, ctrl F for one of these terms including the dash at the start:

-Owen

-Tommy

-TK

-Grace

-Judd

-Marjan

-Paul

-Carlos

-Mateo

-Nancy

press “j” to skip the whole post.

-Owen

okay so I'd love to see them actually develop his character. Owen has been given a lot of backstory with lots to play with development-wise, but to me it feels like the show never goes anywhere with it. he's got a lot going on what with 9/11, feeling responsible for the fates of his fellow firefighters, the codependence of his relationships etc. I'd like to see him go to therapy and see him grow some self awareness and seek to manage himself better, rather than all his screentime devoted to him being a hero when other characters have the situation handled. it would really show him as a good leader if he drew on the skills that his team has and refer to them for advice/ideas. realistically he is the main character, so I'd like them to develop him like one.

also, I kind of love the chief role for him? I think it would suit him really well. but it would drag him away from the 126 and split up the dynamics too much so it would make for bad tv and I wouldnt actually want to see that. good for his character though.

-Tommy

I love Tommy :) just wanted to say that.

so obviously Tommy's got a lot of grief to handle next season, and I don't want them to shy away from that. I want it acknowledged and processed. (I'd also like a little bit of seeing the twins' grief too, because they're also suffering a massive loss). maybe something with Judd helping Tommy learn to manage her grief with his own experience of losing the original 126, encourage her to go to therapy, plus Tommy, Grace and Judd all feeling the loss of Charles together. after all, Grace and Judd were his friends and they will be grieving too.

I'd also kind of like to see Tommy have something outside being a working mother. obviously we're going to need to deal with that a lot especially now that Charles is gone, but I feel like she's been assigned the Character TraitTM of being the working mum and I'd like to see them give her a hobby or something. idk. and give her a night off with Grace or something. give her something just for her.

-TK

okay so I think theres a fair likelihood that theyre going to return to looking at TK's addiction next season which im not averse to. I think him struggling with his sobriety would be worthwhile to see for his character and to show that its not a straightforward path, plus it makes sense with all the insane stuff they've thrown at them in s2. however, Id like to see it in the context of his friends and family rallying around to help and support him and show him that he's got people to rely on, and that he's allowed to rely on them, plus the support of his AA meetings and therapy. I also need them to lay the groundwork for him struggling, so putting in signs of him deteriorating so the situation makes sense. this storyline doesn't need surprises to be interesting or good, and frankly it shouldn't have any.

as for him and Carlos, I definitely want to see them househunting! I'd like to see the combination of househunting/Carlos with Tommy's kids/Grace and Judd having their baby have an impact on their perspectives regarding their future and spark that conversation (like, looking at houses with more rooms and thinking about kids, future, marriage etc). I think that maybe one of them, probably TK, or maybe both of them those boys have way too many parent issues having anxieties about being a dad could be an interesting way to add tension without being too drastic, and then that can be resolved in a way that reassures them of their relationship and reaffirms their strength as a couple. the talk about the future would also lay the groundwork towards a proposal at the end of s3.

-Grace

grace :) my love :)

I could watch episode after episode of Grace kicking ass and saving people over the phone. I'd love to see an episode set there? like, some kind of story within the call centre with all the handlers having to resolve that between them, but also tie in the first responders, so we see the fire team, the paramedics and Carlos all working but we only see the bits that Grace and the other call handlers hear, if that makes sense? also an actual Grace/Carlos team up where they are coming in from the different angles with different amounts of evidence and figuring out the best way to solve something together. plus I'd like to see her maybe get some recognition for being awesome at her job, maybe another handler coming to her for advice on how to solve something.

of course we've got the baby Ryder on the way, and I want that to go comfortably and smoothly for her. she deserves that. lots of wholesome excitement for her and Judd from the whole extended firefam, baby shower, gifts, the full works. pamper grace please.

-Judd

judd4captain2k22. please.

yeah I know its not gonna happen, but I loved judd stepping in as captain this season and I'd love to see that continued with him taking more leadership, and Owen deferring to him for advice/council in a work environment rather than personal life. maybe set up a long term idea about judd being a captain someday.

he's gonna be a dad :') so what are his anxieties about that? why were they putting it off before? was it related to his PTSD? he's got lots of people relying on him now, how does that make him feel? what if his kid loses him? id like to see him still using therapy as a tool to help himself deal with everything. lots of meaty questions to dig into there :D

-Marjan

I'd quite like to see more of her balancing her daredevil nature with the impact of that and realising how much danger she puts herself in sometimes. or on the flip side, maybe the team is dealing with a really dangerous situation and they utilise her fearlessness to save people. her relationship with social media could also come back? but bring in the development they gave her this season, and her Firefox presence is more serious, less flippant?

I think that theres now a space for her to explore her sexuality/romantic experience now that she hasn't got her engagement with Salim as a kind of failsafe. maybe she wants to put herself out there and date, but thats really daunting as shes never really had to do that before? personally I think this could tie in really well with a self discovery/exploration regarding her sexual orientation, but I doubt they’d go there with her, so thats just my headcanon.

-Paul

I want them to draw on Paul’s observational skills and perceptiveness more, especially on calls and in emergencies. I remember someone (sorry I cant remember who) pointed out that he would have been a great character to centre the arsonist plot around in terms of noticing the clues etc, so id love a storyline that revolves around him dealing with an emergency like that. I also really want a Carlos and Paul friendship so maybe them collaborating on a call to solve something, that’d be cool.

can we give Paul a girlfriend please. if im not complely insane, there was a reference to someone in like,, 2x04?? someone who put mayo in his sandwich? idk I havent checked (edit: it was aioli in his banh mi! thank you @meneatyoghurt), but if there is someone can we show him having a fun and loving relationship please. I dont need there to be any drama. just them having fun on a date or something.

-Carlos

so I know that some people are keen to see him in his police role more but I really don't need much of that. on calls with the 126 I'd like to see him be the officer in charge more, but I don't need police-exclusive storylines. I've talked about it here if you want to know why.

the only area that I'd like to see would be in the direction of reform/addressing the flaws of the system, and I think they can do that on a personal level for him, because he and Mitchell need a chat. if they'd gone with her decision in 2x08, he, Mitchell and the bank robber would all be dead, and I think thats gotta have some impact. also the fact that he was suspended for trying to preserve life. theres a lot they could work with there and maybe have him thinking about how he can do good and how he can effectively protect and serve. not to mention, the opportunity that would provide in terms of addressing his relationship with his dad and how he maybe sought approval by pursuing a police career?

also I’d like him to learn that he doesnt need to accept blame/preemptively put blame on himself and that he doesnt need to apologise when someone else hurt him. kind of want to send him to therapy. kind of want to send all the characters to therapy. but yeah, him learning that he can accept apologies and understand that he doesnt have to make people feel better for hurting him. hes allowed to be hurt and feel pained about it. and that can tie into his relationships with Mitchell, with TK and with his parents.

I think I mentioned most of the tarlos stuff in TK’s section, but I wouldn't mind at least one instance for them where we see it all from his perspective instead of TK’s.

finally ive mentioned above how i’d like a team up with Paul on a scene and both of them figuring it out together. I'd also like them having a friendship outside work, just the two of them, bonding over books and being relatively sane people compared to the rest of their friends.

-Mateo

Mateo is so sweet. I loved 2x14 and the recognition he got, more of that please! also theres still so much I want to know - one of the more consistent things they set up for him in s2 was his faith, so I want to know more about that. what's his relationship with religion and God? he's pretty isolated from his family so how does he feel about that? is his religion something that helps him feel connected to them? maybe the church helped him find a community when he first came to the states, before he got settled with the 126, and he finds reassurance in faith that God is looking after his family while he cant be there? I think maybe there's scope for a conversation between Marjan and Mateo about that, about that distance and caring for their families through faith and prayer.

also, if he's still with the horrible firehouse, I'd like to see the other firefighters being won round by his resilience and stepping up to look out for him, and someone backing him up against the captain. Mateo is used as the butt of the joke most of the time, but I'd also like to see a bit more acknowledgement of things like losing his house and the bullying hes going to get more of from this firehouse.

-Nancy

I think that her speech to Tommy in 2x14 was really telling, and I'd love to see them expand on that a bit more. first on the loss and fear of losing her friends and coworkers, but then also on her hopes and aspirations - she said she wants to be a paramedic captain so lets see her working to take her exams and qualifications, and showing initiative on scenes etc.

id like to see more of her being integrated into the 126 group. she and marjan turned up to the hangout together, so lets develop that relationship more. I would love it to be romantic but I'd also love to see that as a friendship. but also her forming bonds with others in the group as well as more of her and TK being a chaos duo. I love that they stole the ambulance, more of that insanity please!

I think thats it? if youre still reading, youre insane and I appreciate you a lot! honestly im open to all sorts of things in s3, this isnt a prediction or anything, its just stuff I think would be interesting based on where the characters are now.

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hellyeahheroes · 4 years

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Harvey Richards and Lateef Ade "L.A." Williams have a lot in common. They both grew up reading comics with aspirations to work in the industry one day. They both ultimately nabbed roles on the editorial staff of DC Comics in the 1990s.

And they are both Black men who say they never achieved their full potential at DC Comics because of their race.

There are differences in their stories — notably, the time periods. Williams exited his role as an assistant editor in 2000 after six years without a promotion, while Richards spent 22 years at the comics giant with just one promotion before he was fired in December 2019.

But the similarities that cut across those two decades are striking and speak to how little has changed for Black editorial staffers at DC Comics and in the comics industry at large.

Richards was the only Black staffer in the main DC editorial department at the time of his exit in 2019, which included about 15 people, he said. He added that DC had since hired a Black assistant editor. DC declined to comment on personnel matters.

DC, which is home to Batman, Superman, and other iconic characters, is much larger than its comics editorial department, with around 200 employees on the publishing side. But the small team of editors shape the comics and characters that inspire lucrative movies, video games, TV shows, and merchandise.

"You need [Black] editors to help nurture talent to foster diverse characters," Richards said.

Besides being the only Black editorial staffer at the time of his exit, Richards felt stymied in his own career, he said. In his 22 years at the company, he was only promoted once. He began as an assistant editor and 12 years later, in 2009, he was promoted to associate editor.

L.A. Williams can relate.

"My personality and work style is different than Harvey's, who is different from every other name I could rattle off," Williams said. "But no matter how different our work styles or personalities are, the reality is that every one of our stories ended up the same. When it keeps happening year after year, person after person, you have to ask yourself what all of these people have in common."

A Latinx former assistant editor, who exited in 1999 after five years without a promotion, shared similar concerns with Business Insider about a lack of a career path forward at DC and a sense that her work was undervalued.

The stories of these three former DC editors are also similar to that of Charles Beacham, a former Marvel editor who spoke with Business Insider in July. Beacham was one of two Black editorial staffers Marvel had employed in the last five years and quit in 2017 because he felt his voice wasn't heard.

For Richards, there were many instances during his time at DC when he felt he was treated unfairly. He recalled specific instances with Paul Levitz, the DC publisher at the time, like when Levitz told Richards he had "grammar problems," and when Levitz told him "some people think you deserve this" when Richards won an award. Richards was never promoted while Levitz was publisher and president.

Williams also described a confrontation with Levitz, in which Levitz told Williams that he would never be promoted as long as he was publisher.

In response to a request for comment, Levitz said: "I'm not going to comment on decades old incidents. I'm proud of the increasing diversity at DC in my time as an executive there, and while we didn't achieve an ideal balance, I think much changed for the better."

Since Richards' departure, DC has taken some steps to promote diversity and inclusion.

Two women — Marie Javins and Michele Wells — were named interim editors-in-chief after recent layoffs. DC recently hired former Activision Blizzard exec Daniel Cherry, who is Black, as its new senior vice president and general manager, overseeing marketing, sales, and more for the company.

DC is also reviving Milestone, a division of DC that focused on Black characters like Static Shock and was founded in 1993 by four Black men. It ceased operations in 1997 but will return in February.

But for Richards and Williams, it's essential to have Black voices on the editorial front to help inspire change and champion a diverse set of voices and characters.

For Williams, comics were his life. He had written his senior thesis in Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts on the history of Black characters in superhero comics.

So when he got a job at DC Comics in 1994, it was a dream come true. But he faced roadblocks that previewed Richards' own experiences in the coming years.

Williams, 51, recalled an instance in 2000 when some assistant editors were given a monthly comic to edit on their own by then-executive-editor Mike Carlin, who is now a DC Entertainment creative director. Williams said the assistant editors of color were set up to fail and given comics that were doomed from the start.

But Williams turned his assigned book, "Impulse," starring a Flash sidekick that had been hurting in sales, into a success.

Carlin wasn't happy. Williams said Carlin cursed him out for getting veteran comics creator Walt Simonson to draw two issues of the comic, and "wasting his time on Impulse when he should be drawing other characters like Superman."

Carlin did not return a request for comment. DC declined to provide a comment on his behalf.

That sense of not being valued even when he succeeded was a hallmark of Williams' time at DC, he said.

After a white associate editor was fired, Carlin offered Williams to take over that editor's books, which included one of DC's best-selling comics at the time, "Wonder Woman."

Williams remembered vividly what Carlin told him: "I've had my doubts about you, but you've delivered. Everything is always on time, it sells, and critics like it."

