Playing By My Own Rules

You often hear that phrase applied to people who are breaking rules - seeming anarchists who gain fame or infamy by 'playing by their own rules.' But really these people are simply playing without rules.

Lately I've spent a great deal of time thinking about some of my own rules. I believe I do exactly that. I play by my own rules. That doesn't mean I do whatever I feel like. Rather it means that I hold myself to certain standards based on my own moral, ethical, and logical code. Well two out of three perhaps.

One of those rules has impacted my posting. I tend to post about concepts that have fired my imagination. I post about my passions. Lately however everything that has driven me to write out my thoughts has been very specific to my work environment. One of my ethical rules is that I won't post anything specific about my work. Now I have said a few times that work prompts many of my posts, but I've always been able to talk generally about concepts rather than revealing anything specific. Of late, that's simply not been possible.

The worst part of all this is that I've had some of the most interesting realizations. I'd love to share them, but at present I don't seem to be able to put them in a context that doesn't break my own rule, and I won't do that.

But that, in itself, becomes a topic of discussion. What are my rules? I've never taken the time to write them all down, and I'm not going to do so now, but I thought I'd list a few. Here, in no particular order, are David's Rules:

1. Pay attention to other people's convenience. Don't make people wait for me.
2. What is said in confidence is kept in confidence. Always.
3. Don't fight the weather.
4. Perfection is unattainable, unless I work harder and smarter.
5. Don't get involved with someone with whom I work. Relationships and work don't mix.
6. People judge me as much by how I communicate as by the content of my communication.
7. Slow and steady doesn't win the race, but I always finish.

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Serendipity and Leadership

Sometimes, things seem almost too coincidental.

I had a conference call/training session this morning on the topic of leadership. It is part of the leadership development program in my company, and involved hearing from the COO of our organization. He talked about his leadership style, characteristics, and challenges.

One of the messages he gave us resonated strongly with my previous post. He talked about leading by example. How we need to be the example to those we lead, of the type of behaviour we expect. He talked about how this builds trust, and credibility. Parts of the discussion seemed to parallel my points regarding how the nature of an organization is often based on the example of the leaders.

On an unrelated note, the topic of ethics and integrity came up, which was something that hit me hard only a couple of hours later. He stated how integrity was critical to the organization and to leadership. A couple of hours later I found myself embroiled in an ethically questionable situation. I just don't know if I handled it properly. I sought advice from a couple of my role models, and took what I think was the ethical action for myself and the organization. But it wasn't pretty, and I don't know how things will fall out from this.

Integrity. Doing what is right, even when it's not easy.

Wow is that a lot more meaningful to me.

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