Silver Linings!

Silver Linings !

Dear Friends:

Some of life's irritants, like the grain of sand that motivates the oyster to form a beautiful pearl, can turn into self-growth opportunities. Great big monopolies? Indifferent or inadequate customer service? No problem - the trick of it is to be industrious! 

Long hours of waiting on the telephone after navigating through a labyrinthine system of punching in numbers for various "choices" and "service options" (i.e. ways in which the company that you are furiously calling up can charge you additional fees without providing you with any actual real benefit at all ["Never pay another late fee! Get late fee protection for only $15.00 per month, and preserve your valuable credit rating!"] ) will occasionally be rewarded by establishing contact with another Human Being on the other end of the line.

When this happens, I feel like the lucky boy who found the golden ticket in his Wonka Bar, or like the happy hog having found a truffle in a blizzard.

I like to post brief status reports on http://ping.fm when I am struck with inspiration that I feel obligated to share with others. In 140 characters or less (and spaces do count), I can broadcast words of encouragement to those who are feeling defeated by the difficulty of life's experiences. 

As soon as I had hung up the telephone with Comcast Cable Technical Services (by the way, I'd like to compliment them on their fine high-speed internet package -- but I can't, because they truly stink), I got back onto my computer and shot off the following little glimpses of a silver lining through an oftimes cloud-enshrouded world:

Thought: The deterioration of customer service in the US has actually helped us sharpen our multi-tasking skills. - DC #douglascastle #TNNW

Posted:

Just moments ago from Dashboard

Method:

Status update

Tags:

douglascastle,TNNW

Services:

     

...........and how about this one? ...

Monopolies are swell. While you wait on the phone line for service, you can read, meditate, do pushups...Thanks, Comcast! #douglascastle

Posted:

Just moments ago from Dashboard

Method:

Status update

Tags:

douglascastle

Services:

     

Hey there. Whatever doesn't kill us only serves to make us stronger. And... whatever does kill us, allows us to leave all of our financial obligations behind. Life (and death) are actually "can't lose" propositions if you can learn to see them in this way. So simple.

Let me know if you can do it. Even as I preach this brilliant coping strategy, I must admit that I still tend to resort to fear and anger when dealing with many of life's challenges. I am a big fan of ranting, too.

But the important thing is that I continue to try to improve. You should too.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle


Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile
Follow Castle on Twitter 



*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on TWITTER - http://twitter.com/douglascastle
*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on THE NATIONAL NETWORKER - http://twitter.com/TNNW_BUZZWORKS

[Subscribe to The NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter and the BLUE TUESDAY REPORT free.]

We Consistently Reward Incompetence and Misconduct - Reaping What We've Sown.

We Consistently Reward Incompetence and Misconduct - Reaping What We've Sown.

Note: This article was written by author Douglas Castle for simultaneous publication in his personal blog (Douglas Castle), as well as TAKING COMMAND!, HUMANITAS MAXIMUS, Douglas Castle's INTERNAL ENERGY PLUS and in THE NATIONAL NETWORKER RSS Feed and Daily Email Supplement. You can (and should) get the Supplement for free at http://twitlik.com/Daily, and you can join The National Networker GICBC (also, at no cost) by clicking on http://twitlik.com/IN.

Dear Friends:

I chanced upon this unsurprising but nonetheless saddening piece of news in an excerpt from the venerable New York Times today:

Breaking News Alert

The New York Times
Thu, January 28, 2010 -- 4:13 PM ET
-----
U.S. Senate Confirms Ben Bernanke for a 2nd Term as Fed Governor


The Senate confirmed Ben S. Bernanke to a second term at the
helm of the Federal Reserve. The confirmation was a victory
for President Obama, who had called Mr. Bernanke a critical
leader in the nation's recovery from recession, but the
rancor surrounding the vote also signaled the extent to which
the Fed, once little known to the public, has become the
object of populist anger over high unemployment and bank
bailouts.


Read More:


http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na
####


Let me warm to the topic by saying that I'm not interested in making a political statement here. I am interested in posing a brief commentary on behavioral psychology and sociological evolution.

