06 Oct I’m Calling My Kid Out on This One, or Plan vs. Commitment
At my son’s college graduation this past weekend, I scored a perfect seat behind the dais. With this perfect view comes the ability to see what these young adults are doing throughout the ceremony. Texting, talking, sleeping…all of what you’ve come to expect. What I witnessed next was one of those, “You had to see it to believe it” moments. These future societal contributors were literally walking out of the ceremony upon receiving their diploma, unable to fathom sitting through the entire two-hour commencement. To make matters worse, as soon as I felt utter disdain for the runaway grads and their families, I received a text from my son telling me he was “going to bail.” Yes, the young man I brought into this world 23 years ago to make his mark was walking out, as did at least 60% of the Class of 2015.
So who is to blame? The parents in raising them? The University personnel for allowing them to walk out? Society for accepting disrespectful behavior? I’m going to call my kid and the thousand others out on this one and say this behavior falls 100% on them. Why? They weren’t willing to make the necessary commitment.
I am going to assume the grads had an original plan to be there with the others to move the tassel to the cap’s other side. Здесь можно в игровые автоматы играть онлайн не регистрируясь в различных казино. Огромный выбор игровых слотов заставит любого посетителя окунуться в мир азарта и больших выигрышей! Then when the “going got tough,” the plan changed to one of getting the heck out of there. They lacked the commitment to stick it out the whopping additional 38 minutes to finish the alphabet. When did the graduation ceremony become so unceremonious?
These grads aren’t alone. It seems we’ve become a society where if we have to commit to more than a time period or energy level we feel comfortable with, we bail.
With this episode in my rearview mirror, it made me think of commitments you must make over the years for a successful career. You have to plan for a variety of opportunities, situations and challenges, but you also have to make the commitment to the plan.
To gauge commitment, I propose four questions to ask yourself, your employees and everyone who interviews with your company:
1. How do you define a plan and a commitment?
2. What example can you provide where you had a plan to do something and were required to adjust that plan at some point?
3. What are three things/traits you are committed to and why?
4. How do you stay committed to something?
The answers to these questions will provide you with great insight about a person, including yourself. As to the graduates with the last name of Sullivan, Whitaker, Young or Zachary, please accept my apology for my lack of commitment. Leaving early wasn’t part of my plan.