"I thanked him for my promotion," Williams said. "And he interrupted me and said it didn't come with a promotion. I feel so stupid now, but at the time I was so confused and asked why it wouldn't come with a promotion."

More than two decades later, Williams said the answer was obvious to him.

Williams' DC career ended just as Richards' was just getting started.

Richards, 48, moved from Akron, Ohio, to New York City in 1995 and began his comics career with an internship at the original Milestone, which then shut down in 1997. His Milestone connections eventually led him to DC, where he started in the mailroom and then became an assistant editor.

"I was living my dream at this point," Richards said.

In 2001, after four years as an assistant editor, Richards was offered the chance to work on the Superman titles. It wouldn't have been a promotion, but a chance to prove himself (the chain generally went like this: assistant editor, associate editor, editor, group editor, and executive editor).

But Richards was given what he said was the "unusual" task to write about what he "could bring to the Superman books." Paul Levitz, then the EVP and publisher of DC, told Richards he had "grammar problems" after he completed the assignment, Richards said.

"After that, Levitz made up his mind about me," Richards said. "I felt he already had because most people are promoted after four years. But after that, it was over, even if I got a good review or worked on good projects or got company awards for going above and beyond."

Richards won two such awards, called "Carrots," which were given by DC's parent company, Warner Bros. After he won the second time, Levitz handed it to him and said "some people think you deserve this," Richards said.

Richards was finally promoted to associate editor in 2009, 12 years after he was hired, when Diane Nelson took over as president of DC Entertainment.

Richards' time at DC came to an end in December.

He had been put on zero-tolerance probation in August of last year. The document Richards provided Business Insider outlined "poor time management skills and an inability to meet deadlines." Richards said he was being overworked.

The day after he returned to the office from Thanksgiving break last year, he was let go with a six-month severance and told he "no longer fit company standards."

He's still looking for work while honing his digital art skills. He said a potential employer asked him why he was only promoted once in all that time at DC.

"It wasn't because of my work performance," Richards said. "I feel like they blacklisted me."

19 years earlier, Williams had left DC with similar sentiments.

After a confrontation over Williams using the likeness of the Alabama governor in an issue of "Impulse," Williams said Levitz told him: "As long as I am publisher of DC Comics, you will never be promoted. You're welcome to stay here in the role of assistant editor for as long as you like."

Williams thought the timing of the dispute — shortly after he had filed a racial-discrimination complaint with human resources against Carlin — was suspect. He quit shortly after.

"I naively thought that as long as I do good work, the comics sell, and the critics like them, I'm going to do well," he said. "As a Black man in America, I knew I wouldn't be able to make as many mistakes as others. But I thought the solution was, work harder and do better."

Their experiences highlight why editors of color are so important, Richards said. They can help "realize a creator's vision" and promote more diversity in comics. He lamented that he never got that opportunity. And Black editors in senior positions could provide a source of support for ones in assistant or associate roles, he said.

"Ideas came down, they didn't go up," he said. "And I didn't have anyone above me advocating for me."

He hopes the recent shakeup at DC affords marginalized groups more opportunities and he sees more women in comics than ever before. Jessica Chen, who is Asian American, was promoted from associate editor to editor last year, for example. But Richards also noted there is still a lack of Black women in the industry.

"Change is going to come," he said. "It has to."

A harrowing look into DC’s history of racism which, among other things, made Lateef Williams, an editor who helped Impulse book avoid cancellation, to quit.

-Admin

#DC #Racism

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chestersallya · 3 years

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At Portage and Main, when she will be joined by Team Ladybug and pound the pavement to Higgins and Main and back again.. I must own I was scared. With Jhiqui’s help, she wound the tokar about herself correctly on her third attempt. Indian fans should really stop over reacting here. They need never know how difficult it had been, or how much it had cost her. Touch of Gold (Nimbus, $12.95) by Vivien Gorham of Dartmouth is a shoe in for horse lovers and gets a nod from Shelley Peterson who wrote a series of horse novels for y/a readers. It is of almost identical design, with wavy aluminum fins soldered on the liquid pass through channels; however, although it might only be a coincidence, we should note that the number of deformations/imperfections of the fins is notably lower..

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gofancyninjaworld · 6 years

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OPM Chapter 93 Thoughts

<20 in bold at the end.

It goes without saying that if you've not read this chapter yet, you probably shouldn't read this!

Typeset: https://imgur.com/a/cuCBt76

Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AopCejGDKMg

The ART!

If there’s only one thing I’d declare my love for, it’d have to be the art. It brought the characters and the sense of place to life in a way I’ve not yet seen in One-Punch Man.

This chapter round, Murata did not pour his energy into elaborate backgrounds or spectacular scenes. His assistants did wonderfully at the backgrounds, particularly in showing the dereliction of City Z. So you'd think this chapter would be quick and easy to knock out? NO. WAY. Murata poured his art into detailing and delineating characters, bringing their very souls to life as we've rarely seen before. So many characters, both familiar and new. Along with the incredible character interaction, this chapter has been a real treat for the eyes as well as the mind.

More thoughts still under the cut!

Chapter Theme: You Can't Escape the Pressure

Everyone is under pressure. It's on everyone, both that imposed by the external circumstances and that imposed on themselves by the characters. So much of the ugliness we see in the S-Class meeting comes from that pressure. I'll deal with Fubuki, Bang, King and Genos separately.

The collective pressure to prove themselves is on the support heroes. While they may be the support, their role is just as crucial and their objectives are many -- containing any escaping monsters, clearing an escape route and making sure that Waganma is escorted to safety. OneShotter definitely feels the toughness of the assignment while Needle Star focusses on the other side of the pressure: the potential reward of promotion.

Even at the top, the pressure is intense. If anything it's worse. Being based in A-City, the executives have to look at the results of their failure every single day, at the still-raw lunar landscape that used to be most of A-City. Metal Knight didn't even bother trying to fill in the larger craters, but just built road bridges over them. Sekingal may be ambitious but he has earned Sicchi's respect for not merely being the guy in the suit who sits back in relative safety while sending heroes to their doom. He's going to be there with them -- he's tied not just his reputation and career trajectory to the success of the mission, but his very life.

I don't think many people would begrudge Sekingal his ambition nor any of the support heroes for being politically shrewd in their desire for promotion. They're doing the work and taking the risks, why shouldn't they make sure to get their reward? It's people who use politicking as a substitute for doing the good work whom we object to.

Wanted: Leadership and Unity

ONE has long had a special dislike for experts without actual expertise. One of his early cameo characters was a Mr. Nanmoshirane (Mr. I don’t know) who was a pundit making useless pronouncements on the mosquitoes that had appeared over City Z. So, why is a ten year old in charge of S-Class? Because he's the best at the job and has lots ofleadership experience? HA, not a bit of it! It's because he's clever (technologically), is available, and is the only one who will speak up.

Unfortunately, Child Emperor hasn't got the personal authority to shut down dissent and is having to rely on mollifying the egos of the other heroes to keep them all on side and focussed on the threat in front of them. To watch the clash of titanic egos as they try to work out how best to approach the Monster Association raid is to feel for Child Emperor. But he manages.

And then Sweet Mask appears. As a deeply disliked and barely respected hero, his presence is unwelcome in the first instance and his insistence in not just joining the strike team but leading it started to create an ugly situation.

Watching the S-Class meeting nearly implode into bloodshed, all I can think is with allies like this, who needs enemies? It's evident that no matter how talented the individuals are, without a sense of shared purpose around which they can rally and actual strong leadership, they're going to be easily working at cross-purposes to one another.

Fubuki: The Power of Spite

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? I guess Shakespeare knows what he's talking about -- here comes Miss Blizzard and she's looking to raise hell, both with the Monster Association and with her sister.

So much of her anger is not for the monster, Do-S, who brainwashed her group. After all, Do-S is a monster -- that's what monsters do. It's for Tatsumaki, who seriously hurt the members of her group and who has now had her dismissed without so much as a say. That's what she cannot forgive. She's taking them both on, both on a personal level and on the behalf of the group of heroes and compatriots she loves and nurtures.

While it's hilarious that she thinks of Saitama's group as her 'new' Fubuki group and is outraged at how completely she's ignored, her astuteness cannot be faulted.

Go Blizzard!

Bang: A Shabby Way to Treat a Good Man

I salute Bang's sense of responsibility in coming all the way out to A-City in order to find out what is going on, since the loss of his communicator has meant that he has no way to keep abreast of the situation. Watching Sicchi lie to Bang's face was just painful.

It's shocking how quickly narratives grow up around events. Sicchi may have defended Bang staunchly to the other executives, but he's asking if Bang let Garou go. Even Bomb is questioning Bang over it. And Bomb was there! You see how deeply this hurts Bang.

And yet, even now, Bang hasn't given up on Garou. He's jumped at the chance to 'accompany' King as he puts it in order to fulfil his duty to apprehend Garou. Maybe even to save him if he still can.

King: The Paper Tiger Becomes a Cardboard Tiger

King running away only to get himself deeper into trouble is nothing new, although it's wonderfully done here. His accidentally defusing the S-Class meeting's tension was absolutely stellar timing. And how freaky is it that even through several walls, Zombieman can hear the King engine?

However, what's new is that King can be mighty brave... so long as it's from behind Saitama. Watching King dying inside even as he puts on a brave face and says brave-sounding things has been quite the edifying development. He so wasn't counting on being bundled off to the Monster Association like a secret weapon though. Being deferred to and consulted by the other heroes was terrifying enough. The out-of-body experience he was having at the end is one for the ages. :D

You Wait Forever For A Cyborg And Then Three Come At Once

Conventional wisdom is that a cyborg is hard to kill. Defeat one, sure. Kill one, that takes some dedication. Accordingly, we see the return of Jet Nice Guy, phew! His backstory is that he won the lottery, then used his winnings on buying body modification surgery -- I'm glad they were good enough to keep him alive and that he's still got enough money (and enough desire) to return to hero work, looking better than ever. Learning that Drive Knight is also a cyborg has been awesome. Finally the question of what Drive Knight is has been settled, although the clues have been there for a while, mostly in Murata's art spreads, one of which shows him eating noodles through his mouth grille and another that shows him lounging in the swimming pool with a snorkel. His cyborg nature is why the rest of the S-Class are hoping that he may yet be alive, even if he's incapacitated.

I hope that we get to see what Jet Nice Guy and Drive Knight do. I hope the conventional wisdom isn't tested too hard!

As to the cyborg we know best, Genos, he has has gone dragon-crazy. [That said, his enabler-in-chief, Dr. Kuseno, has no right to say that it is Genos who is reckless: there's a bit of the devil in the old man too, what with putting such a badly-balanced build together for him.] I think I see the rational side of why Genos is gunning for dragon-level monsters so hard. As far as he's concerned, they're just a stepping stone in his path to strength -- huge, treacherous, bitey stepping stones, but stepping stones nonetheless. But they're rare monsters. If one pops up, it'll be assigned to Tatsumaki or a group of well-tested S-Class heroes. As a new guy who is still building his track record, Genos has no chance of being assigned one, not even to support another hero.

The conservative way to become a dragon-slayer is to painstakingly grind away, improving his proficiency with demon-level monsters until the HA is so confident in his ability to deal with them that they'd consider briefing him on joining other S-Class heroes to deal with a dragon-level threat. That'll take weeks. Genos is a little less... patient.

The Monster Association is the only place where he's guaranteed a crack at them. There are five main possible outcomes.

A: He gets killed or crippled (the scenario that literally keeps Dr. Kuseno awake). It is a risk that exists regardless of what he does -- monsters target even the most peaceable civilians. As a hero, Genos has a great big target on his back anyway.

B: He gets beaten down without taking out any dragons. Here's the thing: at the very least he's no worse off than beforeand he gets invaluable battle data to build up on. The data will help to sort between changes and strategies that were never going to work and those that might yet work with some improvement.

C: He gets beaten down but kills or critically injures at least one dragon. He gains that invaluable battle data plus a basis on which to consolidate gains. Gets a promotion to around S-10 (more likely rank 10 - 12)

D: He doesn't get beaten down and kills or critically injures at least one dragon. He can work on using data and experience to further refine the fighting platform. Gets promotion to well within top ten and to ask Saitama for his next assignment.

E: He doesn't get beaten down but doesn't take down any dragons, either. This scenario will have Dr. Kuseno sigh in relief, but it's the only really bad outcome from his perspective. He's lost data and the chance to tackle such monsters. He'll have to grind like mad and hope for another lucky break.

I rate the likelihoods of the various scenarios as A - 0%; (ONE isn't about to kill Genos over this fight), B - 60%; (no change from webcomic), C - 39%; (it's a big step up and still respects what happens in the webcomic), D - 1%; (in that case the first half of chapter 108 is redundant) and E - 0%; (don't worry boy, here be lots of dragons).

Rounding up

This may have been a set up chapter, but it was anything but uneventful. 32 people are responding to what is for most, the greatest challenge they've yet faced. Okay, one of them is Saitama and he's just wandering around oblivious to the import of anything.

I can't wait for the fights, when we see all the tensions and motivations explode into action.

<20: The keg is full of dynamite, and the fuse is lit. Bring on the explosion!

#OPM #Genos #Fubuki #Bang #King #manga chapter #meta #S-Class heroes

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mulansays · 6 years

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Hello, my dear readers!

