The power of Accountability, Achievement and Association

We have all heard the saving the truth shall set you free.

This has been an interesting week. Was in a conversation with a friend who told me they are doing work which they believe is beneath them. I shared that there is no such thing as honest work that is beneath you and shared that almost 15 years ago I worked a part time and even cleaned toilets to pay bills as a degreed engineer and that my mother who was a certified and licensed teacher used to clean building with my grandmother to earn extra money to make up the difference. So often we place value on the wrong things and I believe we should be humble enough to appreciate the fact we have our health and the ability to do any work. While I hate this recession I think if we as a society relearn that simple truth we would have made much progress because the obsession with easy money or finding new ways to exploit instead of serve (greed) is much of the reason for our current dilemma. We have lost sight of some important core characteristics:

• Fidelity
• Respect (of self and others)
• Integrity
• Self control
• Diligence
• Accountability
• Patience
• Empathy
• Courage
• Scholarship
• Self Sacrifice

Today I was getting gas and spent about an hour talking to a young man who was telling me how his girlfriend committed suicide yesterday and how he had to cut her down.

He told me about the note they found of how life was no longer fun. He also told me about how for $200 and some change the Doctor cut her off from her medicine. This made this think about how important the quality of the people we associate with are and how they can literally mean the difference between life and death.

What are the characteristics of the people you associate with and do they challenge you to reach your potential or do they enable your continued dysfunction. Do you associate with people who work to create mutually beneficial relationships or people who look to exploit you for their own gain at your expense.

He recanted how she was tired in her notes and how life was no longer fun, there was no joy in life. She had what many consider the american dream her own house, a good job, and could do what she wanted and yet that was not enough so what was missing?

Also, to a lessor degree can some of what we see here be attributed to why some people succeed and others continue of paths of self destructive behaviors?

On Emotional Maturity & Emotional Intelligence some topics mentioned for discussion are:

• Are you mature?
• Your relationships reflect your maturity
• Are you Emotionally Mature?
• Emotional Maturity & Relationships
• Youth Fades ... Immaturity Lingers
• Emotional Control & Expression

the part I like the best because it ties back to business is

Maturity & Leadership

Leadership is more than a desire to delegate tasks. If your confidence provides orientation for unconfident followers, and if your decisions are beneficial, you will be respected. Soulwork coaching can help you accomplish family, team or organizational goals. Soulwork can help you:

1. maintain a clear vision that encourages people to align with you
2. create an environment where people want to be responsible
3. clearly describe what is necessary for quality performance
4. transfer responsibility to the people who do the work
5. develop individual capability and competence
6. set an example and challenge people to continually learn

Pardon the rambling but here are the questions:

• how have your relationships past and present affected the current quality of your life and are they moving your closer to or further away from your goals?
• Are you better off long term from having known this person?
• Are they better off long term from having known you?
• Have the quality of their life or business improved from having associated with you and visa versa?
• When setting your goals since you cannot achieve them alone have you answered the WIFM question with regards to how it will affect others?

I will leave you with these thoughts:

• Personal: Characteristics of Healthy Relationships
• Business: 8 characteristics of ideal business partners
• Food for thought: Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur

What do you think?

Born 1930-1979 (humor - food for thought)

To Those of You Born 1930 - 1979

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K..

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

Tuskegee Choir Christmas Concert and Calendar

Hello Alumnus/a:

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

The Tuskegee University Golden Voices Concert Choir’s annual Christmas Concert will be presented on Sunday, December 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the University Chapel. Admission is free.

Other University Choir and music events for the 2009-2010 academic year include:

Wednesday, December 9, 12:00N Wayne Barr, Organ Recital Montgomery, AL

Church of the Ascension

*Saturday, December 19 to Wednesday, January 6 Spain-Portugal-Italy Tour

Sunday, January 17, 2010 TU-Morehouse-Spelman Concert Columbus, GA

Friday, January 22, 7:00 p.m. Annual Gospel Concert University Chapel

Saturday, February 6 Concert in Talladega, AL

Sunday, February 14, 4:00 p.m.Annual Spirituals Concert University Chapel

Sunday, February 21, 3:00 p.m.Beulah Baptist Church Montgomery, AL

Saturday, February 27 to Thursday, March 4 Choir Tour Atlanta and Augusta, GA; Raleigh, NC; Hardy and Roanoke, VA

Sunday, March 28, 4:00 p.m. Wayne Barr, Organ Recital University Chapel

Saturday, April 10, 1:00 p.m. Dawson Institute lecture University Chapel

Dr. Roland M. Carter, Lecturer

Saturday, April 10, 7:00 p.m. Dawson Institute Concert “Chappie” James Arena

Dr. Roland M. Carter, Guest Conductor

*The Spain-Portugal-Italy tour is a cultural ambassador tour organized by the Jubilate Arts organization of Florida. Nineteen students, Ms. Lynda Garcia and Dr. Wayne Barr will be a part of this tour.

