Gun Shy

I've lived the last 14 years of my life working in some creative field of another. It is work I really enjoy even if I don't really understand anything I do. I just perform and the work happens. So recently I've found myself employed as a partial pay intern for Pinnacle Media here in Bend, and I have to say (while apprehensive at times) it feels like home.

Matt and Jo Ann Hand are people I've worked with since my days at Westside. Oh the days. I did a little work with them on Waking the Dead and Above the Noise which were both great learning experiences for me and got me involved in something that was much bigger than I am. Since then I've done a couple Men's Summits in Redmond, Ignite Bend, concerts, seminars, and my favorite moment of the year with them: BendFilm. In each experience I've found something odd that doesn't feel comfortable even though I know it is good: respect.

You see, most jobs I've worked before my employers treated me like I was perpetually 16. At 32 I don't have to tell you how humiliating that is. I'm a hard worker with ideas and a willingness to learn yet every time I would work with someone (the church, the school, etc) I was always the kid in the office. Being treated like a man after so many years...well...I think I like it but it is new. Dignity at work is new. Respectful management that values your input and wants to help give you the best in all opportunities is new. I'm sticking around with this for a while.

So why am I writing this? Because if you are a manager think...think good and hard for a moment. How do you treat your employees? I believe there is a direct connect to the quality and quantity of work getting done and the working conditions of which it is done in. Just like a dirty workspace, poor management creates disorder and poor performance.

I could take this down a road about my hatred of many of the principles we learned during the Industrial Revolution but I'll just leave at this...as it was said to me...treat people like you would want to be treated. There is no simpler edict. If you are an ass then expect that in kind. If however you strive for something higher...like being a descent human being...then I can assure you sunny skies are ahead. This isn't a cure all but it is just good living.

In a time when everyone is hurting do you really want to be the person that is known for making things worse?