So, I’ve been a little missing in action this week, haven’t I? Well, I can’t say much on the topic without losing my job... Let’s just say, there may or may not be a debut in the works for a few of the kids at the company I work for. This means I’m spread out fairly thin and working at weird hours of the night on minimal sleep, so please be patient with me as I try and balance my job and this blog!

Enough about me. It’s been almost a week since the MGA’s episode four, and boy do I have some things to say.

Let’s start with Team A as usual. I had mixed feelings about this team, mostly because I’ve never tried to hide my disliking of a certain member here. While he turned me off of the group, I still do especially enjoy the rest of the members! In the last episode, we really got to see Jinhee shine as a dancer and leader, but with this performance, I realized that her vocal ability is really average… I guess it’s okay because she’s such an extraordinary dancer. I was shocked with her wig though; was she trying to be Hannah Montana or something? It was kind of lame. If you’re going to go for pink hair, commit to it like Junmyeon and Jonghyun did instead of doing some odd wig show. I’ll be honest, a lot of this team didn’t leave an impression on me, which is sad because last week I mentioned how amazed I was by Jeno and Hyunjin’s dancing. There was nothing special about the choreography. I have to say though, Hyunjin articulates very maturely for such a young kid. His speech inspired me, and if he were to grow older and join an idol group, that’s some leader-worthy pep talks right there. He also pulled off a tough rap decently, so I think I like this kid. I was relieved when Jeno was eliminated rather than him (sorry, Lee Jeno!) I thought Jonghyun should have been the one to go home instead, but I’m not exactly going to she tears over the decision.

Team B was… such a mess. While Guanlin was cute with his heavy accent, he impressed me with how much his pronunciation while rapping had improved. It wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly better than before (and maybe even better than my Korean had been within the first few months of moving here). Kim Bora really deserved the leader title here, and I hate this whole “leaders can’t be repeated” because obviously, if you appoint someone who’s unfit to lead, your team is screwed. God, my blood has never boiled more than when I saw Junhoe’s attitude. Being a group leader is no joke, but he treated it as if it didn’t matter? I wanted to slap him and send him off the show. When you’re an idol, you can’t act like that, especially in the public eye. There’s a fine line between being mysterious and being a dick, and he crossed that by miles. I’m happy Bora whipped him into shape, but even then, to me it felt like he was trying to have all the spotlight. Besides that, I felt bad for Donghyun and I hope his foot is okay. He really can’t dance though, so thank God they did an easier choreography (yet he still managed to mess that up but whatever). Oh, I almost forgot to mention Wonwoo LOL! Seriously, he got no screen time and he has negative stage presence, so can you blame me? I was hoping for him to get eliminated this week, but then this team ranked 3rd… I was disappointed. I don’t think that weak performance deserved to rank that high. The song choice was fun though.

Team C… Okay, this is going to sound real bitchy, but like, has anyone else noticed how weirdly Yoongi talks? It stuns me every time, and I know it’s not his fault, but sometimes I just want to plug my ears when he opens his mouth. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to see him evolve from an awkward guy begging Hyuna for help, to a proper leader. Though, she carried him through it like a baby, but still, he was standing on his own two legs by the end. Speaking of Hyuna, can she just stick to rapping instead of mediocre singing? I know people were freaking out about it but she’s really just… LOL. I’m really glad Minhyung got eliminated this week. Compared to the rest of his team, he’s so lacking, and I hate using age as an excuse, but he was too young and immature to be in the competition. There are others around the same age, but they have mental maturity, whereas this kid runs out when he gets frustrated? He would never last long in the industry with that mindset. I hope he fixes that before trying again. Other than that, you know I just have to comment on Kim Doyeon. She looks like a natural on stage, and she really has it all: a pretty face, perfect proportions, charisma, vocal ability, and she’s a good dancer. Share that, please, Doyeon? As for Moon Bin, I think he deserved more screen time. Maybe he’s just boring, I don’t know, but I was sad. He has a lovely voice and stage presence. MNET, do the kid some justice!

You guys probably know that one of my least favourite contestants was in Team D. Yes, I’m talking about Minatozaki Sana, and this episode really didn’t give her a redemption arc in my heart. She still has an attitude about losing out to someone else on her team and doesn’t even try to hide it. It just makes the whole team atmosphere feel awkward when she sulks, and it made me uncomfortable to watch. Even when Haknyeon tried to cheer up (so sweet, by the way, and was he flirting a little or am I imagining things?) she was so… I don’t want to dislike her. Sana is a good dancer, but she just feels really fake and bratty. Pfft, and MNET tried to edit Yerim to have that personality but they edit Sana so you feel bad for her. I won’t be fooled though. This team also had another case of poor leadership. Jungkook had the title, but he treated it exactly like that—as if it was only a title and didn’t hold any responsibility. I’m pretty sure I said this last time, too, but he has no stage presence whatsoever! As a dancer, that’s so vital, and it’s probably the biggest flaw to have. I wasn’t surprised to see him eliminated. Oh, and Choi Youngjae… He’s such a good vocalist, but he can’t dance, so I wonder why the team chose such a dance-centered song. On a happier note, Longguo’s cat is so cute. Him and Haknyeon being cat ladies made me smile because it’s so relatable and their friendship is adorable. I really like Joo Haknyeon. He’s a flower, quite fitting with the concept. Not only was he a sweetheart to every contestant on the team, but he also gave his best. Even though his nose bled, he kept practicing by himself to make sure his performance was perfect. I’m amazed.

I don’t really have much to say about Team E. They barely had any screen time. There wasn’t anything memorable from these participants (whether scandalous or not), despite the fact that they chose such a powerful song. Maybe that’s where they went wrong. Choi Yoojung danced and rapped well, Kyungri held her own while dancing and singing. Lee Luda was really naive at the beginning, thinking the dance would be easy. At least she wasn’t the worst dancer in the group though—I think she’s rather average, enough to blend in. Plus, she doesn’t need to dance when she can sing like a goddess. Taehyung was really lacking. He was an okay leader, but all he can do is rap. His dancing was atrocious; why did he agree to such a hard choreography anyways? Personally, I think he should have been eliminated instead of Juyeon, because out of everyone, Juyeon was the most well balanced in every aspect. I’m sad to see him go, and I wish him the best of luck.

Can we just talk about Team F’s introduction? Ha Sungwoon called himself “bananappa” and that made me cringe so hard. Was he on crack? LOL kidding, but seriously. That’s so weird. His nickname aside, I think he made a really good leader. The thing with Sungwoon is that he really supplied a positive atmosphere with the group. Watching their interactions, you could see they were genuinely happy and friendly, whether they were practicing or not. It was quite refreshing, really, which I guess is why they gave themselves the name “Fresh and Fruity” or whatever it was. I’d like to see this group of people debut together, in all honesty. They have a good balance: Sungwoon as the main vocal and leader, Mingyu as the main rapper, Jinsoul and Yerim as lead vocals and dancers. It’s also a perfect ratio of females to males, so they could be kind of like the co-ed group KARD? Anyways, there’s not much to say about them because they were so good and I really enjoyed the performance (another story within a choreography, Sungwoon seems to be good at that). I definitely think they could have been third place; I don’t know what’s wrong with the CEO’s. The dance to Shine isn’t all that hard. Rather than being a good dancer, you just need charisma to pull off the trendy moves in the chorus, and everyone in this team (especially Jinsoul) have enough. Shout out to Yerim, though, who MNET decided not to evil edit this time, instead cutting her out completely. We see you and your hard work. All in all, I thought this team was doomed since Lee Minhyuk pulled out of the competition last minute (you’re really going to let your group members down? Okay), but they did well.

Buckle in for the wild ride that Team G will take you on. I really wasn’t ready. So, there’s an obvious elephant in the room: Lee Sungyeol. In my last post, I talked about how I thought he was too old to be an idol now, and I still stand by it. If anything, this episode only solidified my opinion. Really, what kind of an aspiring idol has a fucking kid? And he so shamelessly showed it off on television for the whole nation to see. Has anyone ever seen an idol that’s freshly debuted, have a toddler? It’s insane! If you have one, at least try to hide it. Already, his age sets him apart from everyone else, along with his lack of skill (Sungyeol is an average singer at best, he can’t dance, and he barely has stage presence). But like, dude, you really want to pursue a career as an idol when you have a kid to take care of? You’ll have no time for the kid, will barely see them, and idols don’t exactly make the most money unless you hit it big, which he definitely can’t do. You need a steady, reliable source of income or else your kid will suffer. Kick him out of the show already!

Now, we’ll tackle the next problem of this team: Kim Chungha. I was really rooting for her, but she’s not much different from Sungyeol. She so blatantly exposed her relationship with Koo Junhoe, as if she wanted to brag? I know she was crying and all, but at least call a female friend and vent! Or if it’s a male, let it be someone who’s not a contestant! Or vent away from the cameras—this is ridiculous. I’ve never been so speechless. And all this after seeing Junhoe’s slacking off makes me wonder, was he late because he was fucking Chungha in the bathroom or something? LOL! They both lost my support. Soojin was my favourite leader out of this episode; she showed dedication to helping Sicheng with his vocals, while still keeping it light and fun. She can dance and sing as well, which we all know I love a woman with many talents. Sicheng was a really good dancer as usual, and Somi too (both their vocals are still lacking though so I hope they work on that). The performance was good overall, so I’m okay with them ranking second. By them, I mean Sicheng, Somi, and Soojin: the three S’s. The other two are such a big NO from me.

I can’t dwell too much on Team H. Not only am I exhausted and sleep deprived, but my heart broke with this team (I think you guys know why). Yongsun seemed to be a really good leader. She’s very funny and likable, not afraid to make a joke out of her weakness in dancing. Plus, she’s one of the best female vocalists on this show. Her and Daniel dancing together was hilarious, I have to admit. They have good chemistry as, like, the Beagle Line of a group. I was also surprised that everyone on this team can play instruments? It’s a coincidence you don’t really expect, and the fact that they utilized this surprise is so surreal to me. I don’t know why. I think it’s because I have a thing for bassists and Kang Daniel plays the bass (what fate is this)? And the bass line for Deja Vu is so sensual—control yourself, Naomi! Can you imagine my reaction to Hyunjung and Daniel acting all cute and flustered together like some puppy love? I almost cried. Almost. Maybe if I learn to play an instrument he will love me too? No hard feelings though, Hyunjung. You’re too talented for me to hate, and you’re pretty. If you make Kang Daniel smile and I get to see that smile, that’s all that matters. Anyways lol that hug and his blush. Wow, the kids on the MGA’s are really acting wild, aren’t they? I hope they all clean up their acts, or at least make it less obvious, by the time they become idols. Overall, this team’s performance was good and faintly reminiscent of H.A.M, so I believe they deserve their title as first ranked for this week. It was something new, something unexpected, something covertly sexy that I really enjoyed (rest in peace to Minho, though, who got no screen time despite killing the rap, the dance, and being super attractive).

I guess that’s all for now, guys! I’ll try not to be as late with my next post, though I can’t make any promises with how hectic work is at the moment. This was also fairly rushed, but I hope it was worthwhile! If not… Well, then, feel free to exit my blog. To those that enjoyed my thoughts, feel free to follow me on twitter @naomiwj and send in your reactions, opinions, and/or fangirl with me !!!

Thanks for reading, fellow netizens! See you next week!

♕ Naomi Wang ♕

#*ep4 #*mga4 #*blog

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sadisweetomi · 2 years

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Executive ImpactWomen in business: Xue Wang advises women to be pragmatic

TOKYO

Xue Wang did not always think she would end up in Japan; it was just the right opportunity at the right time. Now senior associate at Allen & Overy (A&O), Wang finds that being pragmatic with the opportunities she is given has helped develop her career, maintain a good work–life balance and prepare for having a baby.Wang began to develop an international mentality through her education, going to international school in Germany, and when she studied economics and finance for her undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh, and spent a year in France. She then chose to study law, entering into a field that presented her with opportunities to travel and work abroad, giving her an understanding of work life in both Europe and Asia.

She joined Allen & Overy in 2007 and after two years in training at the firm, Wang qualified into the project finance department and was given the opportunity to transfer to Japan to work with a large trading house.

What are the best and worst decisions you have made in your career?

Moving to Japan was one of the best decisions, and going into law was a good decision for me. Studying law after my undergraduate degree suited my personality a lot more, and gave me opportunities to go abroad on numerous occasions.

Obviously day to day there are always challenges, but what’s really a bad decision? It’s more a question of attitude. I think a lot of what makes success in your career is what you make of your current situation.

What has been your greatest success?

Coming to Asia and building a successful career and client relationships in Japan. It is a very male-dominated society here and I always wondered, is it really going to work? How are they going to regard me as a female worker, a foreigner, and not really speaking Japanese? But it turned out perfectly fine. If you are an expert in your area and you are confident in what you do, then you can break down any barriers.

What has been the greatest challenge in your career and how did you meet it?

I am probably facing my greatest challenge at the moment, in terms of planning for the next step and balancing work with having a family. In this kind of job, which involves long hours, a lot of travel and a lot of working at weekends, it can be challenging. But a lot of it is just good communication, both at home and at work, managing expectations and taking it as it comes.

How do you achieve a work–life balance?

Often what I have seen is that if your other half is more understanding about your work schedule and willing to share the load at home, then that helps an immense amount. But it’s also your work environment and how flexible people are and how flexible clients are. In that respect I am extremely lucky because my bosses have a good attitude towards the balance between family and work. A&O have a strong agenda for promoting more women to progress to a senior and partnership level, and have a very generous maternity policy. There is also a maternity (and paternity) series on our intranet about peoples’ personal stories of how to deal with the challenges of balancing family and home life, which I found very inspirational.

