As with any large group, negative attitudes and actions often get more attention and press than positive ones and I’m no exception.

Leadership’s Future is often about Millennials—their sense of entitlement, expectations, impatience, and the parental intervention that fuels it.

My Millennial friends kid me that I’m ignoring a large number of their demographic, although even they don’t claim that it’s anywhere near a majority.

But they do have a point, so I’m offering up a new term to designate those who are chronologically, but not psychologically, Millennials.

aMillennial, because placing an ‘a’ in front of a word nullifies its meaning (see a-6).

I ran into a great example of the positive at AARP’s u@50 contest.

It wasn’t the first place winner that blew me away, but the second.

Her words are an inspiration for us all and a good lesson to remember that people change as life changes.

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But what most managers forget in the daily press of doing way too much with drastically reduced resources is that their employees are also their customers.

As I’ve said in the past, one of the hats every manager wears is employee service manager (ESM) and reviews are a critical part of that.

Done right, reviews are a positive experience for both manager and employee; in some cases even a time to bond.

If the goals in January were done well, which means that they had a deliverable date and were quantified and measurable, then evaluating how someone is doing is simple.

An article in Business Week discusses the added weight being given to mid-year reviews as a result of business turmoil in the current economy.

In fact, the only goals that are fair to employees and managers alike always include those three points.

As a manager you should never forget…

As an employee you should always request…

• Due date
• Quantified action
• Measurable results

And while a good review means that you’re honest and authentic with your people, that doesn’t translate to abusive or destructive.

Offering

• recognition of what the person does well; and being
• candid about areas that need improvement

are two hallmarks of a good review.

The third is no surprises, which means that you’ve been giving candid feedback throughout the year.

Skipping any of these is setting you and your people up for review hell.

For more specific assistance, read how to give performance reviews and how to give a disciplinary review.

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It seems that a Dave Taylor, a business shrink in the UK, recommends “Naked Friday” to boost team spirit—taking casual Friday to a whole new level.

“Inviting an organisation to go naked is the most extreme technique I’ve used. It may seem weird but it works. It’s the ultimate expression of trust in yourself and each other.”

Seems like naked is the rage among folks with those great accents.

Air New Zealand has made both an ad and a safety video using its own employees, including CEO Rob Fyfe, fully dressed—in body paint. (It’s probably the first time anyone paid attention to a safety video.)

“Each clip took one day to shoot and cost about 10 to 15 per cent of the cost of a major brand commercial.”

But don’t look for anything similar in the US any time soon.

Can you imagine the harassment lawsuits? Even if the staff agreed, someone would accuse someone else of staring and the simplest action would border on inappropriate.

The same with the commercial.

Can you imagine the lawsuits if an airline crew walked through a major airport here clad only in body paint?

The awards for developmental damage to children, the pain and suffering of the adults and the general flouting of public decency could pay off the TARP loans.

Perhaps this is where the US went wrong.

Our Puritanical roots are very close to the surface and we’ve lost our national sense of humor—if we ever had one.

There is nothing like laughter to take the hot air out of the leading windbags who dominate all viewpoints in our national news, whether business, religion or politics.

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There’s a lot of excellent information available from the many outstanding participants.

Click around, read and enjoy, but with my normal caveat—leadership is for everyone, not just the person out front.

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They’re more interested in Michael Jackson’s estate than their state’s budget problems; they choose for whom to vote based on attractiveness and clothes; social media fills all their time with thousands of friends to whom they tweet, but don’t talk…

“Language is a wonderful thing. It can be used to express thoughts, to conceal thoughts, but more often, to replace thinking.” –Anon

Then there are those who treat thought and action like marriage and kids—they no longer know which comes first or that they should go together…

“Failures are divided into two classes –those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.” –John Charles

Or you might prefer this version…

“A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all.” –Anon

Of course, there are those who expect the wonks to supply the roadmap and have no idea what to do when they don’t…

“When policy fails try thinking.” Or abscond to ideology, which precludes all thinking.

Here are words of wisdom for those who still believe that ‘leaders’ can solve the world’s ills, instead of causing them; one can only hope they are taken to heart…

“Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.”

Finally, if none of the above has sunk in I’ll go straight to the heart of the subject…

“A man [or woman] who does not think for himself does not think at all.”

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Today I offer up two ways you can lead.

If each of you do them and encourage three friends to do them and they each draw in three more and on and on we can make one hell of a difference.

First, the Four Freedoms Franklin Delano Roosevelt described in his State of the Union speech on the eve of WWII in 1941 seem to be on the wane in our own country.

