Being in business over the past three years for myself has been one of the biggest learning lessons I have ever had. I’ve discovered that this experience teaches you more about who you are and what type of people are in this world than any other life experience could teach. Over the past three years, I have had both good and bad experiences with people (more good of course!) and it never ceases to amaze me… some people just don’t know how to have, and cherish, an identity of their own.

Being a virtual assistant, I encounter a lot of these identity issues. There are virtual assistants in business who are not interested in growing partnerships and relationships. A lot of them just don’t know the best way to grow an identity of their own and separate themselves from the crowd. This is one of the reasons I started The VA Coach – I want to coach people not only to launch a successful virtual assistance business but also how to find their inner identity and run their businesses morally and ethically.

I have found that when someone in business does not have an identity, a strong base to stand on, they then break some of the most basic ethical codes. They take business from the people they know and work with, they copy what someone else is doing in their business, they speak unprofessionally about their colleagues and they go to great lengths to stand out of integrity. These people aren’t necessarily doing this out of maliciousness, I truly believe it’s because they haven’t figured out their own magic formula for success yet.

When you are a confident business person who is very sure of your identity, you tend to get clear and focused on what it is you want and then you go after that – in a very true and positive manner. You form friendships, relationships and bonds with people who have similar goals in mind and you form mutually beneficial partnerships. You are then able to bring things to your clients and your colleagues that you weren’t able to before. You start thinking of others before you think of yourself.

When you aren’t a confident business person and perhaps you may be a bit envious of someone else’s success, you can then find yourself acting in a way that isn’t true to who you are – isn’t true to your identity. When this happens, you aren’t able to feel good about yourself inside and therefore, that projects onto your business and how you interact with your clients and colleagues.

The best way to find out who you are and locate your identity is to start a gratitude journal. I have one and I write in it each day. Instead of focusing on the negative things that may come in and out of my business, I focus on the positive and I then generate more positive feelings for both myself and my clients. By looking at what you are grateful for, you’ll start to feel good about who you are which will then translate into you making others feel good.

Always remember, who you are today is a reflection of your past attitudes and behaviors. You can decide today, right now, to make a change and stand on your own Be true to yourself and success and the things you want in life will come easily to you.

– About the Author –

Erin Blaskie is the owner of Business Services, ETC (see the website). BSETC is a virtual assistance company that gives freedom to small business owners, coaches and speakers by managing the BS, etc.

– For More Information –

Erin has a blog located on the main page of her website in which she provides advice on small businesses and running a virtual assistance company. She has recently started a free bi-weekly telecall for virtual assistants where they can come together with other VAs and get support. You can find out more on this website .

– Copyright Information –

All rights reserved. This publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system or otherwise, unless this notification of copyright is retained.

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Tags: ethics, responsibility, legal issues, social , business

Two friends and colleagues of mine , Mark and Doug, recently retired from the active work force in the automotive sector of the economy. They were gainfully employed as field parts attendants (warehouse support staff) in a Service Parts Operation divisional warehouse setting for one of the Big Three automotive giants.

They started their careers back in the days when the market share prices for the stock were substantially higher and the future outlook of the company that employed them was not as dismal and bleak as it is today. At one time the shares had sold for over $120. A different story today as we are all painfully aware.

Mark began his career path after he graduated high school. He was 19 years old and began his work path as a janitorial staff member. Eventually he learned about an opening at the warehouse and was hired a few days after his employment interview. He knew he was a hard worker and believed at the time that his future at the company was assured. The automotive parts market in those days was booming and he faithfully invested a portion of his monthly salary into the optional employee stock saving program. He believed in supporting the company that supported him and his family.

The work was labor intensive and at times challenging but he loved the physical side of his job. Management at the time adopted an employee appreciation program. Another innovative tool the company used to foster employee suggestions was An Ideas For Excellence Program. Employees received financial rewards for their ideas if adopted by the company. The program meant to increase efficiency and address safety issues in the company. Mark frequently submitted ideas on how to improve the internal operations at the warehouse. His work was rewarding and management seemed to understand him and his needs on a personal level. He knew that he was more than just a number or lines on a graph.

Mark retired about one month ago. He received no financial incentive package to do so. He retired after 30 years of service and is almost 50 years old. Friends that know him say that his overall health has improved as well as his disposition. He has mellowed and is actively pursuing a new career.The internal political networks and the constant managerial harassment he faced daily at work have now been replaced by a gentler, more reasonable way to make a living. He was forced to sell his shares in the company at a substantial loss. He enjoyed his time at the company.

Doug , almost 60 years old, retired a few days ago and says that he is still in a state of culture shock. He reluctantly admits that yes, there is life after retiring from work. He has been with the company almost 35 years. He actively participated in the employee suggestion program and offered many valuable ideas on how to improve or enhance the company’s performance He took an active role in the well being and safety of the warehouse and its employees.

He worked in the dealership returns section of the warehouse and examined the resale potential of the parts the dealership’s returned for credit. Over the years he was able to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the dealer returns section in the warehouse. He too invested in the employee stock option and suggestion programs. He proudly labeled himself as being a company man. He believed in the company and enjoyed his time working there. He received no bonus for retiring.