What challenges do women in Japan face when taking on leadership roles?

In Japan, I think the main challenges for women are the traditional views about gender roles which leads to women having to bear a disproportionate burden of home responsibilities and being overly modest or giving less priority to their careers, and the general work culture that demands long hours at the workplace.

What would be your piece of advice to women in business in Japan?

If you want a career, just have a go and be pragmatic about your situation—there is no point not trying. If the company is not supportive, change companies, change teams, and don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo. You also need the right support network at home.

Go abroad and explore some different opportunities, too. I’ve met so many women here who are extremely clever and qualified, but they are happy to sit back and not go for the business positions.

It’s more overcoming that cultural barrier. This country is a particularly challenging environment, and you need a critical mass of people who think a certain way for things to change.

Who inspires you and why?

I would say my ex-boss in London. She was head of global project finance practice, a trailblazer and leader in her field and she still managed home and children.

#sadisweetomi

0 notes

pooma-education · 3 years

Text

Advice to Teachers in becoming a Principal

Apart from the roles of a principal, such as learning, leading, excelling and monitoring....any other specific roles are ?

Is the job difficult or different?

Even some quality Teachers capable of being leadership find it hard and reject the opportunities because it has nothing to do with instruction.

I learned from my interactions with teachers across our country,

The position was still rejected by the reason...

It has nothing to do with instruction

The job is different from teaching undoubtedly but feeling of difficulty is an individual matter. It’s difficult for those who don’t know the knack of balancing different roles and satisfying for those who enjoy it.

This role is specifically connected to the soul. What we call it as satisfaction

A teacher loves instruction in the classroom:

Truly, a leadership qualities are out of box thinking, not connected with qualifications and experiences.

First and foremost we must remember that a leader is one who knows the way , goes the way and shows the way. A successful principal ( not necessarily a good one) must be able to identify a bunch of talented and multitasking teachers and entrust them with certain key responsibilities but keep an eagle eye on them to avoid backstabbing. This job must be done with utmost impartiality to avoid alienating others. Some of them should be kept changing every two three years or as and when fresh talent joins the school.

He must sincerely promote talent and act as a strong bridge between staff and management.

Collective and department wise meetings will not only help him put his point across and get a genuine feedback. He must be able to convince parents body that their wards are in safe hands through his interpersonal skills.

He must have good communication skills and address morning assembly in immaculate English on any topic under discussion in the assembly extemporaneously.

He must maintain good but safe relationships with the students by going to their classrooms and chatting with them informally.

With management of the school

There are certain well founded reasons for the management to be uncooperative.

I’ll try to enumerate them one by one:

1) The management is not getting positive feedback about the head from various sources like - parents, students or their own favourite teachers planted among the staff permanently. The head should identify such elements and take them into confidence without compromising with principles.

2) Communication gap with the management and failure to win them over to his/ her own side on certain issues and administrative decisions.

3) Differences among the members of the management themselves and head’s failure to strike a balance.

4) Failure to remain heads and shoulders above new and upcoming schools.

5) Managements feeling that fresh blood needs to be inducted on a lower salary as the old head has become too heavy monetarily and influentially.

This is main attraction towards the teaching job.

In the same way what shall be the attraction that brings a teacher to be promoted to the leader level subjected to missing nothing about the instruction which a teacher believes for job satisfaction.

As a leader, teachers are always practicing their art and learning how to improve their techniques. They listen in class for opportunities to teach. One student’s question can drive an entire lesson plan from which all students will benefit. Teachers are not looking for short answers. They look for explanations that present several concepts and perspectives to the students

In a word we can say:

Building the quality of instruction:

1. A leader who involves in improving the quality of instructions are satisfied with their leadership qualities.

2. Seek out the best preparation for instructional management, for organizational development, for change management - for these things that we know matter. Be aggressive about finding the right support and training for yourself.

3 collaborate, collaborate, collaborate.

Go into this with the idea that, 'I'm going to build a team. It's not going to just have to be me. My job is to really find the expertise and the skills and the abilities of the people that I work with, cultivate those, glue them together.

You will be both a more successful principal and you will be a saner principal who has at least a little bit of a life beyond all of the effort that you put into the work in the schools."

0 notes

teshknowledgenotes · 3 years

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HOW I CAN USE THE E-MYTH REVISITED TO CHANGE MY PERSPECTIVE AND FIND A JOB

While I was taking notes on The E-Myth Revisited I noticed non-stop flaws in my perspective on life and my process of thinking. I realized the only way to become successful is to think more like an Entrepreneur and less like a Technician. 90% of people I know think more like a technician. I naturally picked up that mindset too, it worked great for me in the restaurant industry. In the restaurant industry a technician is the most lovable person ever. I unfortunately brought that mindset on to the tech industry and see nothing but anger and frustration. Looking for a tech job is similar to running a business or promoting a product. Your pretty much selling yourself. There are three main stages to think about: Infancy, Adolescence, and Maturity. Here are some excerpts from the book and how I can use them to better my life.

It is self evident that businesses, like people, are supposed to grow and with growth comes change. Unfortunately most businesses are not run according to principle. Instead most businesses are operated according to what the owner wants as opposed to what the business needs. And what the Technician who runs the company wants is not growth or change but exactly the opposite. He wants a place to go to work, free to do what he wants, when he wants, free from the contrainsts of working for The Boss. Unfortunately, what The Technician wants dooms his business before it even begins.

This is very true when it comes to job searching I just do whatever I want rather than looking in to what the employer/my client wants. My technician mindset just wants to go work and do whatever I want, this is what is dooming by job search before it even begins. This is a prime example of what I do when searching for a tech job. All I do is look at all the things that need to be done, job searching, improving your skills, networking, building projects, keeping up with news, seeing what new trends are out.

And so you work. Ten, twelve, fourteen hours a day. Seven days a week. Even when you’re at home, you’re at work. All your thoughts, all your feelings, revolve around your new business. You can’t get it out of your mind. You’re consumed by it, totally invested in doing whatever is necessary to keep it alive. But now you’re doing not only the work you know how to do but the work you don’t know how to do as well .You’re not only making it but you’re also buying it, selling it, and shipping it. During Infancy, you’re a Master Juggler, keeping all the balls in the air. And soon if you’re lucky all of the sweat, worry and work begin to pay off. You’re good. You work hard. The customers don’t forget. They’re coming back. They’re sending in friends. Their friends have friends. They’re all about Joe, Tommy and Mary. They’re all talking about you. If you can believe what your customers are saying, there’s never been anyone like Joe, Tommy, and Mary. Joe, Tommy, and Mary are just like old friends. They work hard for their money. And they do good work. Joe is the best barber I ever went to. Tommy is the best printer I ever used. Mary makes the best corned beef sandwich I ever ate. Your customers are crazy about you. They keep coming, in droves. And you love it! But then it changes. Subtly at first, but gradually it becomes obvious. You’re falling behind. There’s more work to do than you can possibly get done. The customers are relentless. They want you they need you. You’ve spoiled them for anyone else. You’re working at breakneck speed. And then the inevitable happens. You, the Master Juggler, begin to drop some of the balls! It can’t be helped. No matter how hard you try, you simply can’t catch them all. Your entusiasm for working with the customer wanes. Deliveries, once early are now late. The product begins to show the wear and tear. Nothing seems to work the way it did at first. What do you do? You stretch. You work harder. You put in more time, more energy. If you put in twelve hours before, you now put in fourteen. If you put in fourteen hours before, you now put in sixteen. If you put in sixteen hours before, now you put in twenty. But the balls keep dropping! All of a sudden, Joe, Tommy, and Mary wish their names weren’t on the sign. All of a sudden, they want to hide. All of a sudden, you find yourself at the end of an unbelievably hectic week, late on a Saturday night, poring over the books, trying to make some sense out of the mess, thinking about all of the work you didn’t get done this week, and all of the work waiting for you next week. And you suddenly realize it simply isn’t going to get done. There’s simply no way in the world you can do all that work yourself! In a flash, you realize that you business has become The Boss you thought you left behind. There’s not getting rid of The Boss! Infancy ends when the owner realizes that the business cannot continue to run the way it has been, that in order for it to survive, it will have to change. What that happens when the reality sinks in, most business failures occur. When that happens, most of The Technicians lock their doors behind them and walk away.

It feels good during the first month, I feel like I'm being productive, feel like I'm adding stuff to my portfolio. Six weeks later it's time to apply for jobs and I realize I don't have the proper skills I try to juggle more things at once, work more hours, and start messing things up. I get stressed out over the tiniest of things. I'm so busy working on making some sort of project that I believe will put me ahead of others, I forget to take care of myself. My belly gets big, I haven't had fun in weeks, my life feels empty. I think to myself why am I doing this? Is coding for me? I go back to whatever I was doing earlier in most scenarios restaurant work. I end up paying the debt I piled up, once I finish that I get back to coding and end up stressed out again. Reality sinks in, my job search fails, and The Technician in me locks the doors and walks away, looking for something else.

When a Technician turned business owner is suddenly confronted with the reality of her situation, a sense of hopelessness can set in. The challenge can seem overwhelming. There’s nothing wrong with being A Technician. There’s only something wrong with being a A Technician who also owns a business! Because as a Technician turned business owner, your focus is upside down. You see the world from the bottom up rather than from the top down. You have a tactical view rather than a strategic view. You see the work that has to get done, and because of the way you’re built, you immediately jump to do it! You believe that a business is nothing more than an aggregate of the various types of work done in it, when in fact it is much more than that. You can’t have a business and just expect to do the technical work. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t ignore the financial accountabilities, the marketing accountabilities, the sales and administrative accountabilities. You can’t ignore your future employees’ need for leadership, for purpose, for responsible management, for effective communication, for something more than just a job in which their sol purpose is to support you doing your job. Let alone what your business needs from you if it’s to thrive: that you understand the way a business works, that you understand the dynamics of a business, cash flow, growth, customer sensitivity, competitive sensitivity, and so forth. If all you want from a business of your own is the opportunity to do what you did before you started your business, get paid more for it, and have more freedom to come and go, your greed - I know that soudns harsh but that’s what it is your self-indulgence will eventually consume both you and your business. The exciting thing is that once you let go of your Technician side, once you make room for the rest of you to flourish, the game becomes more rewarding than you can possibly imagine at this point in your business’s life.

I often start searching for jobs, keeping up with news, working on projects, keep up with LinkedIn & Slack and feel super overwhelmed. There is nothing wrong with being A Technician and having the mentality of just working. I see the work that has to get done, and it is because of the way I am built. I believe that finding a tech job is just building projects and showcasing it when it is in fact much more than that. I can't attempt to join tech companies by thinking, they will hire me solely based on my projects. I can't ignore the job searching, networking, cold messages, thinking how to impress employers/companies, working on source code, keeping up with Slack, messaging people back, the repeated rejection, the communicating with family and friends and dealing with their advice, the burnout, the feeling of being overwhelmed, the weight gain. There needs to be a balance, an understanding and I need to be able to say NO! to things which can take up my day. If I all I want from the coding life is an opportunity to do what I did in the restaurant industry (get up and go to work, not say anything) get paid more for it, have more freedom to do what I want, your self-indulgence will eventually consume both you and your business. The exciting thing is once you let go of your Technician side, once you make room for the rest of you to flourish, the game becomes more rewarding than you can possibly imagine at this point in your business's life.

Adolescence begins at the point in the life of your business when you decide to get some help. There’s no telling how soon this will happen. But it always happens, precipitated by a criss in the Infancy stage. What kind of help do you, the overloaded Technician, go out to get? When things get crazy at your business and you run around like a lunatic/mad man. You’re hopelessly, helplessly at a loss. For you to behave differently you would need to awaken the personalities who have been asleep within you for a long time- The Entrepreneur and The Manager - and then help them to developer the skills only they can add to you business. But The Technician in you won’t stop long enough for that to happen. The Technician in you has got to go to work! The Technician in you has got to catch the balls! The Technician in you has got to keep busy. The Technician in you has just reached the limits of his Comfort Zone.

For me as a job searcher the Adolescence stage begins when I network a lot more ask people what I should be doing, similar to asking them to help me get a job. Point me in the right direction, this comes from getting out of my comfort zone. The Technician in me doesn't want that but if I want to get a job I need to make a change.