Some of you may recall that it was during Mr. Bernanke's "watch" that the United States Federal Reserve, with either the consent, an incredible lack of vision, or a hideous dereliction of duty on the part of a huge number of other governmental agencies (including, but not limited to the Treasury, The Controller of the Currency, FINRA, The SEC, The Commissioners of Insurance, The Legislature, The Executive Office and a host of other regulatory and enforcement bodies charged with the responsibility of protecting the citizenry and its hard-earned assets from pilferage and fraud by dirty, rotten scoundrels, con-artists, and other classes of persons whose debits never quite equal their credits) allowed an uncontrolled economic avalanche to destroy the United States economy, the lives of countless individuals, and the credibility (or the already-decaying nostalgic memories of credibility) of the  notion of an "honest" government to serve and protect the interests of the citizens whose contributions (through taxes and other tribute) actually finance the government...that is, of course, when the government isn't simply printing out bargeloads of paper currency and issuing debt instruments which it has no genuine plans or means of paying.

Mr. Bernanke just got himself confirmed for a second term at the helm of the U.S. of A. The thinking (using this latter term loosely) is that although he made a few "small mistakes" that "might have" helped to precipitate a "major recession," he kept things from getting as bad as he could have let them become. He bailed out the largest, greediest and most irresponsible financial institutions and other corporate interests because "they were too big to fail," [I'm inventing here] "too large to fit in jail," or "too fat to impale." 

He now gets rewarded for, in effect, driving drunk, hitting an elderly woman (who was walking her poodle) and managing to put her in his car and leave her on the steps of a hospital. This chap is the same symbol of shoulder-shrugging status quo who rewarded the unconscionable wrongdoing of an elite few at an incalculably devastating cost to this generation and to numerous generations to follow.

Why does this type of seemingly irrational system of "inverted incentives" continue to proliferate? Here are my guesses:

1. We have lowered our standards and our expectations;
2. Our perception is that any known quantity is better than a walk into the unknown;
3. We believe that our thoughts and feelings no longer make a difference;
4. We have lost our faith in our own fundamental values, because we live in a society where evil all too frequently triumphs;
5. We have lost our will to be free, and have resigned ourselves to being institutionalized;
6. We have lost the stamina to be activists, advocates and fighters;
7. We are living in fear of the government that is supposed to serve us.

An old colleague had two funny posters in his office at Hofstra University. One said "NO GOOD DEED SHALL GO UNPUNISHED." The other stated "UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES, THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE."

Facing facts, if we continue to stand idly by while incompetence and misconduct are permitted free reign, we don't deserve anything better. If you weren't insulted by that last sentence, then you probably will also fail to see that this is not a blog posting. It is a call to action.

You can get in touch with me by pressing the blue button below.

It's time for this GICBC notion to become a movement. Cooperate. Collaborate. Synergize.

We cannot build a peaceful prosperous future upon a cracked and decaying foundation, just as we cannot expect to find gold nuggets while panning in a tar pit, or expecting to grow fruit trees when we are planting sawgrass.

Trying to work within the constructs and constraints of the current paradigm is very much like trying to polish a turd. Stop for a moment and visualize it. Hmmm...

I enjoy ranting. How about you?

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile
Follow Castle on Twitter 








Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free, and get your BLUE TUESDAY REPORT, too. - Click HERE.
The National Networker Companies

Away Message From Douglas Castle

Away Message From Douglas Castle

Dear Friends:

I will be out of town from 18th January, and returning on 26th January. During this interval, I will not be accessing or responding to any emails, telephone messages or posting any material to blogs or social media. I look forward to being in touch with you soon after my return.

All the best, Respectfully,

Douglas Castle

Primary e-mail address:douglas.castle@yahoo.com,

douglascastle@gmail.com,

douglascastle.cybersphere@gmx.com  

About Douglas Castle 

Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile

The National Networker Companies

Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.

The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.

The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.

Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.

Follow Castle on Twitter 

Follow TNNW on Twitter

The Personal Touch Is Still The Ultimate Decider.

THE PERSONAL TOUCH IS  STILL THE ULTIMATE DECIDER

Dear Friends:

I recently sent out out a quick query (a politically questionable alliteration) to a number of friends, colleagues and NSA telephone line tapping professionals (only kidding -- but there was a plain truck with blacked out windows parked down the block from my home which was receiving deliveries of Dunkin' Donuts hourly) about Twitter.

