Saturday, June 25, 2011

Business Lessons (Poem)

Business Lessons

I'm in charge
and turning the place over

to you.
You're on your own

for the next 12 months
to 5 years.

Don't expect me
to check in. I'll be taking

everyone away — bottom rung
to top — leaving you

exactly what you need
to conduct your power

trip. You're not getting one thing
more than that Aeron chair

you like, broken in
as it is.

It will bring you full circle
if you can make

the necessary adjustments.
When you give it

a spin, your feet dangling,
your hands out,

consider what you'll have
to put down

to bring yourself
to a full stop,

what you'll want to close
up and close in

on for the best deal
of your life.

Track that carefully
on your whiteboard

in some private inner office
where you can hear

yourself think, say
your name out loud

and recite the honorifics
that follow you

no matter your place
on the ladder

you've been climbing
since you were old enough

to talk and walk
and get what you want

from a world that owes you
nothing more than a chance

to find out for yourself
that what absolutely matters

more than anything else,
is free, will cost you plenty

if you don't have it,
abuse it, fail to awaken

it in due time, won't share it,
withhold it, ignore it calling

out to you. Exercising it
regularly will keep it

in good working order.
No joke!

Your heart need never give
out, won't betray you,

and when the time comes
will bring you the ones who count

most and keep them running.
still running to you.

© 2011 Maureen E. Doallas
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I'm participating in the Domino Project's #Trust30 challenge, an online writing/reflection initiative for which a prompt is posted daily. All of the prompts to date are here.

Today's poem is inspired by the 26th prompt from Sasha Dichter, Acumen Fund's business development director and a blogger on philanthropy, generosity, and social change:

Call to Arms

The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the "call to arms" note you're sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board), charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see [it], preferably in big letters you can read from your chair.

You've just written your own job description. You know what you have to do. Go!

(Bonus: Send it to the CEO, with the title "The things we absolutely have to get right — nothing else matters.")

* * *

I've used all the #Trust30 prompts as inspiration for new poems. Poems for prompts 16 - 25 are:











You'll find my poem for prompt 15, "Truth Be Told", and a list of poems for prompts 1 - 14 here.

1 comment:

Louise Gallagher said...

This is fabulous! And this particular #trust30 exercise is superb.