He too noticed over the years the decline in the quality of employee morale and active participation in warehouse events and the increase in the amount of scrutiny the company was placing on each and every employee. Production rates and employee performance charts and flow sheets were generated daily. The creation of a production meeting place, called The Wall, attempted to indoctrinate each employee into blindly accepting corporate values and ideals. With the recent economic downturn the amount of managerial badgering and nitpicking increased as mid level managers tried to justify their jobs and salaries.

Three other employees also retired in late 2008. One was a female self appointed executive secretary and two were male shift supervisors. All had the requisite 30 years of service in the company. All received a $75 thousand retirement incentive package for their efforts. This fact stunned and angered a number of employees at the facility. They saw it as good money spent badly. The company was viewed as being penny wise but dollar foolish. Were the employees in question really worth the money spent or was this fiasco part of an old boys network attempting to cover up loose ends and by retiring these people make way for other employees eager to move up the corporate ladder?

Many of my fellow employees as well as myself are approaching the retirement year plateau. Many are awaiting for a package deal that will encourage them to retire and call it quits. The packaged incentive plans seem to be destined for upper managerial types and not the lower level grunt workers. The rumors are running rampant in the warehouse as to who will be the next person to retire. Speculation and low level hysteria and paranoia run rampant on the workplace floor.

When an employee faces a forced retirement situation what should a person do to cover his assets? Is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush? Is it better to forgo that 30 year retirement deadline and take any amount of monetary award the company offers you or should you bravely go about your job and hope that things will turn out for the best?

The going rate for forced retirements these days expressed in the press has been pegged at roughly $20 thousand dollars and a new car employee purchase allowance of $25 thousand as ballpark figures. But then again that is only for unionized employees and not the non unionized salaried staff working in the regional offices and distribution centers.

Each person facing this career decision must decide for him and herself the benefits and the rewards that accepting such an incentive package will offer. The rest of us will anxiously wait for the market and governmental forces to decide where we fit in the whole scheme of things. Only the passage of time will let each employee know if he/she made the right decision for themselves and their family and their financial futures.

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Gerry Charbonneau – EzineArticles Expert Author

Tags: ethics, responsibility, legal issues, social , business

In modern corporations responsibility for actions become easily diffused so that “the individual often becomes disconnected from the consequences of his or her actions and doesn’t feel personally responsible for them” (Trevino and Nelson, 2005, p. 181). There are many reasons why responsibility is easily diffused in modern organizations including the fact that management may tell individuals it is not their responsibility and that they will take care of it, because it is often “shared with others in decision-making groups, obscured by the organizational hierarchy, or diluted by psychological distance to potential victims” who will suffer the consequences of the actions (p. 181).

Many organizations have faced downsizing in recent years. Many of these examples can be used as an example of how responsibility for negative actions can be dispersed within an organization. For many years, I was a manager of an international training team for a large pharmaceutical company. Because of budget constraints it was decided that my team would have to be downsized. While our team was based in Europe and the Middle East, the world wide headquarters of the organization was based in New York City. It was determined that the decision of who would be cut from the team would be made with input from myself, the senior leaders of the training group, HR and senior managers of the region. I was the only individual who knew these individuals on a personal basis. All the others only knew them from a distance as they were each based in New York City.

As their immediate manager and because I lived in Europe and worked with them on a daily basis, I was asked to provide my recommendations of who should be let go based on performance and capabilities. I gave this decision a lot of thought knowing that I would have to justify the decision. I sent my recommendation to my manager in New York, based past performance reviews, feedback from the business partners who worked daily with the individuals, and the level of commitment and performance they had demonstrated. To my surprise, the final decision came back to let two of the individuals go that I had recommended to keep. In the end, the group making the decision also included information such as salary level, expense of keeping individuals in certain countries etc…

The recommendations I made went ignored. In addition, the team decided that each individual would be notified by email. In addition, the top performer of my team, a Turkish citizen living in Brussels would be repatriated to Turkey for several months and then let go. I soon discovered that because Turkey had no law that required a severance payment to be made, unlike the European Union, which required a large severance to be paid to each individual. When I protested about the decision criteria, each individual on the team claimed they made the decision as a team using guidance from other groups within the company. No one would take responsibility for the decision because the responsibility had been diffused to other team members and procedures made by other departments higher in the company. In addition, all the other decision makers where both physically and emotionally detached from the individuals affected by their decision, so they felt no emotional connection to them.

The only explanation that I was given was that this decision was made based on which what would be best for the largest amount of people. They were using consequentialist thinking to make their decision, claiming that the team could run more economically with the people who were to stay irregardless of the fact that two of the best people would be let go and the Turkish citizen would not be allowed a severance package like the European team members would receive. Because this decision was seen as unjust and severely damaging to the most capable of team members, me and several other team members soon left the company. Training suffered and they were unable to recruit other training professionals from within the company. While no one individual took ultimate responsibility the consequence to the department was devastating and long lasting References:

Trevino, L., and Nelson, K., (2005). Corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached programs including; Change Leadership, Coaching, Communication Skills, Sustaining Learning, Interviewing Skills, Leadership, Territory Management for dozens of leading global organizations; including, Advantis Research and Consulting, IMS, CMOE, Pfizer, Sinclair, Disetronic Medical Systems, StratX, ASTD, Coventry Health Care, Wilson Learning, and many others. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish.

Prior to founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James headed Pfizer’s Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees.

Visit James website to learn how we can you with your leadership and communication development needs.

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Tags: Ethics, Responsibility, legal issues, social , business