Why is Loyalty to Authority and to our Government an Overall Theme for the Traditional Generation?

IF YOU WERE IN DESPERATE STRAIGHTS AND HAD SOMEONE COME TO YOUR RESCUE, WOULDN’T YOU FEEL THE SAME WAY?  YOU BET YOU WOULD!

I always wondered, living with a very proper U of A professor, and genuinely nice mother what the deal was when they just wouldn’t correct the doctor, the store manager, or anyone else in authority that was wrong or taking advantage of them.  Worse yet, it absolutely drove me crazy that they wouldn’t allow me to confront the assisted living home that was holding them hostage in the physical therapy end of the property and $2,000 more, when my dad had obviously become better and no longer needed assistance.  You see, I’ve learned through this study that they were taught that it just wasn’t proper to  question, come against, or by any means buck authority.  They were all prepared for the obedience of the military where if you question an order, you could die.  And why the inordinate loyalty, even love of the government of all things?  Just look, look below and see if it doesn’t blow you away, the way it did me!

You see, after two world wars, and then the Great Depression, the Traditional Generation was in a straight.  It was during this time that the Government came to their aid, and came to their aid big time, just look:

• The New Deal a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936

• Hoover set up Public Works Programs to provide jobs –

• Reconstruction Finance Corp. lent money to banks, railroad co. & insurance co. to stimulate the economy

• National Industrial Recovery Act: developed to end price cutting and worker lay-offs.

• Federal Emergency Relief Act: For the unemployed.  Within 30 days they put 25 million people to work building roads, bridges, and schools

• Created the Civilian Conservation Corp.  Sent l/2 million to the country side to clear hiking trails, plant trees, and drain swamps.

• Works Progress Administration: Employed millions to build countless houses, writing books, favored this project over just giving out cash relief.  Give a man the dole and you save a mans’ body and destroy his spirit. Give him a job and pay him an assured wage, and you save his body and spirit Harry Hopkins

• Revenue Act: wealth tax act designed to increase taxes on the rich

• Wagner Act:  required a company to bargain with any Union it’s workers choose.  Now you couldn’t be fired for joining the union

• Social Security:  The first old age federal insurance system

• FAIR LABOR STANDARD ACT:  creating a minimum wage

“During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when as many as one out of four Americans could not find jobs, the federal government stepped in to become the employer of last resort. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), an ambitious New Deal program, put 8,500,000 jobless to work, mostly on projects that required manual labor. With Uncle Sam meeting the payroll, countless bridges, highways and parks were constructed or repaired.”  Basically the government came to their rescue.  And we wonder why the Traditional Generation is so loyal and appreciative of the Government!

YOUR COACHING CORNER:  Get it?  Do you see how this generation gained their values, and how they relate differently to authority?  If you have parents, or grandparents from this generation, between 1920-1945 then ask them about growing up during this time.

• Take time to listen to the circumstances that so deeply molded them

• Show some appreciation for their making it through.

• What did you learn?

• How does this information help you see and relate to them?

• Know any great Traditional Generation stories, please share them below!

Every Leader Is Faced with Overwhelming Challenges pt. I

Feel like giving up, chucking it, just walking away?  Are the finances drowning you?  Have you had an employee who should be renamed Benedict Arnold?  Are you sick and tired of whining, complaining employees that make you feel like you’re “babysitting” them instead of leading them?  Are they doing barely enough to keep their job while at the same time demanding more money and time off?  Or, maybe you had a competitor that stole your largest client, and you thought he was a friend.   I could go on and on giving you examples of the many challenges that leaders/managers face.  And I’m sorry to say, these occurrences are all too common, and have happened to the best of us!  This is one main reason why YOU’RE the employER, not the employEE.  It’s part of the job description, and it can be down right discouraging as a leader!  Now, it’s what you do with this information that makes or breaks you.  So, what’s a person to do?  Well, don’t quit, or become a hard headed tyrant!  I have heard a great rule of thumb:  NEVER ever quit on a bad day!  What I do that brings a little leadership perspective is to read biographies of great men and women. I look for the gems of perseverance and fortitude that these leaders have gained, while noting the awful circumstances they lived through.  Someone to commiserate with.

• Michael Jordan was eliminated from his high school basketball team.  What if he had quit then?

• Western Union actually said this: “The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.  The device is inherently of no value to us.”  What if Alexander Graham Bell listened to them?

• When Fred Smith, founder of Federal Express Corporation, wrote about his idea of an overnight delivery service in a college paper, the professor told him his idea was hardly a “C” concept and that it had to be feasible to even be considered.  Obviously this didn’t discourage Mr. Smith.

• Most people thought it could never be done, so most people didn’t even try. Then Roger Bannister did it. Break the 4 minute mile that is.  Because the expectation changed, within 10 years over 336 other men had done the same.  They just needed to know it was possible.

Many times, when working with a leader, I detect the need to first do an attitude adjustment before we can do anything else, and don’t we all need assistance in this area from time to time, if not all the time.  If they’d been beaten down, and had a rough time, it’s only natural to be negative and pessimistic.  Therefore, no work I would do with them would make a difference, until we first transform their thinking.  With the right outlook, one can handle almost anything.  Here’s one suggestion; read positive motivational books, articles, or stories that will build your can do attitude.  One great book I always recommend is “Unstoppable” by Cynthia Kersey.  It’s got great short stories of people who have overcome insurmountable obstacles to live their dream and mission in life.  (check out the sidebar for “Unstoppable” offered by Amazon) What do you do that helps your attitude?