Black In Business

I got 2 more votes yesterday for 11 totals. The votes for best business blog were given to me by the distinguished Ted Demopoulos, The King of. Blogging. Ted is a big time guy and I am proud to have his vote. Another heavy gave me a vote, Manchild, read his bio and you will see what I mean. Now that I have 11, I wonder if 15 is possible? Just click on the stamp and follow the instructions. By the way I got no additional votes for best looking!

Yesterday I posted about being a manager for the first time. I referred to being a black manager of a all white team. The experience I entered into could be similar for a woman manager on a all male team, a young manager, a gay manager, a obese manager,ect. The point is what worked for me could work for many.
I wrote about my first team meeting. I traveled a lot with my salesmen and my objective was to get to know them and to exhibit I was of value to them. It was important for my team to see me as a person and to feel comfortable with me. I wanted to have fun at work and wanted my guys to have fun and be productive as well.
I entered business when managing by intimidation was in vogue. I had the advantage of having worked for managers who only goal in life was to make people miserable. My goal was to “Do onto others as you would have them do on to you.” I wanted my people to feel respected and cared about.
It was weird at first to be the boss. I wanted people to like me but mostly I wanted to be a success. I was the first black sales manager in the division’s history and felt that if I failed, there would be no more black managers. It was a burden I accepted, I had confidence I would succeed.
I spent a lot of time speaking small talk, my guys taught me the importance of St. Patrick’s Day, introduced me to Bruce Springsteen music. I turned them onto Louis Farrakhan and showed how he and Ronald Reagan had similar views on many things. I had my team understand the importance of diversity as we became 40% black and improved performance
I understood why each of my people went to work and what they wanted out of life. I had action plan for each person and would tied their business objectives into personal goals. If someone wanted to buy a home, we would put together a plan to earn the bonus needed to earn the down payment. It was about team success but individual reward.
I prided myself in helping my people get promoted. I made sure their talents were recognized and that we had development plans to improve weakness. In 4 years I had two people quit but only one that I felt I did not reach and make better.
In closing, for a new manager, be of value, understands the goals of your people, reward performance, have fun and treat people with respect. A key to our winning was building a diverse team of winners and respecting each others cultures. My next post we be on building team.

I am happy to have been nominated as best business blog. I need more votes; I have received 9 votes which puts me in the top 20. That is cool but I have more than 9 people in my family. Will somebody help me get to double digits?10 would be cool and 19 even better. Just click on the stamp found in the upper right hand of this blog and vote for me. Thanks, I have received several other nominations, best corporate, best political, best success and best looking. Well I am joking about best looking.
Speaking of business, I read YBP and find many of the issues today are the same as when I started in business. I titled this, “Guess Who’s coming to manage,” After the movie, “Guess Who’s coming to dinner.” In the movie a young white coed fell in love with a Blackman and was bring him home to meet her parents.
As a rookie manager responsible for an all white team that included several former military officers and a third of the team much older, I was worried about being accepted. Young black professionals may have those same doubts today. I over time won the team over and we kicked butt with style and attitude. Here is what I did.
1. I met as a team and reviewed why I would be a good leader. I showed my pass success, my expectations of them, and what they would receive from me in return. I asked for their input and I listened. I listened to the group and later as individuals.
2. I shared my vision and provided a theme we all could identify with. It was an Olympic year and we decided to have a Olympics competition with gold, silver and bronze metals. We picked a goal as a team to penetrate high margin products. We had an area of focus and my team helped put the competition and help to decide the prizes.
3. I helped the team meat their territory goals by field traveling to accounts. I earned respect because I left the office and exhibited I was good with customers.
4. I provide feed back in writing and in a timely manner. I coached them to become better and more successful.
5. We celebrated a lot. Most managers are taught to find something wrong and fix it. I wanted to find a lot right first and celebrate it. Then we would build the team self esteem, so when there was something to address from an improvement standpoint, my guys would be open to listening and wanting to improve

I will have more on this in later post but these 5 helped me to establish myself as a leader and manager and get beyond the “Guess who’s coming to manage,” stress. I would love to hear how you have handled a similar situation.

In a surprising announcement given the President’s track record as a citizen of the world, George W Bush outlined US sanctions against Sudan. I am amazed but glad to see the US take this action. Perhaps Bush has learned from the midterm elections to listen more.
Many people have spoken of the genocide in Darfur. Recently , I posted about this topic and asked, George Bush, What you going to do. To find out see the statement from President Bush that was released from the White House.

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Good morning. For too long, the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians. My administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide. The world has a responsibility to help put an end to it.

Last month I announced that the United States was prepared to take new steps if the government of Sudan did not allow the full deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force; if the government did not begin living up to its many commitments, that the United States would act. I made clear that the time for promises was over, and that President Bashir had to do something to end the suffering.

I held off implementing these steps because the United Nations believed that President Bashir could meet his obligations to stop the killing, and would meet his obligations to stop the killing. Unfortunately, he hasn’t met those obligations. President Bashir’s actions over the past few weeks follow a long pattern of promising cooperation while finding new methods for obstruction.

One day after I spoke, the military bombed a meeting of rebel commanders designed to discuss a possible peace deal with the government. In following weeks, he used his army and government-sponsored militias to attack rebels and civilians in South Darfur. He’s taken no steps to disarm these militias in the year since the Darfur peace agreement was signed. Senior officials continue to oppose the deployment of the U.N. peacekeeping force.