Comfort Zone - the boundary within which he feels secure in his ability to control his environment, and outside of which he begins to lose that control. As the business grows beyond the owner’s Comfort Zone as the tailspin accelerates, there are only three courses of action to be taken, only three ways the business can turn. It can return to Infancy. It can go for broke. Or it can hang on for dear life. Let’s take a look at each. Getting Small Again. One of the most consistent predictable reactions of The Technician turned business owner to Adolescent chaos is the decision to “get small” again. If you can’t control the chaos, get rid of it. In short, go back to the time when business was simple, back to Infancy. And thousands upon thousands of technicians do just that. They get rid of their people, get rid of their inventory, wrap up their payables in a large bag, rent a smaller facility, put the machine in the middle, put the telephone by the machine, and go back to doing it all by themselves again. They go back to being the owner, sole properietor, chief cook and bottle washer, doing everything that needs to be done, all alone, but comfortable with the feeling of regained control. Because whatever that size is, any limitation you place on its growth is unnatural, shaped not by the market or by your lack of capital even though that may play a part but by your own personal limitations. Your lack of skill, knowledge, and experience, and most of all, passion for growing a healthy functionally dynamic extraordinary business. In this regard getting small is, rather than an intentional act, a reaction to the pain and fear induced by uncontrolled and uncontrollable growth, both of which could have been aniticipated provided the owner had been prepared to facilitate the growth in a balanced, healthy, proactive way. So if the natural disposition of every business is to either grow or contract, and it is, there is no denying that then ‘getting small again’ is the natural inclination of the Technician turned owner to shrink from the unknown, to shrink from the business she has created, to contrain the business from creating demands on her to which she feels hopelessly inadequate to respond appropriately. In short businesses that get small again die. They literally implode upon themselves. Your job is to prepare yourself and your business for growth. By asking the right questions, such as: Where do I wish to be? When do I wish to be there? How much capital will that take? How many people, doing what work, and how? What technology will be required? How large a space will be needed, at Benchmark One, at Benchmark Two, at Benchmark Three? Any plan is better than no plan, because in the process of defining the future, the plan begins to shape itself to reality, both the reality of the world out there and the reality you are able to create in here. And that is the sign of a Mature company. A Mature company is started differently than all the rest. A Mature company is founded on a broader perspective, an entrepreneurial perspective, a more intelligent point of view. About building a business that works not because of you but without you.

As I get closer to finding a job at times I quit or just make excuses and give up. I'm afraid of the change that comes with it. I shrink myself and "Get Small Again", I look for something easier. I go back to a life which I can control and get rid of the chaos. Getting small is an intentional act, a reaction to the pain and fear induced by uncontrolled and uncontrollable growth. With this mentality my job search implodes on itself. My job is to prepare myself for growth. By asking the right questions, such as: What kind of companies do I wish to work for? When will I be available? What kind of salary am I looking for? What can the company provide for me? Will I be able to improve myself while working for this company? What language will I be learning?

A Technician’s Perspective differs from the Entrepreneurial Perspective in the following ways: 1) The Entrepreneurial Perspective asks the question: “How must the business work?” The Technician’s Perspective asks “What work has to be done? 2) The Entrepreneurial Perspective sees the business as a system for producing outside results for the customer resulting in profits. The Technician’s Perspective sees the business as a place in which people work to produce inside results, for The Technician producing income. 3) The Entrepreneurial Perspective starts with a picture of a well defined future, and then comes back to the present with the intention of changing it to match the vision. The Technician’s Perspective starts with the present, and then looks forward to an uncertain future with the hope of keeping it much like the present. 4) The Entrepreneurial Perspective envisions the business in its entirety, from which is derived its parts. The Technician’s Perspective envisions the business in parts, from which is constructed the whole. 5) The Entrepreneurial Perspective is an integrated vision of the world. The Technician’s Perspective is a fragmented vision of the world. 6) To The Entrepreneur, the present day world is modeled after his vision. To The Technician the future is modeled after the present day world. The Entrepreneurial Perspective adopts a wider, more expansive scale. It views the business as a network of seamlessly integrated components, each contributing to some larger pattern that comes together in such a way as to produce a specifically planned result, a systematic way of doing business. With the Technician’s perspective, however the scale is narrower, more inhibited, confined principally to the work being done. As a result, The Technician’s business becomes increasingly oppresive, less exhilarating, closed off from the larger world outside. His business is reduced to stes that fail to take him anywhere other than to the next step, itself nothing more than a replica of the one before it. Routine becomes the order of the day. Work is done for work’s sake alone, forsaking any higher purpose, any meaning for what needs to be done other than the need to just do it. The Technician sees no connection between where his business is doing and where it is now. Lacking the grander scale and visionary guidance manifest in the Entrepreneurial Model, The Technician is left to construct a model each step of the way. But the only model from which to construct it is the model of past experience, the model of work. Exactly the opposite of what he needs if the business is to free him of the work he’s grown accustomed to doing.

To get in to the Entrepreneurial Mindset, I have to be working on things that make an impact, which others notice. To continue in the Technical Mindset I have to continue working on projects alone in my house, which is routine, work is done for work's sake alone, forsaking any higher purposed, any meaning for what needs to be done other than the need to just do it. Technician mindset sees no connection between where you are in your job search and where it is going, lacking the grander scale and visionary guidance.

“How will my business look to the customer?” The Entrepreneur asks. “How will my business stand out from all the rest?” Thus, the Entrepreneurial Model does not start with a picture of the business to be created but of the customer for whom the business is to be created. It understands that without a clear picture of that customer, no business can succeed. The Technician on the other hand, looks inwardly, to define his skills, and only looks outwardly afterward to ask, “How can I sell them?” The resulting business almost inevitably focuses on the thing it sells rather than the way the business goes about it or the customer to who it’s to be sold. Such a business is designed to satify The Technician who created it, not the customer. To The Entrepreneur, the business is the product. To The Technician, the product is what he delivers to the customer. To The Technician, the customer is always a problem. Because the customer never seems to want what The Technician has to offer at the price at which he offers it. To The Entrepreneur, however the customer is always an opportunity. Because The Entrepreneur knows that within the customer is a continuing parade of changing wants begging to be satisfied. All The Entrepreneur has to do is find out what those wants are and what they will be in the future. As a result, the world is a continuing surprise, a treasure hunt to The Entrepreneur. To The Technician, however the world is a place that never seems to let him do what he wants to do, it rarely applauds his efforts, it rarely appreciates his work, it rarely if ever appreciates him. To The Technician the world always wants something he doesn’t know how to give it. The question then becomes, how can we introduce the entrepreneurial model to What we must do instead is to provide our inner entrepeneur with a model of a business that works, a model that is so exciting that it stimulates our entrepreneurial personality, out innovative side to break free of The Technician’s bonds once and for all. What we must do, instead is to discover a model that sparks the entrepreneurial imagination in each of us with such a resounding shock that by the time The Technician wakes up to the fact it will be too late, The Entrepreneur will be well on his way. In short, for this business model of ours to work, it must be balanced and inclusive so that The Entrepreneurial, The Manager, and The Technician all find their natural place within it, so that they all find the right work to do.

The Entrepreneur asks "How will my resume stand out from all the rest?" He proceeds to network. The Technician on the other hand looks at his skills and what he is missing, he proceeds to work on that and put it on his Portfolio/Resume. The Technician's work is designed to satisfy The Technician himself, not the employer. To The Technician the employer is always a problem, because the employer never seems to want what skills The Technician has to offer. To the Entrepreneur the employer is an opportunity because he knows that within the employer is a continuing parade of changing wants begging to be satisfied. All The Entrepreneur has to do is find out what those are and what they will be in the future. The world is a continuing surprise to The Entrepreneur, while to The Technician the world is a place that never seems to let him do what he wants to do, it rarely applauds his efforts, it rarely appreciates his work, it rarely if ever appreciates him. To The Technician the world always wants something he doesn't know how to give it. What we must do is provide out inner entrepreneur with a model of a business that works, a model that is so exciting that it stimulates our entrepreneurial personality, our innovat side to break free of The Technician's bonds once and for all. We need to discover a model that sparks the entrepreneurial imagaination in each of us with such a resounding shock that by the time The Technician wakes up to the fact it will be too late, The Entrepreneur will be well on his way. In short, for this business model of ours to work, it must be balanced and inclusive so that The Entrepreneurial, The Manager and The Technician all find their natural place within it, so that they all find the right work to do.

Your business and your life are two totally seperate things. At its best, your business is something apart from you, rather than a part of you, with its own rules and it own purposes. An organism, you might say, that will live or die according to how well it performs its sole function: to find and keep customers. Once you recognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your business, but that the primary purpose of your business is to serve your life, you can then go to work on your business, rather than in it, with a full understanding of why it is absolutely neccessary for you to do so. Think of your business as something apart from yourself, as a world of its own, as a product of your efforts, as a machine designed to fulfill a very specific need, as a mechanism for giving you more life, as a system of interconnecting parts, as a package of cereal, as a can of beans, as something created to satisfy your consumers deeply held perceived needs, as a place that acts distinctly different from all other places, as a solution to somebody else’s problem. Think of your business as anything but a job! The problem isn’t your business it never has been. The problem is you! It has always been you and will always be you. Until you change, that is. Until you change your perspective about what a business is and how one works. Until you begin to think about business in a totally new way. Until you accept the undeniable fact that business, even a very small business like yours, is both an art and science. To successfully develop a serious business you need a process, a practice, by which to obtain that information and, once obtained, a method with which to put that information to use in your business productively.

In order to become successful in coding I have to realize that it is just something to work on and better my life. I shouldn't treat it like it is what will save my life. It is totally seperate from my life, regardless of whether I find a job in coding or not I will still be a happy person. My coding job is just there to fulfill a very specific need, as a solution to somebody else's problem. The problem with not being able to find a job in coding, is me. It has always been me, until I change. Until I change my perspective with what technology is, how it is built, why it is built, the positivity it can bring to the world, the enjoyment that comes from building it. To succesfully join the tech field I mainly need to think more like an Entrepreneur, figure out ways to stand out, show passion and sell myself, rather than a Technician who constantly just wants to get work done.

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careerdesign · 4 years

Text

Tell me about yourself

Abdur Quaderi

Managing Consultant at Career Design International | Director Music East & YouTube channel Lemontree

Tell me about yourself

Why is this the first interview question (in many situations)?

1) A test of your communication skills

2) A test of how much comfortable/ relaxed/ nervous you appear to be

3) A test of your presentation skills (the easiest person in the world to describe should be is to describe yourself) - how well do to perform this easy job?

4) The amount of time you take to answer this simple question ...

SIMPLE QUESTION? REALLY?

........ :)

..........................................................

For some people an interview is an enjoyable game, while for some people, a job interview is a nightmare ....

WHY?

HOW?

Every interviewer is different and has his/ her own perspective. An interviewer knows how much time should be taken for a job applicant to answer this question. Unfortunately, an applicant does not know how much time should be taken. This interview question is related to few words/ points:

- TIME TO BE TAKEN

- STYLE OF PRESENTATION

- CLARITY IN COMMUNICATION

- NATURE OF THE JOB [THAT IS TO BE FILLED]

- NAME OF THE POSITION

Let me now explain each point in details -

TIME TO BE TAKEN: 'Time is money' as we all know. But when you think about it, how many of us realize the value of time from a business point of view? In the corporate world, it is important to clearly understand that time as a resource is extremely precious and accordingly, it is essential always to make the best use of time. In general, if a candidate takes more than 3 minutes to answer this simple question, the interviewer will probably interrupt or tactfully drive the conversation towards another direction. Most people should take no longer than 3 minutes to answer this question and [trust me] 3 minutes is quite a long time for this question. Notice that I said 'in general' and I also mentioned 'most people'. I must tell you though, that as soon as this question has been asked, the interviewer is really interested to hear the response. Actually, he/she (it may even be a group of interviewers) is/are keen to know about the candidate as much as possible through this [easy, and] opening question. The reason this question is asked is really to put you (the interviewee) at ease. Apparently it looks like an informal question. As a candidate, you may feel comfortable, but don't become informal or talk carelessly. Show that you respect the organisation and that you understand that it is a business environment (i.e. not a social environment). Remember, the interviewer will be asking you a series of questions and one main reason is to find fault (a major fault that you display which he/she does not like). Also remember, this is only the first question, so it is supposed to be an easy one, but really, it's not so easy as it looks like. Basically, using a reasonable amount of time, you need to show that you have a mind that is organised. For that to be demonstrated, your response to this question should be organised, although, apparently the question seems to be too easy. When you reply, you should speak neither too quickly nor too slowly, neither loudly, nor quietly (or softly). Maintain the right balance, but remember to be yourself.

So, what is the lesson to be learned? Be yourself, be formal, be organised and show respect to the business enterprise by making the best use of time.

When I discussed this subject in details with my clients, they asked me directly - 1) How much time should be [ideally] spent to answer this question? and 2) What would be an ideal response to this question? I plan to comment on these matters when I draw a conclusion to this article. Right now let me go back to the questions I stated earlier. It will be a repetition, but the repetition may be well justified.

1) A test of your communication skills

I am assuming that most of you [readers] are already in the corporate world and you understand how important communication skills are. A good communicator utilizes a combination of verbal as well as a non-verbal communication (i.e. body language) to convey messages with clarity and precision. He/she ensures that a message has been properly understood as intended. A reasonable amount of time is spent each time and every time. When you count all of these important factors, most of you will probably agree that a good communicator ensures efficiency as well as effectiveness. Team members are happy when good communicators are around, as they make things simpler for everyone. Often, in fast paced organisations, there are complex information and messages that need to be quickly understood by everyone. Guess who are the people who make things easy for everyone? !!!! I am sure you got the answer by now. Deeply observe one common attribute of effective leaders and you will find communication skills.

2) A test of how much comfortable/ relaxed/ nervous you appear to be

Some candidates do not expect such a question as the first question, probably because it is too easy or because it appears to be a waste of time. Some people even show some dissatisfaction at being asked this question (does this question mean they did not read my resume? or did they lose my resume? after this event, will they ask me to submit another copy of my resume?)

