Observations from the Trenches

It is something I have seen over and over and something I hold to.  A person’s abilities make a place for them without self-promotion.  In fact, self-promotion tends to get in the way.
My dad worked his way up in a company until he was sent to another city (Townsville) to make the business there a success.  He did.  He started out earlier sweeping the floors of the head office in Maryborough.  I heard someone say ages ago that their role was to clean toilets and they were determined to be really good toilet cleaners.
To me that attitude is one of the keys to success.  Dad turned the company around and decided his timber company should get into making kitchens.  They did that and it was a success.  To the point that the day arrived at the end of his career that someone visited from Brisbane and offered him a high-powered job in kitchens.  Dad declined as he was at the end of his career and did not want to uproot.
I started out delivering mail (I actually see that as a good start as I got to know everyone from the top down).  I got other jobs and went as far as I wanted to go.  I would act as manager of our operation when the manager was away for any length of time.  I admit I would sometimes sit in high powered meetings and they would talk in acronyms and I had no clue who they were talking about.  But what I needed to know I found out.
The point for me is that company care, approachability, honesty, diligence, enthusiasm and an eye for detail are always noticed. It is not a matter of big noting oneself but doing what needs to be done in the right way, and the opportunity for promotion is guaranteed without the need for self-promotion. 

Someone may stand in the way, but they may as well be trying to hold back the Nile.  Sometimes things do not turn out the way I had them planned.  It is frustrating and I ask why.  I can only take solace in the fact I have remained true to myself.

It seems to me that if any one of these qualities are out of whack, trouble looms.  Changes can be right, but they can also go too far and not far enough.
I have seen someone who did not have company care in mind wreak havoc.  Saving heaps may be desirable and look good on a resume, but it says nothing of the devastation and the need to pick up the pieces left behind if it is done the wrong way.
I have also seen good qualities abound but unapprachableness (I do not even know if that is a word) prevail.  When someone is unapproachable things too easily get done the wrong way
I have also seen it done the right way.  Companies thrive and people are happy.  There is a willing working together to achieve common aims.
My personal aim is always to believe the best in others until proven otherwise.  My job is to be the best I can and adhere to what I hold to.  As the ad says “it’s not too late,” and a new stage in life, presents a new path.