The result is that the dire security situation on the ground in Darfur has not changed. And so today, at my instruction, the United States has taken the steps I announced in April. First, the Department of Treasury is tightening U.S. economic sanctions on Sudan. With this new effort, the United States will more aggressively enforce existing sanctions against Sudan’s government.

As part of this effort, the Treasury Department will add 30 companies owned or controlled by the government of Sudan to its list of Specially Designated Nationals. We’re also adding an additional company to the list, a company that has been transporting weapons to the Sudanese government and militia forces in Darfur. All these companies are now barred from the U.S. financial system. It is a crime for American companies and individuals to knowingly do business with them.

Second, we’re targeting sanctions against individuals responsible for violence. These sanctions will isolate these persons by cutting them off from the U.S. financial system, barring them from doing business with any American citizen or company, and calling the world’s attention to their crimes.

Third, I’m directing the Secretary of State to consult with the United Kingdom and other allies on a new United Nations Security Council resolution. This resolution will apply new sanctions against the government of Sudan, against individuals found to be violating human rights or obstructing the peace process. It will impose an expanded embargo on arms sales to the government of Sudan. It will prohibit the Sudanese government from conducting any offensive military flights over Darfur. It will strengthen our ability to monitor and report any violations.

At the same time, we will continue to push for U.N. support, including funding for the African Union peacekeepers who remain the only force in Darfur that is protecting the people. We will continue to work for the deployment of a larger hybrid force of AU and U.N. peacekeeping troops. We will continue to support the diplomacy of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. We will continue to insist on the full implementation of the Darfur peace agreement. We will continue to promote a broadly supported and inclusive political settlement that is the only long-term solution to the crisis in Darfur.

America’s commitment is clear. Since this conflict began we have provided more than $1.7 billion in humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance for Darfur. We are the world’s largest single donor to the people of Darfur. We’re working for the day when the families of this troubled region are allowed to return safely to their homes and rebuild their lives in peace.

The people of Darfur are crying out for help, and they deserve it. I urge the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, and all members of the international community to reject any efforts to obstruct implementation of the agreements that would bring peace to Darfur and Sudan.

I call on President Bashir to stop his obstruction, and to allow the peacekeepers in, and to end the campaign of violence that continues to target innocent men, women and children. And I promise this to the people of Darfur: The United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world.

Thank you very much.

I loved today’s post from the Field Negro. Field Negro is a Lawyer from PA, and he is profound. I have wonder why so many of the brothers and sisters are in denial about their being on the slave ship I often use Colin Powell as an example as being in a big position but at the end of the day he found out that as a nword, his opinion did not count. Field Negro uses the same example.

Field Negro does a great job pointing out how we all still have the whip on our ass. My old company has been suffering for years, and the people have been poorly treated and yet many of the house negros try to pretend the whip is not there. They think white folk in the company like them, that they are part of the family. It is sad, white folk in the company are bitching like crazy, yet most of the brothers say all is well. They better or they will get the whip. I am sadden by it all because I was whipped as well.

What do we do? All ways keep you options open. Expect any day you could be fired. Make sure you save money. Never let your self be comfortable.Make sure your mentors are black. This is not to say, do not get advice from Whites, but never ask a white person to mentor you, unless you have known them for decades and trust them . If not you will be subjected to sharing yourself with someone that may despise most black folk. That is why we must help each other. Check out Field Negro!

Last hired, first fired, It is Justice that’s right Just Us. We still must find a way to be the best in the world at what we do to help close the gap of less income. It is about us, this is potentiality bad news for blackmen if we let it be.Find something you enjoy and have a talent for and then inspire yourself to be the best in the world. We do not have to be poor.

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Annual income of men declines
Median pay is found to be less than in ‘74
Associated Press
May 26, 2007

WASHINGTON — The part of the American dream that says a man’s children will be better off than he was has become a dream, not reality, according to an analysis of census data released yesterday.
A generation ago, American men in their 30s had median annual incomes of about $40,000 compared with men of the same age, who now make about $35,000 a year, adjusted for inflation.

That’s a 12.5 percent drop between 1974 and 2004, according to an analysis of data by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project.

To be sure, household incomes rose during the same period, although the analysis attributed most of the gain to more full-time working women. While income is not the only measure of economic mobility, the findings challenge the historical presumption that each successive generation will be wealthier, said John E. Morton, the report’s co-author.

“[The] data suggest that during a 30-year period of economic expansion, a rising tide did not lift all boats,” Morton said in a release accompanying the report, “Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?”

Of course, the men who run American companies don’t have too much to complain about. CEO pay increased to 262 times the average worker’s pay in 2005 from 35 times in 1978, according to the report’s analysis of Congressional Budget Office statistics.

The pay gap between executives and the average worker continues to fuel outrage on Capitol Hill and among corporate shareholders nationwide.

Many shareholder proposals to tie executive pay to a company’s operating or market performance are introduced at corporate annual meetings every year.

Most Democrats favor giving shareholders at public corporations a voice in executive pay packages, while the White House and many Republicans favor a laissez-faire approach that includes regulators ensuring executive pay is transparent to workers and investors.

The Pew report also found U.S. economic mobility was inferior to that of other countries, including Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, Sweden, Germany and France, when measured by the income differences between generations.

Over the next 18 months, the Pew project, which started in February, will continue to unveil analyses of economic mobility data.

Planned releases include a fact book containing mobility comparisons by race, gender, immigration and other measures, and an analysis of the impact of shifting federal investments in education and other domestic policies.