Some candidates are there to get a job that is repetitive in nature or a job that just requires technical work to be completed. Some candidates belonging to these categories know that their communication skills are not up to the mark. They don't feel comfortable in face to face situations or within interactive environments. In this digital age, a new class of people have emerged - they want to have everything done online, they try to avoid all kind of people interaction. This question is an easy one to spot such categories of people. Surely not everyone is a good communicator, however, a minimum standard of communication and interpersonal skills is an essential requirement in organisations, as information has to be communicated, messages have to be relayed and also coordinated at one point (or at several points), there may be emergency situations (so say the least).

3) A test of your presentation skills (the easiest person in the world to describe should be is to describe yourself) - how well do to perform this easy job?

This question is of great importance if you have applied for a role that requires customer service or sales. This is also important for roles that lead to future management positions. Good presentation skills differentiate the people who the organisation will utilize for communication or leadership related roles. If you are competent, talented and ambitious, this 'one' question alone can give you an opportunity to show your true value to your preferred organisation on DAY 1. You may have come across a famous quotation "You never get a second chance to make a first impression". Let me tell you in another way - this is the easiest question that will allow you to make the best impression. HOW? Just keep yourself prepared!

4) The amount of time you take to answer this simple question ...

Just as the morning shows the day, your response to this question will show how much you understand the demands of a corporate environment and your attitude towards efficiency (i.e. proper use of time/ importance of the time factor).

........ TO BE CONTINUED ......

#online interview coaching #online interview techniques #interview #job interview #interview techniques #interview tips

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ruwithmeguys · 7 years

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A thought...

Dinah.

Hmm.

I’m not the voice of reason in this fandom. I’m also not the person to go to for amaze-balls reviews. But I usually like the questions I receive in my inbox (because I’m a weirdo who likes looking into things) and recently I answered a very innocent one: What do I think of Dinah?

Dinah’s a good character but I’m too invested in the main three to fall head over heels for her.

But I made a wish in my response for this character to succeed in all the ways her predecessor failed. And they managed to design DD to be the type who can blend with the surroundings and say nothing in a scene without being boring. That’s a big deal.

There’s no chance that I want any character to detract from the importance of another, as the show has done in the past. So I wondered how they’d rotate DD, Curtis and Rene. Watching 6.01 made me think they're heading DD down her own vigilante highway.

Personality wise, DD has strong opinions and an even stronger gut response to her environment; there’s a good chance she’s going to eventually clash with Oliver leadership.

It’s far too early to tell but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had DD strike off on her own at some point: it would be a nod to the comics too.

Anyway, to all those concerned about her screen time cutting into anyone else’s (namely Felicity’s) don’t be. AT ALL. They’re unrolling Felicity’s arc slowly because it’s important. Just like we haven’t yet seen the Olicity island reunion or know anything at all about where they really are right now, relationship wise. Just like we haven’t seen Felicity’s plans for her new business.

What we did see, was Felicity taking part in the team, Felicity being reassuring, being wanted very much by Oliver and being the only truly balanced member of the team. In particular to Diggle, I think this will be coming into play later on. She might be the one to stand between him and Oliver.

Anyway, back to Dinah.

She’s... we don’t really know where she is personally either.

The episode did a fantastic job of giving a lot without answering a lot. She has secrets.

...So does Diggle.

Yeah, I noticed the chemistry there.

Wendy confirmed no romance but we’ve been lied to before. I think I’m one of the few that isn’t as bothered by this as I should be. I LOVE LYLA. But I can't deny it would be interesting to see. However, I do not advocate any form of infidelity. And I don’t think that’s going to happen anyway.

But I’m intrigued by the friendships being formed.

I think... BS is affecting her, A ghost from the past and a vision of what she could become. We all know DD is better but we also know she’s going to suffer first. Goodie.

As for BS, why does KC seem to think being ‘bad’ means nothing but lots of walking. Walking. More walking. Smirking. Walking. Some hair flips (this happens before LL died too). She makes a very good villain, as they well know. Just not a very interesting one.

I wished to feel something for her character other than the usual. Instead, all I felt was sadness for Lance.

Misery loves company and LL/BS is, well...

Luckily, I know she isn’t in many scenes after 6.02, 3 or something to that regard (one day of shooting per episode?).

BS is an awful person who went into the SCPD and killed a bunch of people... and smiled as she did it. Wow.

But none of them will be able to kill her even though we know killing is not off the agenda. She’s a face from the past. Not LL but they KNOW she’s E2’s equivalent and it makes that a no-no zone. Unfortunately.

I loved that Quentin shot her but I also knew the moment we found that out that she’d use it against him forever. However...

There is a small chance he’ll kill her for real in future. Super small chance.

Either way, they’re sticking to evil BS because it works. And I’m loving that it works. It’s another level to the show: imagine Oliver and co looking into the future during season 2 and seeing this... and wondering.

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melvinfeller · 4 years

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Melvin Feller Discusses the Best Business Startup Books

Melvin Feller Business Group in Texas and Oklahoma. Melvin Feller MA founded Melvin Feller Business Group in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes and a positive outreach. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops both nationally and internationally.

Melvin Feller is known as “The Entrepreneur’s Mentor” because Melvin walks his talk. Melvin Feller has been there and done that and more importantly, Melvin Feller knows how to transfer the skill-set for success. This is main reason that he has been the sought after coach to hundreds of small business owners, entrepreneurs, Realtors, Real estate investors and service professional internationally. Melvin Feller’s main talent is to show you how the step by step process to build and enjoy a successful 6-figure plus business while having a balanced life.

Most of the startup learning curve is a learn-on-the-job endeavor. Nothing replaces the real experience of managing your own company; however there are some lessons that are worth learning ahead of time.

Smart entrepreneurs learn to pick out which teachings should be followed and which should be discarded.

This is my common response I send when friends ask for a book list. I actually think blogs are far more important because they’re real-time and often include comments that can help the reader learn the subtleties and exceptions of an argument. As I’ve said before, instead of reading this blog, I highly recommend these:

Paul Graham, Steve Blank, Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Mark Suster, Guy Kawasaki, Venture Hacks, and a daily check-in at Hacker News,

But there’s something nice about books. Books are consumed in a different setting. They linger on bookshelf’s. They get highlighted and earmarked. If you’re new to the startup world, I would recommend reading and re-reading the following 6 books. In fact, I would go farther and say that you should not start your company until you read through this list:

The 6 best startup books to read before starting your company

Lucky Or Smart? by Bo Peabody

A lot of this book is understanding how to put luck on your side. I put this book as first though because it can help you understand if you want to be an founder or a manager. Founders are a special breed. Peabody claims it’s the B- players that like to hack systems so that they get 80% of the result for 20% of the efforts. Managers are early employees, A+ players, that can take a founders vision and create something remarkable. It’s helpful to understand which one you are. And it’s helpful to know how luck and intelligence work together. As he says: “I was smart enough to realize I was getting lucky”

Getting Real by the guys from 37 signals

If you’ve never built a product or if you’re a non-technical MBA, start here. The purpose is to learn the basics of agile development early on.

The m.o. of 37 Signals is:

“We believe software is too complex. Too many features, too many buttons, too much to learn. Our products do less than the competition — intentionally. We build products that work smarter, feel better, allow you to do things your way, and are easier to use.” Getting Real is how they teach you to do the same.

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

Guy will show you how to start the company and how to raise money. This is your replacement for whatever textbook you used in your entrepreneurship class. It’s a nuts and bolts guide to what you do at each stage of start-up process. Kawasaki is great about helping you understand how investors will view you.

One great example, he directs you against putting a competitive profile slide in your pitching deck that shows your features vs. their features. He’s seen this enough times to know it’s a useless cliche: the entrepreneur always claims to have more features than the competition. His solution is to list out your unfair advantages and their unfair advantages in order to prove you have a reasonable perspective on your market. Good stuff.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank

From my vantage point, Steve Blank is this year’s favorite author, blogger, professor, and speaker. I know that some venture capitalists give his book out to all newly-funded management teams. (To show how aware I am of my own hypocrisy–Steve Blank teaches entrepreneurship at a business school–perhaps better than anyone else anywhere.)

Blank outlines a method called customer development. In his words: “Your startup is an organization built to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Your job as a founder is to quickly validate whether the model is correct by seeing if customers behave as your model predicts. Most of the time the darn customers don’t behave as you predicted.”

Rework also by the guys from 37 signals

Rework is a collection of essays from their wonderful blog, Signals vs. Noise. Reading it as a whole is a nice way to learn about how to think of your startup as a business that needs to make money. These guys are pro-bootstrapping, pro-profits, and anti-venture investing. They’re a nice counterpoint to much of the startup literature that focuses on how to raise money as the primary goal in the early part of a company.

Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

This is a good last book for this list because it gives you insight into founder culture. One of the most interesting (and unexpected) aspects of being in Your Combinator is that we got to see so many other founders working on their startups. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely endeavor and it’s nice to have some perspective on how other founders manage ups and downs while executing at very high levels. The early days of the startup are the most interesting and unlike anything that comes afterward.

In her words: “This is what productivity looks like. This is the Formula 1 race-car. It looks weird but it goes fast.”

Those are my 6 favorite and of course I feel are very foundational!

#melvin feller ma #melvin feller business group #melvin feller best business groups #best business books #books #reading #startup #work #business start up #starting a business #small business loans #small business marketing #be the best #melvin feller texas #melvin feller oklahoma #melvin feller facebook #books to read #startup books

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the-record-newspaper · 4 years

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Eight Republicans running for three County Commissioner spots in March 3 primary

In the Republican primary for Wilkes County Board of Commissioners, two incumbents and six challengers are going after three available seats.

Commissioner Gary D. Blevins is not running for re-election.

Incumbents Keith Elmore and Eddie Settle will face Ralph Broyhill, Rachel Carr Jarvis, Casey Joe Johnson, Dale Pierce, Miranda Pruitt and William G. Sexton in the March 3 GOP primary.

Two Democrat candidates have filed, but will not be on the ballot until the Nov. 3 general elections.

The Record recently sent questionnaires to the candidates. Their responses are below. Republican candidate Dale Pierce did not respond.

Ralph Broyhill: (Republican)

Why are you seeking office? “I feel that there is still issues that need to be resolved that have lingered in the past. The water intake should have been taken care of a long time ago. The loan was interest free but the governing bodies could not get together and the time ran out on the loan and it went away. I think we as commissioners need to be willing to go all out to seek businesses that would fit with out county and possibly engage with pre-existing business offering incentive to create more jobs and be able to pay a competitive wage. We have a great community college that has good skills instructors who have proven themselves that they care for the kits. At the end of the day I want to look back and know that we tried to make Wilkes County a better place for your family and mind.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “I feel that with my years of experience in working for Wilkes County, I know how it works. I did budgets yearly. I am retired and ready to go to work.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? “I want to hit the ground running. I know that at first a lot will be a learning experience.”

Keith Elmore (Republican)

Why are you seeking office? “First, I would like to thank the citizens of Wilkes County for their support over the last 16 years. The reason that I am running is I would like to continue building on our success in Wilkes County. We have expanded services while lowering taxes and maintaining a record high fund balance. I bring a unique perspective to being a county commissioner having spent over 40 years in the private sector and having over 15 years government experience and training. My insight would be beneficial in striking a balance between providing government services and being responsible to the taxpayers. If re-elected I would work with the county manager and other commissioners to continue to focus on all facets of government using technology and common sense to reduce cost and increase efficiency.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “I’ve lived most of my life in Wilkes County, married 32 years to Mary Beaver Elmore (retired educator). We have one daughter who lives in Raleigh and received her bachelor’s degree from N.C. State. She is a project manager with Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. I graduated from East Wilkes High in 1971, studied electronics at Forsyth Tech and received an associates degree in business from Wilkes Community College. Before running for office, I worked over 30 years in Technology and Human Resources with Lowe’s Companies, Lovette Company, ConAgra Foods and Pilgrims Pride Poultry Company. I presently manage over 30 employees at Foothills Auto Spa in Wilkesboro and serve as a Wilkes County Commissioner. Over the past 18 years I have had the opportunity to serve on many boards: Wilkes County Commissioner (15 years), DSS Board (over 18 years), serving as WCC Trustee and liaison, Smokey Mountain Mental Health Board (Vaya), Wilkes EDC Board, WTA Board, Tax Equalization Board, Wilkes County Health Board, BROC Board, Animal Control Board, Senior Citizen Board, served on NCACC Executive Board (3 years), High Country Counsel of Government Work Force Development Board and CEO of the Consortium Board. In the past I served locally on the Roaring River Volunteer Fire Department Board and was a member of the Roaring River Ruritan Club. We are a Christian family, Mary and Jessica are members of The Lutheran Church of Atonement and I am a member of Arbor Grove Baptist Church.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? My immediate plan is to work with Wilkes economic development Corp. and establish a pad ready site for Business use.

Rachel Carr Jarvis (Republican)

Why are you seeking office? “As a wife, mother, minister, farmer and taxpayer, I know we have opportunities to improve the quality of life for all residents. We must address the hard issues such as unemployment; accountability for where our tax dollars are being allocated. Activities for our youth and families have decreased in our county. So working to bring family friendly entertainment and businesses is a necessity for Wilkes. Working on the infrastructure of this county is also essential. Instead of waiting on businesses to come to Wilkes, we must be proactive in seeking them out, while also supporting the growth of small businesses and farmers.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “My degree in Human Services Technology focuses on prevention as well as the remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of those you serve. Working and volunteering for different organizations through the years has given me insights to the many issues that we are facing. The ability to work on a team, leadership, problem solving and adaptability, communicating with the public, and love for this county are things I bring to the table.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? “The trash on the roadsides is an issue that comes up often in meetings and with individuals. One of my first priorities would be to get the mess cleaned up and to see how to maintain it going into the future.”

