A musing Beam

Blame is not a percentage game, and neither is credit, in most situations.  When I roll out a new application at work, I should not attempt to take 100% of the credit.  Tommy probably did the better part of the coding (meaning both more time and higher quality), the docs and nurses gave the input I needed, the technicians made the database and network connectivity possible, the insurance companies paid for the kids to get their hearts worked on (which paid my salary), etc.  That does mean that I shouldn't "take" or "get" credit -- it means that it isn't a simple computation where the amount I get should decrease the amount someone else gets. And if the applications fails, that doesn't mean that it shifts from being credit to blame, or that I should in turn get all the blame.  (Though I think, there, as a team leader, I should strive to take as much as I can ... but that's for a whole different reason.) When my daughters were younger and they woul

There's an old bit of advice that says you should look at how your date treats the server at the restaurant to see how nice a person your date is.  I think you should probably get to know your date a little bit better, and use a slightly more nuanced approach, but ... I think the point is very valid.  How you treat those that are situationally below you, hierarchically, says a lot about you. My larger thought here, though, is about small considerations in general.  By small considerations, I mean when you have to think about something minor, and take a minor act, in consideration of someone else.  Put the shopping cart where it goes, park in between the lines, walk on the sidewalk instead of the grass, hold the door for someone, respond to a greeting, put an item back on the shelf where you got it, stay in the flow of traffic instead of trying to pull in front of someone half a mile down the line, etc.  What does it take for you to feel empowered to ignore those small considera