Charles R. Domeck

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Chuck Domeck on September 10, 2010:

"Possibly valid research" showing that making cell phone calls while smoking and driving alone in a car might make you as "distracted" a driver as one driving while intoxicated with alcohol or taking social drugs? I believe Grandpa Gillow knew that. Note: I firmly believe cell phones are a great security guard for females over ten years of age. However, by December 26, 2001, Ohio traffiic laws should require "hands-free" installations of cell phones in cars." My understanding is that now in the USA almost 60% of cell phone calls involve a moving vehicle. How about sensible, available natural foods for most meals? Did our parents ever buy hydrogenated corn oil? Was sugar ("white poison") ever the largest ingredient in anything except candy? Now we find out how smart our Catholic friends are to avoid meat, and eat real fish on Fridays! Grabit #8. Form and keep your own personal "B" squad! Update your squad(s) as necessary as your life changes drastically (Your reliable employer, Hafa. International, goes close to bankruptcy-you are one of the 95% of employees given a 10-day termination notice; you or your spouse are in upper-middle management of your trustworthy corp. The VP comes in with "really good news for you-the fast- tracker... Sarah, the head of the Giessen, Germany plant has been in a tragic auto accident on the autobahn... Heidelberg Hospital medical head says, "At best Sarah's recovery and return to work will be 11 to 14 months." We know how much you want stability for your kids in their fine schools. Bottom line is: You go to Heidelberg next Monday. Your family stays here...this is the big break we have been grooming you for...call me anytime you need my help...etc.) Post script I hope the preceding has been of some interest to you. It has been easier than I thought it would be. Of course most of you know how much I enjoy hearing myself talk! I am sure my home computer has made it a lot easier to get something down when the spirit moved me. I have a few extra copies already in case someone would like one. The "ask 3 questions" from up front comes from a proven management technique. When you need to know what is going on, ask the responsible person three questions. Make the first one the easiest question to answer. Make sure that questions two and three are each harder, and cannot be answered with a Yes or No. Once you have established this as a common management technique, your group should get better prepared to answer penetrating questions. At Toledo Edison we learned Focused Selection Interviewing, a program that had been developed by Xerox. Some place along the line I picked up the following technique for the interviewee. At some point the objective is for the interviewee to gain control of the interview. Again, prior preparation of three questions is useful. Start with the easiest question, but do not let the interviewer take back control after the first answer. The sequence might be as follows: (question one) How long will it normally be before I am given additional technical and management training? (question two) Can you briefly discuss the scope and duration of these courses? (question three) Can you arrange before I leave today for me to meet briefly talk with a recent graduate of these courses? Do not hold your breath waiting for a similar tome about my life since 1968. That has been more conventional, although the moves have been frequent. I am convinced that for whatever reasons, I was not completely prepared for some situations I found myself in. For example, I found in New Jersey that I was working for a supervisor that openly lied to his boss and to all of us who worked under him. Fortunately I was able to escape to a good job in Florida. The guy who lived by the sword lost his supervisors job not too long after I left New Jersey.

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