Listen on Public Radio

Monday - 7:19am
Saturday - 8:19am

88.9FM WCVE, Richmond, VA
89.1FM WCNV, Heathsville, VA
90.1FM WMVE, Chase City, VA

Previous MindShifts
MindShift Resources
Executive Coaching

Let's connect...

One-click to opt-in to this nonsense newsletter

One-click to share this nonsense newsletter

One-click to opt-out of this nonsense newsletter

PRIVACY PROMISE
Would I share your email address with others?
Of course not!
I want my email to be the only nonsense you get.

REPRINT PERMISSION
You have my permission to use this newsletter as you see fit - in your publication, on your blog or in your own newsletter. All I ask, no, insist on, is that you please credit James Henry McIntosh as the author and that you provide a link to www.nonsenseatwork.com.
Fair enough?

Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by James Henry McIntosh.
©2010 James Henry McIntosh.
All rights reserved.

Efficient promise asleep to life

Can efficiency cost too much? You decide:

In 2004, the FAA reduced the number air traffic controllers in the name of efficiency. In August 2006 a plane crashed while attempting to take off from a runway that was too short – there was only one controller, performing both tower and radar duties. In March 2011, two planes landed safely at Reagan National Airport after they were unable to reach anyone in the control tower. These are two examples of many near misses and a few fatal ones.

In March, 2005, there was an explosion at BP's Texas City Refinery. BP had failed to implement many safety recommendations made before the blast. Five years later came the Gulf oil spill. Guess what? BP had made a series of money-saving shortcuts that increased risk and danger just six days before the explosion.

But, hey, at least they were saving money by being really efficient. Are you? (Before you answer, consider Easter eggs.)

Beware the not quite empty promise

In many cultures the egg represents new life, rebirth and Spring. Over the years this symbol of promise has become a little tainted, at least for me. Blame it on Easter eggs.

The Easter eggs of my early years had substance. They were stuffed with a sweet filling, stuff you could bite into, stuff you could chomp on. But during my sensitive teen years I discovered the trick Easter egg – all shell and no substance.

I love chocolate, which is why I was seduced by the shell. But the shock of it – biting into thin air!

So began my decline into a cynical adulthood. Thanks to those empty symbols of fake fertility I am perpetually suspicious of anything too nicely wrapped. To this day I remain on guard against the latest sugar-coated ball of air, the not quite empty promise.

Asleep to better outcomes

Life on hold

Let’s talk about saving lives. Imagine you are serving a life sentence in jail. After 27 years, you are offered your freedom. What will you do, accept or refuse?

For many of us this is a nonsensical question. Not so to Nelson Mandela. After almost 27 years, the South African government was ready to release him. But he refused to go because he wasn’t ready.

Sadly, we ‘normal’ people grab at little bits of freedom and stay locked up in a prison of our own making. Like many prisoners, we do what we are told to do without understanding anymore what really matters to us. We know instinctively what we are against (being locked up), without having any idea of what we are for (what to do with our freedom).

After 27 years Nelson Mandela was still very clear what he stood for. That’s why he could delay his freedom until the right moment. Could you?

∞

Make me an empty promise.
Click here to offer me a no-strings double espresso

Welcome to our side of the nonsense divide

Attraversiamo