So starting today be willing to defend each if you see it being subverted and remember that it’s their freedom—not your way or the highway.

Second, click AnySoldier and learn what you can do directly to help those serving.

“Any Soldier Inc. started in August 2003 as a simple family effort to help the soldiers in one Army unit; thus, our name. Due to overwhelming requests, on 1 January 2004 the Any Soldier® effort was expanded to include any member of the Armed Forces in harm’s way.”

So shake your piggybank, hit up the folks at the BBQ, have a garage or bake sale and DO something for those who are doing so much for you.

Do it whether you believe in the fighting or not. Supporting the troops has nothing to do with the politics that put them there, they are your brothers, sisters, friends, schoolmates, colleagues and they deserve everything you can do.

Finally, enjoy this stunning display of Army expertise. Beautiful, amazing and inspiring.

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“Sue” called because she was extremely upset that I agreed with Dan Erwin’s comment that he raised his kids using the concept of ‘covenants’ as opposed to ’standards’, because covenants can be renegotiated whereas standards are set.

Sue said that no society could function without some kind of absolute rules, the kind that gave continuity, and that if they changed at everyone’s convenience there would be chaos.

My response was that I disagreed with the absolute rules, but agreed with the second part of her premise.

After talking for awhile, Sue ended the discussion by saying that I wouldn’t have the nerve to put my opinions here, because if I did I’d lose all my readers.

I said that I doubted that, since I’ve never made my attitudes a secret and that she should come back today (Friday) and see for herself.

Foremost, I’ve never believed that homo sapiens are capable of speaking in absolutes, such as always and never. There will be millions of changes, both societal and evolutionarily, between now and forever.

Life changes, society changes, attitude changes.

In absolute terms, murder has always been wrong, but people have been renegotiating the definition of murder for centuries—and they still are.

When one part of a society decides a standard needs to change, they often (usually?) fight a war with the opposing side that doesn’t want to change—think North vs. South.

The wars aren’t always formal, gun-toting fights. Slavery may have been abolished in the South, but integration is still an upward battle.

Obviously, changes aren’t done by individuals, but with the agreement of a significant segment of the society, otherwise, as Sue said, there would be chaos.

But even when a significant number move for the change chaos may result. It often erupts and can be clearly seen, for example, in the generational shifts so beloved by the media.

If I hadn’t seen so many standards change during my life I might be less on the side of Relativism, but, as I said at the start, humans just don’t seem capable of absolutes.

If any other readers are upset, have great arguments in support of absolutes, agree with me more or less or just want to explain why I’m nuts click here and share your thoughts.

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In response, Dan Erwin commented that rather than standards, i.e., set rules, he preferred to teach his kids about covenants, because “Legalism, in all its forms, is really death-giving stuff. I go back to covenant…covenants get renegotiated.”

By definition, a covenant is “an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified.”

But Ensign’s hypocrisy was pushed off the hot seat by the same day when South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was caught in an affair.

While I think Ensign’s worst hypocrisy ties to his position in Promise Keepers, it pales in comparison to Sanford’s when you consider his historical stances.

I agree with Dan’s covenant approach because I’ve always believed that humans and absolutes aren’t a working or winning combination.

But to renegotiate a covenant, whether with a spouse or constituency, requires at least a modicum of rationality and Sanford’s own words put that in question.

Over a 20-year period, ”There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn’t have crossed as a married man, but never crossed the ultimate line.”

Shades of President Clinton, whom Sanford roundly condemned during the same period.

Those times “took place during trips outside the country to ”blow off steam” with male friends.”

All the while preaching and campaigning based on a “family values” persona.

“…he would die ”knowing that I had met my soul mate.”

Isn’t that what his wife is supposed to be?

”I owe it too much to my boys and to the last 20 years with Jenny to not try this larger walk of faith.”

Owe it to what? The last 20 years of lies? Can you find anything rational in this statement?

Out of curiosity I did a completely unscientific poll of young people I know ranging in age from mid teens to mid twenties.

Much to some of their parents surprise they were fairly well informed on the subject.

None seemed either shocked or surprised and most said that the bad part was the stupidity of getting caught.

They said they saw getting caught as the real error in most of the stuff about which they’d read or heard during their lives.

And that is what’s truly sad.

While the destruction and disillusionment caused by leaders such as Madoff, Skilling, Sanford and all their act-alikes is terrible, the level of cynicism bred by this kind of hypocrisy is the truly tragic damage being done to our future.

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Now check out my other WW: How To NOT Learn

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