Being Grown Up - Attempt #1

I recently had to write for a newsletter, under the Letter from the Lead section. Won't get into details of the title because that's all there to it. And also, it's for an initiative on the side, so nothing worth bragging about (I so do wish there was though).
So I was now faced the challenge of not sounding too big for my boots, yet saying something at least remotely lead-like. Working against a tight deadline (because in a very lead-like manner I had procrastinated till the end), this is what I could come up with.
For anyone who has the time, patience and the interest, do let me know if I sound full of it.
It being any of the following:
• Crap
• Greatness (a girl can hope can't she)
• Potential (this would be the safest bet for anyone I know personally, because either I know where you live or I'll be able to find out :D)
• Just plain it


The importance of two very simple yet powerful words struck me recently: Ask and Tell.
I find they’re words we take for granted a lot of the time. And while I believe this holds good in life away from the office too, I’d like to focus a little more on their impact at work.

To start with my first magic word, Ask, an anonymous quote about sums up what I want to say: The only stupid questions are the ones not asked.
We all want to and we try really hard, but it just isn’t practical that we know everything under the Win 7 hood, leave alone the sun!
And I learn each day that there is no shame in asking the questions no matter how trivial they might seem.
In fact it’s an established fact, each time the person that everyone is rolling their eyes at, asks the oh-so-obvious question, close to a fourth of the audience is going “Oh so that’s how it is!”.
So if you aren’t going to do it for yourself, ask for the other 25% of the guys in the room. :)

That brings me to the second revelation that I’d had, to Tell.
If you think about it, the one thing that keeps us sane is knowledge. Man has a universal fear of the unknown. We’re programmed to find comfort in being in the know.
And the work place isn’t any different. The one thing that truly fuels panic is the lack of information.
If we were to list down the things we spend time on each day, I’m sure for most of us status updates would rank pretty high. And why not, how else would we navigate through a system as complex as the IT.
Wouldn’t it be so much better if you just kept people informed of what you’re doing, did or will do as you go along?
I do agree that one can overdo it with the updates (and you might even get your very own spam folder in others’ inboxes!), but you’ll find that timely updates not only establish your credibility and reliability but also help organize your own to-do items.

It took me a while to discover the importance of these two simple, yet often neglected acts. I hope this saves at least a few of you that trouble. :)