Another year gone by

Well, a few days ago, I celebrated making it another year without dying (Seinfeld terminology for a birthday). It seems like this year was a lot more eventful than most, with getting married, buying a house, selling a house and all that fun stuff. It certainly does make me thankful that I did make it another year because we certainly aren't guaranteed another day.

It's been kind of cool this year to move along to a different stage in life. Being single was a lot of fun and certainly had its benefits, but I am really enjoying this new stage in life. Last weekend, we got together with some other friends (all of whom have young kids) and tonight were talking to a couple with college-aged kids. For some reason, it seems cool to me to be able to spend time with people in all different life situations and get some insight into their world. I really think this is how we're supposed to work- being in relationships with people both similar to us and different than us.

Just think if we all did have friends at different stages in their life journeys. There would be so much potential there for us helping each other by sharing experiences and wisdom. Yet, I see in my own life the tendency to spend time with others during my "leftover" time- that is, when I am not working and feel like I can afford to take that time. It's been a long time since I've sought out someone younger than I am to try to help provide them some encouragement or words of wisdom. But, I can remember many people who have been that older, wiser voice to me both personally and professionally and know what a help that has been.

But, in this culture we live in, building friendships is unfortunately not something we do that great at. We are usually caught up in working, buying stuff and maintaining that stuff so we don't have that much time left for anything else. So I guess it just boils down to our priorities and living those out.

How about loyalty in business?

My last lecture of the semester always deals with careers in the IT industry and I always talk more generally about what careers in the business world are like. It seems as if one thing that's been happening lately is a decline in loyalty from both employers and employees. The extreme example seems to be the world of college coaching- a coach who hasn't had a losing record in over 10 years gets fired and a coach who has been at a school for one year is upset that they don't give him a new deal (both actually happened this season).

While those examples might be a bit extreme, that seems to reflect the overall trend in business. People used to remember past loyalty and service, but nowadays it seems the main question is, "What can you do for me now?" It seems as if a lot of companies are concerned with the bottom line and not a whole lot else. The days of staying with one company for your career appears to be an old notion.

I have run into this myself in some of my work- companies that I have been loyal to and provided excellent service to going elsewhere for no apparent reason. I certainly hope that in my dealings, I am demonstrating loyalty and showing appreciation to those who have gone out of their way for me in the past.