Thank you.

Wayne A. Barr, D.M.A.

Director of Choral Activities

University Chapel

67 Tuskegee University, Suite 2

Tuskegee, Alabama 36088

Office: (334) 727-8394

Fax: (334) 724-4655

E-mail: wabarr@tuskegee.edu

Web Sites: www.tuskegee.edu

www.tuskegeechoir.org

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of November 23, 2009

C.W. Copeland & Associates presents

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of November 23, 2009

_______________________________________________________________________________

Quote of the week."The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life."- Mark Twain

Consumer prices rise 0.3%.October Labor Department data shows CPI up 0.3% and core CPI up 0.2%. Overall consumer prices are down 0.2% across the past 12 months of data, but core CPI (minus food and energy prices) has gone up 1.7% in that stretch.¹

Producer prices follow suit. PPI rose 0.3% in October, while core PPI (factoring out food and fuel) dropped 0.6%. Core PPI only rose 0.7% in the last 12 months, the smallest gain since March 2003-2004.²

Leading indicators keep climbing.The 0.3% October gain in the Conference Board index marks the seventh straight monthly advance. Six of ten indicators were positive, including jobless claims, interest rate spread and consumer goods orders.³

Retail sales & inventories fall.In September, inventories shrank by 0.4% ... but sales slipped by 0.3% as well. Commerce Department estimates did show auto dealers replenishing inventories.⁴

So do housing starts & permits. Construction starts dropped 10.6% last month, and permits 4.0% (maybe attributable to the presumed-expiring tax credit for buyers). The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that 14.41% of home loans were 30 days past due or in foreclosure at the end of 3Q 2009.^5,6

DJIA rides 3-week winning streak.Last week, it advanced 0.46%, closing Friday at 10,318.16. The NASDAQ lost a little ground on the week (-1.01% to 2,146.04), as did the S&P 500 (-0.19% to 1,091.38). Oil futures ended the week at $76.72 a barrel, and gold futures settled at $1,146.40 per ounce Friday.⁷

% Change	Y-T-D	1-Yr Chg	5-Yr Avg	10-Yr Avg
DJIA	+17.57	+36.62	-0.27	-0.62
NASDAQ	+36.08	+63.06	+0.73	-3.63
S&P 500	+20.83	+45.05	-1.35	-2.33
Real Yield	11/20	1 Yr Ago	5 Yrs Ago	10 Yrs Ago
10YrTIPS	1.21%	3.06%	1.67%	4.14%

(Source: CNNMoney.com, ustreas.gov, bls.gov, 11/20/09)^8,9,10

Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends.

Riddle of the week.A mall parking lot has 1,000 parking spaces, and 40% of them are for compact cars. This morning, there are 200 compact cars and some standard-size cars in the lot, which is 75% full. How many standard-size cars are in the lot?

Contact my office or see next week's Update for the answer.

Last week's riddle: Only one bachelor has served as President of the United States. Additionally, only one President has entered office having been legally divorced. Who were these two Presidents?

Last week's riddle answer:James Buchanan was a bachelor, and Ronald Reagan had been divorced.

___________________________________________________________________

Please feel free to forward this article to family, friends or colleagues.

If you would like us to add them to our list, please reply with their address
and we will contact them and ask for their permission to be added.

Regards,

C.W. Copeland
"Your Personal CFO"
404.567.3275 (cell)
www.PhDinMoney.com

Perception and decision making

Have been in a few discussion on innovation as well as watching some shows. One of the shows I watched Kamen Rider Dragon Knight - which is a variant of the original Kamen (Masked) Rider Ryuki. While it is an adaptation the American version aside from costumes, props and some (not all) characters actually shares little with the original but the special effects are way better. The assumption for some would be same show so aside from English must be the same right - this is an example of a perception that if we do not verify we wrongly assume an incorrect premise to be accurate when it is in fact false.

Do our perceptions and preconceived motions affect our decision making:

• Are we aware of how they affect us?
• Can our short term decisions have long term ramifications?
• If we qualify the criteria used to make a decision do our biases cause us to make better or worse quality choices?
• If our goal is fun and entertain or dazzle and spectacle can that cause us to make choices and pick items that in truth are less effective than if we make objective quantified decisions based solely on empirical fact?
• If our motivation is merely short term in nature can that cause us to make decision and choices which are strategically bad for us in the long term?

The million dollar questions:

• How does perception affect the quality of your decision making process?
• Are you aware of the affects your biases have on your decision make processes?
• Can this bias cause you to make emotional vs strategic choices?
• Can this bias cause you to pursue self destructive goals believing they are productive?

What are your thoughts?

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