People, People, People.


Everyone wants to be in the position of leadership. We have our own ideas about what needs to take place in that role. The strange thing about that is that not everyone is suited to be in the leadership role. In my working life, I have seen different kinds of leader. Some were great and I wanted to work for those people. Some were not so great and you just tolerated those people. Usually when some the leaders who didn’t know what they were doing would have high turn over. They would also have poor production in the factory or office.

I was a Department Manager and Assistant Manager for our beloved Walmart. There I had every kind of leader you could think of. I did my job to the best of my ability. I was always cooperative with my employees. I tried my best to help them wherever I could. Every year the company would ask the employees to rate their Assistants and Manager. I consistently received an 80 to 90 percent approval rating. I always made sure people were doing their jobs. And if they weren’t doing what was expected, I coached them right out the front door. Each coaching was a call for them to improve their work ethic. They had 3 chances to do so. If they didn’t improve, they left the company.

I always treated people fairly. Always trying to coax or cajole them into working as hard as they can. I never yelled or belittled anyone. I would speak to my employees with respect never wavering about the task at hand. Christmas was coming and I had 2 young men moving pallets of goods into different shipping containers. At first it was liking pulling teeth. They resisted doing anything. At lunch time I brought them to a Subway store and bought them lunch. The results were day and night. Those two young men moved more pallets faster than our receiving team. It’s all about how you treat people.

The point is how you treat people. When the work got hard, I would pitch in and help them. People appreciated that I valued people. They would work for me because of that work ethic. I always believe that working hard and doing your best was the right way to do things. I wasn’t working hard because of what people thought. I worked hard because it was who I am. And because I worked hard all the time, I rose in management. I never wanted to be a store manager because it was too much politics and paper work. But I would always do my best to help people.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com

I msut be about My Father’s business.


For thousands of years, before colleges were commonplace, people would apprentice with their fathers or mothers. If a father had a business, the son and sometimes the daughter would join their father to learn the business. The child would apprentice for years. It would depend on how intricate the works was. Jesus apprenticed with His father, Joseph, as a carpenter. Jesus was called a carpenter. And so it was for many sons and daughters. Usually the daughters were taught home economics by their mothers. This is why so many wives and mothers were in charge of the money for the business.

When Jesus was 12 years old, Joseph and Mary decided to take Him to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. When the caravan was ready to leave Jerusalem after Passover, Joseph and Mary joined their family and left Jerusalem. They thought that Jesus was with the other children playing. The caravan traveled a day journey and Joseph and Mary began looking for Jesus. When they didn’t find Jesus, they immediately returned to Jerusalem. On the third day, they found Jesus in the Temple listening and asking questions to the doctors of the Law. This is what Mary said to Jesus and His reply.

And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Luke 2:48-49.

The question wasn’t only to Joseph and Mary, it is directed at us. The bible says that Jesus submitted to His parents and return home. Where He grew in wisdom and statue and in favor with God and Man. What Jesus was asking, if we understood that the Father’s business in our business. And the we must be about that business. You see we are God’s apprentices. Therefore we must be about our Father’s business.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com