« Reply #4855 on: October 04, 2021, 12:44:21 am »
It takes guts to be the only person in the room who is right and to not "go along to get along''
Consensus shares the responsibility for failure unless someone is the designated whipping boy.
But for someone to rationally stand against (or in favor) of something against the flow is vital to progress, and can save lives and money in the end.
It used to disgust me, but now I am amused at the way people who finally embrace the very concepts they fought long and hard against will try to take credit for them in retrospect.
That was one of the things Dad taught me. Stand up. For a 9th grade education, he became smarter when I was 20and more so when I was 30. That continued even after he passed. He let me learn at my own pace.I always spoke up. I directly opposed the head at our nuclear plant. Same thing with our new ownersfrom Cleveland. I spoke up and took the consequences. My track record was good and it had to bein order to influence those important issues affecting my department, engineering, my company, and my personal life. It turned out that I knew more than 90% of those around me. I had saved two yearssalary so, I was brave.I did save lives. We had several men caught in a downtown vault. Under the grates you see on downtownsidewalks. One of the men made an error and caused a short circuit. The only exit was above the fault.One man crawled up in the smoke and unlocked another exit. He died about a week later. He had alsobeen a WWII hero. I reviewed the settings and submitted them to an old boss in relay settings. He sentthem out under his name.Cleveland taught me about liars. They had excellent liars, but they had tells that I could read. They did havetalented people but way too many. Competition between them ate up the advantages.My goal was to be head of engineering. Something I didn't attain. I knew my best route was to startmy own company, but the thought of poverty restrained me.Our company had a magnificent buy out program, and I took it to retire at age 50. The offer was an intelligencetest. About 95% took it. I left with nearly 6 years salary and invested it instead of taking a pension.My life has exceeded my wildest expectations. I have always made my employer money and lots of it.The majority of bosses saw that I was compensated well. Not the whole nine yards, but quite well.Again thanks for all the comments/advice.@Slide Rule
Logged
White, American, MAGA, 3% Neanderthal, and 97% Extreme Right Wing Conservative.
Recommended
J Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson
E Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
N Davies, Europe: A History
R Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics
R Penrose, The Road To Reality & The Emperor's New Mind
K Popper, An Open Society and Its Enemies & The Logic of Scientific Discovery
A Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, & Everything he wrote