blogging101 – Success Strategies

One Love: The Challenge..The Meaning

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One Love is universal. My perspective ….curled up on an island with a good book. Can’t help but to think of the legendary Bob Marley’s song …One Love.

Weekly photo challenge <a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/one-love/”>One Love</a>

Take the Leap

The challenges of life can often be scarey. But you know what’s worse? Not having tried at all. Today, let’s be encouraged to take the leap! Go after your dreams! Goals! Aspirations! Whichever way, you will be a success for having tried.

Go ahead….leap!

Survive! Desert Island Must Haves

Daily prompt: A classic question, revisited: what are the five items you must have on a deserted island?

The results are in! 5 Desert island essentials polled are:

Water &/or filtration bottle for purification
Tent
Knife
lighter or matches
Warm clothes

<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/five-items/”>Five Items</a>

If I had 6 hours….

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If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first four hours sharpening my axe. Abraham Lincoln

How I Became a Human Resource Manager

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I never dreamed of a career in Human Resources. From an early age, I would look to the stars and dream of being involved in healthcare, or the airline industry. Of course these are two very different industries but my passion for people was evident from then. After graduating high school, I got the dream call for an interview as a flight attendant. I am always punctual, but for some strange reason I ended up being 10 minutes late for the interview, and was ‘disqualified’ from that opportunity.

I took it as a sign when I was hired by one of the nation’s big commercial banks. That opened the doors to human resource management for me; or as it was called back then—personnel management. I was exposed to benefits administration, performance management, and more. Being the fast learner that I am—I learned, and learned, and learned.

This boosted me into the next position with a major international pharmaceutical company, that further exposed me to human resource management at the global level. I learnt not only the facets of HR at the local level, but had to interpret laws and practices for different countries that fell under my portfolio of responsibility. In my job I had to travel across countries throughout the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Education

What about education? As I journeyed, I felt led to receive formal training. Armed with a Bachelors in Business Management, I pursued a Masters in Human Resource Management. I also decided to minor in HR Development, while studying Doctorate in Education, Major Organizational Leadership. This then propelled my current role as Coach, and Human Resource Consultant.

As laws, technology and people change, there is no doubt that it is an advantage to become a member of organizations such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). This syncs with organizations such as local Human Resource Associations. Personally, I continue to participate in local, and national conferences. These days I conduct personal development Success workshops, backed by my research and subsequent publishing of book on Leaders and Success Strategies.

Success and Challenges Along the Way

Naturally, there have been challenges along the way. My most challenging feat arose during my first encounter with an international merger, between two giant pharmaceutical companies. Embracing two different cultures, employee relations issues, diversity, compensation, and benefits management in different countries was a challenge, to say the least. But as I look back and reflect on the Employer of Choice award, I am pleased. This experience molded me into my love for change management today. This passion has taken me across different industries including healthcare, hospitality, and others to name a few.

Even though there have been ups and downs since then, I have never regretted my decision to enter this profession. Every time I help a client improve their business, it makes me feel totally satisfied. Hearing the frustrations in their voices when they first contact me, and then seeing the satisfaction on their faces when things improve… is exhilarating!

In addition, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) shared the result of the annual compilation of the most in-demand jobs done by CareerBuilder, and Economic Modeling Specialist International. Not surprising, Human Resource jobs were included among the top 20 positions-yea! The article stated that Human Resource Managers require a college degree and that this career position has grown by over 14,218 since 2010. This confirms that yes, it is a fine time to get into Human Resources.

So if you have the people skills, the spirit of resilience, and other facets mentioned, then go for it! Despite the stresses of the position, the job is totally satisfying….and oh by the way, it pays too. So what are you waiting for? Get started today, and if you’re like me, you’ll have no regrets!

Interested in how others got into this profession, read SHRM’s https://shar.es/1CXf4p via @SHRM

Seasons of Our Lives

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Marriages. Births. Graduations. Careers. Deaths. To everything there is a season. Today’s prompt encouraged us to examine our lives. What season are we in? We plant in the Springtime, and in the Summer we nurture, support, develop, improve. Then reap the flow of our work in the Fall. In the Winter with its stabbing cold, we prepare the way for yet another springtime.

It’s the same in our lives. Laura speaks of her temporary rain. At times we experience sorrow and grief. At times both pain and happiness. If we are single, we want to get married. Then we want to have kids. Then we want them to grow up and get out of the house. Then we experience sadness because the kids are out, and we are lonely. We may smile but tis true. Seems we are never satisfied, always asking ourselves what if

To everything there is a season. What season of life are you in now? With the sickness of a loved one, the publishing of a book, and more… mine is mixed as depicted in this photo. What’s yours?

Seasons

`<a href="https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/flow/">Flow</a>`

Widetize! World’s Best Widget

Arhhh do I have to get up? Can’t I just call in? Do I need to go to school? Is it morning already? Arhhh!!

It’s not uncommon to hear these complaints in the mornings from our young ones, teens, employees and all. So for the benefit of (blogging 101’s daily post challenge) my college daughter asked that I create a magic widget that will remove all fatigue! Grogginess! Lethargy! Tiredness! You name the feeling and immediately it will be gone in a flash!