Casey Joe Johnson (Republican)

Why are you seeking office? “‘And of some have compassion, making a difference.’ This Bible verse found in Jude 22 is how I have tried and how I want to live my life. I am running for Wilkes County Commissioner because I want to make a difference and serve the people of Wilkes County. If elected I will work hard to strengthen our schools by providing them the resources they need to be successful and support our families by promoting clean, fun, and quality entertainment and collaborate with the departments of county government to sustain our resources. I believe if we can do these things, we can supply jobs in Wilkes again.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “One of my qualifications is the excitement and passion I have for Wilkes County. I recently had the opportunity to listen to Dan Forest speak at a meeting in Wilkesboro. Mr. Forest said that Wilkes County is a hub of potential. This excited me even more! Wilkes County has so much potential and it would be my job as a commissioner to pursue these opportunities. Also, as a teacher I have had many opportunities over the past six years to work with students, parents, teachers, and administrators. I feel that these experiences have enabled me even more to see the needs we have in Wilkes County. I will do my best to work hard for the people of Wilkes, to pray and seek for wisdom, and continue to make Wilkes a great place to live.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? “My first goal if elected is to collaborate with the Board of Education and determine the needs Wilkes County Schools have. It is our job as elected leaders to ensure that our young people have the resources they need to be successful. I would also like to create a High School Job Fair where our Public Schools, Christian Schools, and Home Schooled Students can learn of current jobs/careers in Wilkes County and what skills would be necessary to obtain these jobs. Another goal is to work with the Wilkes EDC and push for family recreation options in Wilkes like we once had. Also, as a commissioner I would help find the most cost efficient and effective means of getting the new water intake to supply water to our county.”

Miranda Pruitt (Republican)

Why are you seeking office? “Being a Wilkes County resident my entire life I have a deep appreciation for our home we have here. The beauty of our land and the wholesomeness of our people are the defining factors that I love about my home here. However as time has passed we have lost the once lustrous economic base we once had. We have watched industry leave with no replacement in sight. We need growth because without it we are continuing to retrogress, and we are loosing the young people who will make up our County’s future. Growth economically and financially will be my main focus.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “I am the owner of LaBelle Salon & Day Spa in North Wilkesboro and have been for six years now. As a business owner you learn to work with a set budget to help funds be allocated to the most appropriate designated places. I understand the needs as a citizen of our county who personally faces some of the economic challenges we have in Wilkes with the loss of jobs. Close family members of mine have been effected recently in negative ways with job loss and I want to help make a difference.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? “If elected I plan to immediately consult with the Economic Growth Commission and try to help in conjunction with them plan goals to help reverse the growth situation we are currently facing.”

Eddie Dean Settle (Republican)

Why are you seeking office? “I am seeking reelection as a Wilkes County Commissioner because I love the county in which I was born and raised, and would like to continue serving and being a voice for the citizens of Wilkes. As an incumbent, my record proves I can get things accomplished. During my terms we have never raised, but have actually lowered taxes, while funding all the needs of the county. We have managed to raise our per student funding significantly. We, current Commissioner Board, are in the process of opening EMS Sub Stations in the outer lying areas of the county to achieve a 10 minute response time to calls. The Commissioners also recently passed a Fire Department Substation Assistance Program. Financially, Wilkes is one of the strongest in the state, maintaining a 38-40 percent fund balance. During my next term, I plan to focus on Economic Development and make it a priority for Wilkes County’s growth and improvement.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “From the private sector, I have owned and operated a small business and made payroll. I understand economics and management and working with people. I have been involved in my community in various capacities. I am the Founder of the East Wilkes Youth Football Organization and coached from 1994-2018. Presently, I serve as a Board Member on the Blue Ridge Youth Football Board. I am a Board Member of the Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital Foundation. I am a member of Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church and have served on various committees within the church. I am involved and care about my church and community. I am an active Ordained Deacon, a member of the Brotherhood, and presently serve on the Finance Committee of Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church. I was first elected as Wilkes County Commissioner in 2012 and still proudly serve in that capacity. I have learned valuable information and have a greater understanding and knowledge of what is involved in the decisions that impact our county. I have also connected with numerous businesses and people in and out of Wilkes County, especially in agriculture, which has helped to place Wilkes as 5th in the sate in total Agriculture. During my terms in office as Commissioner, I have served on various committees including: North Carolina Agriculture Steering Committee - Chairman 2014- present, North Carolina Cattleman’s Association – Member, Wilkes County Republican Party – Vice Chairman four years 2008-2012, Fire Department Commissioner, Economic Development, Social Services, Library Board, Airport Board.”

What are your immediate plans in office if re-elected? “To work toward getting pad ready sights for economic development. We are all aware of the need for economic growth in Wilkes. Over the years we have had jobs leave Wilkes County for various reasons, yet we are slow recuperating from our losses. This is an issue that desperately needs s focus. Discussing and considering options for the North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Continue to support building EMS substations in outer lying areas of the county, for a goal of 10 minute emergency response time. Supporting our schools and sheriff’s department with necessary funding, while keeping taxes down and maintaining a reasonable fund balance.”

William G. Sexton (Republican)

Why are you seeking office? “I am a Christian. I serve as a Deacon, and Chairman of Deacons at my church; Victory Baptist Church. It is my desire to help my fellow man, and improve his quality of life, as it should be the desire of all Christians. I have been and remain an active Fireman/First Responder with 44 years of service at Mountain View Fire Department. I also serve as President of the Board of Directors, at Mountain View Fire Department. I am retired (2008) from UPS, after 30 years of employment. I worked as a Paramedic with Wilkes County EMS from 2008-2014. I maintain my Paramedic certification with the State of North Carolina, and continue to work, as needed, with EMS, and teach Medical Responder/EMT Continuing Education through Wilkes Community College. I also work, part time, for Reins-Sturdivant Funeral Home.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “My life has been, for the most part, dedicated to serving my community and county. I want to continue to service my county, as a Commissioner. I feel that I possess the wisdom and experience needed for leadership. My service, on various boards, including working with and managing budgets, along with the fiscal responsibility involved, has provided me with that experience. As I mentioned, I have been President of the Board of Directors for 13 years at Mountain View Fire Department. During that time, we have operated within our means, as we continue to grow and improve. My intention is to bring these same principals and skills to the office of County Commissioner. I am cognizant of the fact that we are spending the money that you all work hard for, and must spend it wisely, while continuing to improve the quality of life for Wilkes County citizens.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? “As many of you know, the economic status of Wilkes County has recently fallen from a Tier 2 to a Tier 1 designation. If elected, I will work to bring us back to an acceptable rating. My intention, if elected, is to hit the ground running, to work at an aggressive pace, addressing the problem of economic depression, job creation, and recruitment of business, both industrial and small business. Improvement of infrastructure, that lures new businesses and making our county a more desirable place to be, is very important to me. I understand, that recruiting more restaurants and recreational amenities, will provide our young families with more options, so that they don’t have to travel out of the county for these things. I also plan to work to continue to improve our schools, and keep our educational system, state of the art. Lastly, I am determined to bring pressure to bear on DOT to clean the trash from our highways. We have a beautiful county to be proud of. Thank you for your continued support in my campaign.”

Chalma W. Hunt (Democrat)

Why are you seeking office? “I am seeking the office of County Commissioner to bring a fresh, diverse voice to the Board. I believe Wilkes County is a wonderful place to live, but we are currently challenged by a lack of employment opportunities with attractive salaries, fun and safe extracurricular options for our teens and young adults, viable public transportation options, services and activities for seniors, and a broader variety of retail and shopping venues. Improvements in these areas would not only serve the needs of our current residents and boost our economy but has the potential to attract new residents to Wilkes County.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “I bring over 20 years of progressive experience in Human Resources, in support of federal government contracts. This has allowed me the opportunity to serve and collaborate with individuals from various backgrounds and education and professional levels. I’ve worked with teams to successfully plan, organize and develop strategies, to write winning proposals, to implement processes and procedures, and to improve overall services.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? “My immediate plan will be to work diligently with the Board on any current proposals on the table. Thereafter, my goal is to work to prioritize issues/concerns of Wilkes County citizens and assist in addressing those concerns. Though not always easily achieved, it should be our goal to achieve resolutions that are a win/win. We are best served when we recognize, and accept, that views and beliefs may be different. However, we can only be truly successful when we are willing to listen and consider perspectives different than our own.”

David Watkins (Democrat)

Why are you seeking office? “I think the current administration has forgotten what it means to serve. I have seen things remain pretty much the same. No work has been done to help small business and the current commissioners have done nothing to help bring new businesses to the county. The county is lacking is the areas of employment, transportation, and infrastructure.”

What do you feel are your qualifications? “I am a people person. My 20-plus years in the Marine Corps means I can adjust to any situation. I am very versatile. Improvise, adapt, and overcome is what we do best in the Corps. My tenure in the Corps also means I know my way around large and small budgets. That along with my experience as a Project Manager and my education with Lean Six Sigma, coupled with fresh ideas; I am sure we can turn the economy and attitude of this county around.”

What are your immediate plans in office if elected? “My immediate plans would be to work with the Wilkes ENC to search out an entity that would like to make Wilkes County their home and provide some new industry for the county. I would also like to tackle the homeless situation in the county.”

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bigyack-com · 4 years

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‘Techlash’ Hits College Campuses - The New York Times

In 2006, Google bought YouTube for more than $1 billion, Apple was preparing to announce the first iPhone, and the American housing bubble began to deflate. Claire Stapleton, then a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, faced the same question over and over: What did she plan to do with that English degree? She flirted, noncommittally, with Teach for America.Then, a Google recruiter came to campus and, Ms. Stapleton said, she “won ‘American Idol.’” The company flew her out to Mountain View, Calif., which felt to her “like the promised land” — 15 cafeterias, beach volleyball courts, Zumba classes, haircuts and laundry on-site.But for Ms. Stapleton, now 34, the real appeal in a job at Google was what seemed to be a perfect balance of working for income and according to one’s conscience. Naturally, she said yes to an offer in the corporate communications department.“There was this ambient glow of being part of a company that was changing the world,” Ms. Stapleton said. “I was totally googly-eyed about it.”More than a decade later, college seniors and recent graduates looking for jobs that are both principled and high-paying are doing so in a world that has soured on Big Tech. The positive perceptions of Google, Facebook and other large tech firms are crumbling. Many students still see employment in tech as a ticket to prosperity, but for job seekers who can afford to be choosy, there is a growing sentiment that Silicon Valley’s most lucrative positions aren’t worth the ethical quandaries.“Working at Google or Facebook seemed like the coolest thing ever my freshman year, because you’d get paid a ton of money but it was socially responsible,” said Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci, 21, a senior at the University of Michigan. “It was like a utopian workplace.”Now, he said, “there’s more hesitation about the moral qualities of these jobs. It’s like how people look at Wall Street.”

Investment Banking, but Worse

The growing skepticism of Silicon Valley, sometimes referred to as the “techlash,” has spared few of technology’s major players. In 2019, Facebook was fined nearly $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission for mishandling user data. Amazon canceled its plans for a New York City headquarters after residents, union leaders and local legislators contested the idea that the behemoth should receive $3 billion from the state to set up shop. Google, in 2018, faced internal protests over its plans for a censored search engine in China and handling of sexual harassment. (High-ranking Google employees have stated that the company never planned to expand search into China, but also that plans for a China project had been “terminated.”)The share of Americans who believe that technology companies have a positive impact on society has dropped from 71 percent in 2015 to 50 percent in 2019, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey. At this year’s Golden Globes, Sacha Baron Cohen compared Mark Zuckerberg to the main character in “JoJo Rabbit”: a “naïve, misguided child who spreads Nazi propaganda and only has imaginary friends.”That these attitudes are shared by undergraduates and graduate students — who are supposed to be imbued with high-minded idealism — is no surprise. In August, the reporter April Glaser wrote about campus techlash for Slate. She found that at Stanford, known for its competitive computer science program, some students said they had no interest in working for a major tech company, while others sought “to push for change from within.”Belce Dogru, who graduated from Stanford with a degree in computer science last year and is completing a master’s program at the university, said: “There has definitely been a shift in conversation on campus.”Stanford is the second-biggest feeder school for jobs in Silicon Valley, according to data from HiringSolved, a software company focused on recruiting. Some companies pay as much as $12,000 to advertise at the university’s computer science job fairs; recruiters at those events didn’t always have to make a hard sell. “It felt like in my freshman year Google, Palantir and Facebook were these shiny places everyone wanted to be. It was like, ‘Wow, you work at Facebook. You must be really smart,’” said Ms. Dogru, 23. “Now if a classmate tells me they’re joining Palantir or Facebook, there’s an awkward gap where they feel like they have to justify themselves.” Palantir, in particular, has drawn the ire of students at Stanford for providing services to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (also known as ICE). Last summer, a campus activist group, Students for the Liberation of All People, visited the company’s office, a 15-minute walk from campus, and hung a banner nearby that read: “Our software is so powerful it separates families.” Similar protests took place at the University of California, Berkeley, Brown and Yale, according to Recode. The protests, and the attitudes they reflected, were also covered in The Los Angeles Times.Audrey Steinkamp, a 19-year-old sophomore at Yale, which sends about 10 percent of each graduating class into tech, said that taking a job in Silicon Valley is seen as “selling out,” no different from the economics majors going into consulting who are “lovingly and not-so-lovingly called ‘snakes.’”That is especially true, some of the students said, when a classmate chooses to work for Facebook, whose products have spread disinformation and helped influence a presidential election.“The work you do at a place like Facebook could be harmful at a much larger scale than an investment bank,” Ms. Dogru said. “It’s in the pockets of millions of people, and it’s a source of news for millions of people. It’s working at a scary scale.”Many students still believe that technology can help change the world for good. As Ms. Glaser put it for Slate, some of them are opting out of the Big Tech pipeline and trying, instead, “to use technical skills as an insurance policy against dystopia.”“Students have an opportunity to look at where they can have the most impact that’s in line with their values,” said Leslie Miley, a former director of engineering at Google and Slack. “The fact of the matter is Google, Facebook, Twitter are not in line with those values because they’re huge companies beholden to a lot of different masters.”

