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- Salty Ginger Talk Newsletter
Our take: This is exactly what the headline suggests it is. Brew your dirty underwear in a hotel coffeemaker to clean them. Uh – no. Just no. We suggest you walk down the street to the local barista on your next hotel stay in case someone has actually taken this advice.
COURTESY: MSN
An Iowa Congressman took donations from Chinese companies buying American farmland while campaigning against Chinese farmland ownership
Our take: Randy Feenstra has long publicly been opposed to the Chinese acquisition of American farmland. He stated that position as a congressman and has continued to do so in his run for Governor of Iowa. One problem, though. His position is bullshit. While claiming to oppose the issue publicly, his campaign has taken tens of thousands of dollars from Chinese companies looking to buy American farmland.
Oops. I guess he didn’t realize his campaign donations were public knowledge. As Andrew Carnegie said – Don’t listen to what people say, just watch what they do.
COURTESY: MSN
The man who was twice arrested for criticizing local police and the mayor wins a court victory
Our take: This is a great example of government overreach. Noah Petersen did not like the police department in his town. He went to the city council to express his views. When he tried to do so, the Mayor interrupted him during his 3 minutes of time, demanded he shut up, and told the sheriff to remove Petersen. Petersen was not only removed but also arrested for disorderly conduct. Three weeks later, the same thing happened.
Petersen faced a court hearing on the first incident, where he was acquitted. The city dropped the charges for the second incident, but Petersen filed suit for the sheriff and mayor for violating his rights under the First, Fourth, and 14th amendments. Petersen won a resounding judgment in his civil rights case.
Two things to mention here. First, I personally disagree with many of Mr. Petersen’s viewpoints. That is very different than fully supporting his rights to express his viewpoint and criticize the government, which I do wholeheartedly. Second, we need more people to stand up for themselves when the government violates their rights. It happens much more frequently than we would like to admit. Kudos to Petersen for standing up for himself!
COURTESY: MSN
Tip of the day – How to approach difficult conversations
Find The Path To Action
The ultimate goal of dialogue isn’t just to create a healthy climate or even a clear understanding between parties. While both are helpful, they fall short of the real purpose: To get unstuck and take appropriate action.
Without action, all the healthy talk in the world is for nothing and will eventually lead to disappointment and hard feelings.
To take action, always mutually agree on when and how follow-ups will take place. It could be a simple email confirming action by a certain date. It could be a full report in a team meeting. Or it could be a follow-up conversation.
Regardless of how or how often you do it, you need a follow-up to create ongoing productive action. By collaborating on this (rather than you dictating how it’ll happen), the chances of follow-through are much greater.
Also, document your work. Effective teams and healthy relationships are supported by records of the important decisions made and the assignments agreed upon. These documents are revisited to follow up on both the decisions and the commitments when someone fails to keep a commitment, and candidly and directly discuss the issue with them.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Many people are so poor because the only thing they have is money.” – John Spence