My question was a practical one. I wanted to know if Twitter was a communications medium (two-sided) or merely a broadcast medium (one-sided self-serving advertisements, promotions and the mundane trivialities of everyday life). These last ones are the ones that seem the friendliest, but they're still principally one-sided. They're such late-breaking news stories as "Took Howie fishing on our dingy. He caught his first smelt! Wowie. TTYL."

My suspicion is that Twitter is more of a broadcast medium than a networking tool. I believe that this is true of most social media platforms, although some are far more useful in terms of both content and participating membership than others. As a group, they are a good promotion and introduction apparatus; but when it comes down to actually choosing a person to entrust a business transaction to, the personal attention and the personal touch are the most powerful differentiators and magnets. There is an undeniable physical or psychic chemistry that comes from personalized communications...such as a hand-written letter, a direct telephone call, a dinner meeting, or even a game of darts, that cements a relationship together...that converts a contact to an associate and a tentative 'maybe' to am emphatic, comfortable 'YES!"

Out of the responses which I received, the one that seemed to make the point best was this one, which came from one of my colleagues on Linked In:

From: Marijana Uzelac - Fopma

Date:

January 11, 2010

To:

DOUGLAS CASTLE

Status:

Pending.

Well, I am not the Twitter expert (e.g. I'm not not texting 100 times every single day), but I would say it is broadcast medium. Wherever is limitation in number of words you can say-type per mnessage it is not true networking.


Apart from texting (cell phone or PC) , different social networking platforms - sometimes a voice, a sound, eye-to-eye contact can make an imense difference, positive or negative. Embracing "virtual" social networking platforms is innevitable in nowadays, but should be well balanced with "old fashioned" personal contact, where personality and spirit can be assessed.
Hand written message, well articulated nice writing, on elegant stationary ? Dear Lord,, when it was last time I've got someting like that !! Just a thought. Have a nice evening,
----------

 Regarding DOUGLAS CASTLE LinkedIn Status: My question: "Is Twitter merely a broadcast medium, or is it true networking medium? A true networking medium is rare. What say ye?" --Douglas Castle

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle

p.s. If you have not already joined our GICBC at The National Networker Companies, please join now. Membership is free, and you'll receive our free weekly newsletter as well as a variety of other reports, updates and bulletins regarding the business of conducting relationship-based commerce. Just click on http://twitlik.com/IN in order to join us. Also, please subscribe to our free daily email or RSS feed, as well. Just click on http://twitlik.com/Daily .

*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on TWITTER - http://twitter.com/douglascastle
*Follow DOUGLAS CASTLE on THE NATIONAL NETWORKER - http://twitter.com/TNNW_BUZZWORKS

Douglas Castle's Secret Blog Links!
DOUGLAS CASTLE
BRAINTENANCE
HUMANITAS MAXIMUS
THE INTERNATIONALIST PAGE
THE GLOBAL FUTURIST
TAKING COMMAND!
THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter


[Subscribe to The NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter and the BLUE TUESDAY REPORT free.]

SUICIDE: Being Proactive Can Save a Life.

Public Service Announcement:

The American Foundation For Suicide Prevention Programs. Help save a life. Learn more - http://twitlik.com/AFSP   Every life is precious. Know how to help. Know how to access emergency treatment. Always take any discussions or thoughts of suicide seriously. Don't ever leave a suicidal person alone. An hour of conversation while waiting for emergency help to arrive can make all the difference.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call for emergency treatment (there are some excellent resources at LINKS 4 LIFE), and then call a friend or family member. Keep calling until you connect. If you can't get anyone, get to a place where there are people and some activity. There's hope... and there's help. I promise.

Douglas Castle,
THE NATIONAL NETWORKER COMPANIES

About Douglas Castle 

Douglas Castle - LinkedIn Profile

The National Networker Companies

Braintenance - Stay razor sharp.

The Internationalist Page - A world without barriers.

The Global Futurist - Revealing trends.

Taking Command! - Mastering your fate.

Follow Castle on Twitter 

Follow TNNW on Twitter

Join us! With your free membership, you'll receive THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter and The BLUE TUESDAY Report. Click on: http://twitlik.com/IN. You'll also want to get your free RSS feed or Daily email delivered to your inbox -- just click on http://twitlik.com/Daily and make your selection.