Still Got That College Spirit

Anna Geiduschek, a software engineer who graduated from Stanford in 2014, was working at Dropbox last year when she received an email from an Amazon Web Services recruiter. She replied that she wouldn’t consider a job with the company unless Amazon cut its contract with Palantir.“These companies go out of their way to try and woo software engineers, and I realized it would send a powerful message for me as a potential employee to tell them no,” Ms. Geiduschek, 27, said, noting that top tech companies sometimes spend roughly $20,000 to recruit a single engineer. “You could basically cut them off at their supply.”Her recruiter responded: “Wow I honestly had no idea. I will run this up to leadership.” Days later, Ms. Geiduschek received another template email from an Amazon hiring manager, so she scheduled a call and aired her grievances by phone. Some engineers are sharing screenshots of their protest emails on Twitter with the hashtag #TechWontBuildIt. Jackie Luo, an engineer, sent an email to Google saying that she wouldn’t consider a job there given its plans to re-enter China with a censored search engine. Kelly Carter, a web developer, emailed a Tesla recruiter with her concerns about the company’s anti-union tactics. Craig Chasseur, a software engineer, emailed the H.R. department at Salesforce to critique the company’s contract with ICE.These protests echo mounting public concerns about the power of these corporations. But it’s not clear whether they have moved the needle for prospective hires. Former recruiters for Facebook told CNBC in May that the acceptance rate for full-time engineering job offers at the company had dropped precipitously, as much as 40 percent. After the article’s publication, Facebook disputed the figure; the company “regularly ranks high on industry lists of most attractive employers,” a spokesman said. Data published the same month by LinkedIn showed that tech firms continued to hire at high rates, especially for entry-level employees.But at campus career centers, students are struggling with the dual, and sometimes dueling, desires for prestige and purpose. “It started with millennials, but now Gen Z-ers are getting educated because they want to do good in the world,” said Sue Harbour, the senior associate director of the career center at the University of California, Berkeley, which is Silicon Valley’s top feeder, according to HiringSolved. “And as we’ve seen tech companies grow, we’ve also seen the need for more tech oriented to social responsibility.” Some recent graduates are taking their technical skills to smaller social impact groups instead of the biggest firms. Ms. Dogru said that some of her peers are pursuing jobs at start-ups focused on health, education and privacy. Ms. Harbour said Berkeley offers a networking event called Tech for Good, where alumni from purpose-driven groups like Code for America and Khan Academy share career opportunities. Ms. Geiduschek said she recently left Dropbox for Recidiviz, a nonprofit that builds technological tools for criminal justice reform.But those so-called passion jobs are more challenging to come by, according to Amy Binder, a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego, and the lead author of a 2015 paper about elite colleges “funneling” graduates into certain kinds of “prestigious” careers.“For other sectors like tech it’s easier to get on the conveyor belt and fill these positions,” Dr. Binder said. “I graduated from Stanford in the ’80s, and even back then there was talk on campus about people selling out and going to investment banks, but those jobs are still getting filled. The self-incrimination hasn’t stopped the juggernaut.”Dr. Binder said elite schools have long steered students toward certain “high-status” industries — the C.I.A. in the 1950s, finance and consulting in the aughts and tech today. It’s a “prestige system,” she said, that universities enable. “As tech firms get more negative reviews in the media and it becomes clear what their political toll can be, students may have more circumspection about taking these jobs,” she said. “At the same time, they’ll continue taking these jobs because of the security and reputation that comes with them. And universities will keep sponsoring all this recruitment.”

Good Luck Changing the Culture

For years, students were told they could tackle ethical concerns about technology from the inside, working within the mammoth structures of companies like Google. Ms. Stapleton said that was part of the company’s allure: its ostensible commitment to empowering even its youngest employees to weigh in on critical problems.She spent 12 years at Google and YouTube on various teams, including internal communications, where she wrote company talking points. Her weekly emails to staff, she said, were the stuff of corporate legend. At a 2012 all-hands, Larry Page, one of the company’s founders, called her onstage to celebrate her work as colleagues presented her with a wooden plaque that read: “The Bard of Google.”Then, in 2018, Ms. Stapleton helped organize a Google walkout, after reporting in The New York Times revealed that the company gave a $90 million severance package to the Android creator Andy Rubin, who was accused of sexual misconduct. Twenty-thousand workers left their desks in protest. Within six months, Ms. Stapleton said, she was demoted and pushed to resign. In December, she wrote about her experience in an essay for Elle. Google maintained that Ms. Stapleton was not sidelined for her role in the walkout. “We thank Claire for her work at Google and wish her all the best,” a Google spokesperson responded. “To reiterate, we don’t tolerate retaliation. Our employee relations team did a thorough investigation of her claims and found no evidence of retaliation. They found that Claire’s management team supported her contributions to our workplace, including awarding her their team Culture Award for her role in the Walkout.”But Ms. Stapleton said her story should give bright-eyed students pause about whether Big Tech and altruism are aligned.“I don’t know if Google can credibly sell young people on the promise of doing good in the world anymore,” she said. “That’s not to say there aren’t wonderful people there and interesting things to work on. But if you care about a company’s values, ethics and contributions to society, you should take your talents elsewhere.”Mr. Miley, who left Google in 2019, echoed her sentiment: “It’s hard to change a system from within when the system doesn’t think it needs to be changed.”A spokeswoman for Google said the company continues to see job application numbers grow annually, and noted that the practice of having employees raise concerns about policies, whether on data privacy or human rights reviews, is part of the corporate culture. The outside attention those concerns may draw is a reflection of Google’s growth and evolution from a search company to a larger entity with many products and services, the spokeswoman said. But even companies with a market cap of over $970 billion (Google’s parent company, Alphabet) or over $614 billion (Facebook) aren’t immune to the punches of potential talent. John Sullivan, a professor of management at San Francisco State University who also advises companies on recruitment, estimated that criticisms of Uber’s sexual harassment and discrimination policies cost the company roughly $100 million, largely because of talent lost to competitors.Sarah Soule, a professor and senior associate dean at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, said in an email that there is a long history of students protesting questionable corporate ethics, with several cases of protest directed toward recruiters, yielding powerful effects.Take the case of Dow Chemical Company, which in 1965 accepted a $5 million Department of Defense contract to manufacture the flammable gel napalm during the Vietnam War. When recruiters turned up at New York University, they were met with hundreds of angry student demonstrators, The Times reported.Brendon Sexton, the student government president at N.Y.U. at the time, demanded a moratorium on Dow’s campus recruitment efforts in 1968. “They don’t care that a sin is being committed here,” he told protesters near the job interview site. Public pressure continued to mount, fueled largely by young activists. The company halted its production of napalm a year later.Ms. Geiduschek said the behavior of tech companies is especially difficult to challenge because their products are ubiquitous.“It’s hard to avoid spending your money at Amazon. I sometimes do it, especially in that Christmas-season binge,” she said. “If you want to sway this company to do the right thing, you have to attack it at places that are higher leverage, where it hurts.” Read the full article

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theatreworksstkilda · 5 years

Text

So you want my arts job: General Manager

RICHARD WATTS from Arts Hub interviews TW GM Dianne

With over 25 years experience in the sector, why does Theatre Works' Dianne Toulson think the title 'General Manager' is outdated in the arts?

With extensive skill in theatre management and touring, Dianne joined the Theatre Works team in late 2017 with a deep understanding of Australia’s independent arts landscape.

Since her appointment as General Manager, Dianne’s highly motivated and dynamic leadership saw the successful delivery of an extensive 2018 season and the programming of 2019 and 2020 seasons alongside former Artistic Director, Bryce Ives. Currently conceptualising the future needs of the organisation with a passionate and visionary approach, Dianne continues to develop the important contribution that Theatre Works makes to the national arts ecology.

1) HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN WHAT YOU DO TO YOUR PARENTS?

I don’t think my parents have ever really understood what I do – the arts are so far removed from their reality. Growing up in the country, the focus was on 'practical' career opportunities; we were so under-exposed to culture, the arts and even human diversity.

My parents are very proud of my brothers – who took the 'practical' path – and so am I, but they are a bit unsure on how to outwardly articulate what I do. I did take them to a theatre show once... but it was the worst show! So I think I put them off!

But my career is only one part of me, so I think they look at everything else and I tick the boxes enough for them to be proud of me as a person, partner, mother, nana and a daughter.

2) HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN YOUR CAREER?

After spending many years being self-employed or working in corporate environments, I decided to have a gap year. In that time, I found a passion in producing events, festivals, exhibitions and connecting with artists and creatives in that environment. I felt renewed! I was inspired after seeing how my knowledge and support gave artists a platform, opportunity and of course, payment for what they do!

It suited me as I was my own boss and in control of what I did. Then one day, my new partner told me (nicely and with encouragement) to 'stop bumming around, get a real job and build a career'. So, I applied for the General Manager role at the Women’s Circus and got it!

3) WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT WORKING AS A GM IN THE THEATRE SECTOR?

The arts sector has come a long way since I started. In the 2000s, there was a glass ceiling for women, who were often employed in positions as General Manager, but realistically worked above and beyond their perceived role, regularly being the lynch pin for the company. At that time, there were mostly men in the CEO and Artistic Director positions – who were possibly doing far less than their General Manager. This has certainly shifted, to a point, but maybe not enough.

Since working in the NFP arts sector, and with organisations that have incredibly limited budgets, my knowledge and skills have grown exponentially. Maybe because under such restraints, you have to be hands-on and fill all the gaps, or indeed step up and lead. I am lucky to have extensive experience in business and financial management as well as learned and lived experience in creative producing and programming that I have gained over my arts career.

I also think the title of General Manager in the arts is outdated and undervalued.

4) WHY DO YOU THINK THAT?

If you look back at the history of artists banding together to create work, gathering momentum and evolving into a company (or form thereof), there is one constant stress: the pressure of seeking funding. To comply with funding requirements, administration became a necessity and General Managers were appointed as the top position in the arts organisation.

Then came the pressure to grow (or maybe just survive) and suddenly these companies required boards to help them jump on the funding treadmill and justify why their creative practice needs the bucks. Successful board composition was driven by funding requirements and the need for varied skills in governance, finance, philanthropy etc.

The influence of corporate practice steered companies towards a shift in titles. Larger organisations with complex operating requirements and structures needed a clear line of authority, and suddenly the title of GM shifted to CEO or Executive Director, despite responsibilities staying more-or-less the same.

The challenge here is that with these new titles comes an expectation of higher remuneration. A job advertised as GM is likely to be paid less – and for organisations with budget limitations, it’s the only way to attract candidates.

We’re starting to see a title shift across the arts, with more progressive thinking tied to an interrogation of practice and the contribution individuals make with their skills and experience.

But for now, the reality is, in small-to-medium not-fr-profit organisations, a GM generally does the same job as a CEO or Executive Director: running the main day-to-day business activities of a company.

5) IN AN INTERVIEW FOR YOUR JOB WHAT WOULD YOU BE LOOKING FOR?

I am only as good as my team. Collaboration within the team is vital to arts organisations. It can be challenging and hard work. So of course, capacity to communicate is the most vital piece of the puzzle for a GM. I believe every person brings their own element of experience and value to a role and that everyone is different.

When you walk a fine line of financial limitation within an organisation there needs to be a balance between artistic decisions and financial viability. This is a rare skill. The GM may not have final say on the artistic decisions; however, they are integral in the sign-off and the one left to manage the success or fallout.

Of course, lead by example, push the right people forward and step in front when you need to.

6) WHAT'S THE BEST THING HAPPENING IN THE SMALL TO MEDIUM SECTOR AT THE MOMENT?

There seems to be a lot of opportunities for professional development, mental health in the arts (so important) and vital supports for the future of the arts. My biggest concern is that the people who need to have these opportunities maybe aren’t getting them? The major, well-funded organisations are rolling out some great stuff but who are they including in the conversation in the first place?

Of course, the small to mediums and independents can access these initiatives if they have the time and resources. But do they? I know I need to go and knock on some doors to be involved, heard and considered in the conversation; I need to represent the artists and creatives that we work with and give them a voice.

Located in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, Theatre Works turns 40 in 2020. Learn how you can assist with the celebrations.

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