So here’s how it works. It’s just like your alarm except it has a built-in widget that’s voice and touch sensitive! Simply press the device we named WIDGETIZE. It provides immediate energy! It will boost your adrenaline causing you to be jump out of bed and get to work, school, wherever on time! You’re sure to surprise those familiar with your morning lethargy!. It’s reasonably priced. Share with a friend and get this WIDGETIZE device. Our only disclaimer is that you will have to get the energy to speak, or reach over and simply press the widget to be energized!! Come on Widgetize! Widgetize!

a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/worlds-best-widget/”>World’s Best Widget</a>

What if?

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The TIME magazine’s editorial article examined the question “what if” based on various scenarios of life experiences. What if robots went to fight war? What if your brain confesses in court? What if we live to be 100, or even longer? Interesting questions. What if?

What is your question? Is there something you long to do? What if you could do it?

Now think about it even more. What if you had all the resources in the world available to you, would you go ahead and do your “what if”?

I was chatting with an executive head of an entertainment business that has many locations worldwide. She said in the early days if she thought about all the things that could go wrong maybe she would not have achieved the success she has today. She simply had an idea and worked towards it defying business logic.

So Go ahead, think positively. Activate your what if. Activate your dream. It may just surprise you inspite of your questions, inspite of your fears. Be courageous. Act today. Accomplish your “what if”.

<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/evasive-action/”>Evasive Action</a>

The Journey. Keep Going, don’t stop.

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I’ll never forget the sight. Standing in line more than a decade ago with hundreds of graduates awaiting the march into the ceremony, I saw my mom and dad walking in together a little late. She, with a basket of fruits too heavy for her to bear, but far too precious not to. Him, adorned in a bright red jacket as if to say “nobody is going to make me miss this special occasion when my daughter receives her Masters degree”! I thought to myself…should I acknowledge them or should I shy away from this somewhat humorous sight? I dismissed the very thought and rushed to their side hugging them both. My action was met with admiration, claps, and with sounds of “aww”, as the waiting graduates stirred. Needless to say that this achievement was for both my parents as neither had college degrees. After the ceremony, my mom hugged and congratulated me with the question “when are you going to get the Doctorate?” The nerve! How could she? But her question stayed with me for years, even after the receipt of yet another Masters degree.

Years later, I finally acceded to fulfilling her dream. She couldn’t do it so I decided to do it for her. A year into the program while enroute to a mandated summer conference in Orlando, I received a call that she (with whom I spoke an hour earlier), had suffered a massive stroke!

That was the start of a yearlong journey to be by her side through thick and thin. Ironically both our journeys were paths of learning. Hers being to learn to talk, to walk, to eat, to do life’s simple things, and to learn the basics of living all over again. Me, to face the reality of the situation that my mother was in, and to learn the skills to adequately provide her care. Along with my two sisters (one who was ailing with the ravages of cancer at the time), we brought her to live closer so we could adequately care for her return to ‘normalcy’.

As I reflect on my dissertation journey, on one occasion I remember receiving an important call from a professor while attending to her needs. I answered the call, got the coaching from the professor then returned to finish her care. This became a routine.

I remember being by her side at the hospital for hours, days, weeks. She was my morning motivation. I couldn’t start the day without her knowing that I cared. It was the same at nights. I couldn’t end the day without visiting her; without her knowing that I was there for her. At work, the leaders knew that if they wanted my best then I needed an hour to be with my mom which was the fuel for the rest of the day. I happily worked that back during lunch or after hours. This went on for a year but sadly she never recovered. We later discovered that her body was wreaked with cancer unknown to our family. It was too much for her to bear.

After she passed this was my driving force. I had to finish my studies for her. I had to accomplish her dream, something she couldn’t do herself. I had to finish to show my two girls that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. I had to finish and leave something tangible behind. This culminated in a research to track the paths of immigrant leaders and their journey to success to achieve the American Dream. I accomplished that feat two years after she passed away. The research is now published and available here. I now spend my time coaching individuals and entrepreneurs to never give up; to keep going, because with that passion they will accomplish their dreams.

BLOGGING 101

I began this blog a few years ago but have hardly been consistent. As an individual in the business of Human Resource Management, and organizational leadership, my passion lies in the development of entrepreneurs, youths and individuals in transition. For that reason, I conducted a study for my dissertation on Success Strategies and decided to publish it recently in my book titled “Success Strategies of Caribbean-American Leaders in the United States”. In the book I sought to answer the question Why Some Individuals Succeed, While Others Don’t. It is now available on http://www.amazon.com, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com.

I am still writing with the intention of publishing the Success Strategies Workbook, as well as another book titled “GreenLight: When God says Go”. My intention here is to decide on what my audience prefers to hear, then focus this blog on that. This could be under the topics of leadership, success, inspiration, or lighter moments.

From participating in this new developing experience, I hope to be able to learn how to (1) improve this blog; (2) gain strong insights on how to advance; and (3) confidently connect with and grow followers.

Check out my blog https://successfulleaders.wordpress.com and I would most certainly welcome your comments and insights! Thank you.