Archives
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
November 2008
November 2008
October 2008
Executive Club Newsletter
May 2008
What Me Worry? The Empowerment of Employees
Dr. Marsha Woodbury
Thursday May 15
Champaign Country Club
11:30 a.m.: Registration and Networking
11:45 a.m.: Buffet Opens
12:15 p.m.: Mtg/Program
In the book The Social, Ethical & Policy Implications of Information Systems, edited by Linda L. Brennan and Victoria E. Johnson the authors claim “As information systems become more pervasive in human organizations, these effects pose increasingly significant ethical dilemmas and create unintended social costs and consequences. Management practice and public policy lag behind the advances in technology and their impact on social systems.”
University of Illinois Computer Science Lecturer, Dr. Marsha Woodbury’s, talk will focus on her chapter in this book "What, Me Worry? The Empowerment of Employees". It deals with the training and education of business personnel about the ethics, manners and responsibilities of e-mail, voicemail, cell phones, and instant messaging. She argues for empowering the employees by helping them learn to handle these electronic tools in a manner that causes the least harm to others and promotes the best records management and communication.
Registrations are due by noon on Monday, May 12. Please indicate if you are bringing a guest. Contact the Treasurer with questions about registration.
Register online now!
Pre-register online and send a check for $15 to ECCC, P.O. Box 61, Champaign, IL 61824-0061 OR pre-register online and pay on day of luncheon.
*Remember, there will be a $5 late fee for reservations received after the Monday Noon deadline. Attendees with late or no reservations will be permitted to attend as seating is available.
Top
Finding Meaning and Balance in a 9-5 World
President’s Message
by Jayne DeLuce
The idea of work-life balance is an illusion we create. The reality is that we have only one life, about one third of which we spend earning a living.
So, how do you want to live your life, in and out of work? That’s the question everyone seeking happiness and a sense of balance should be asking. What are your conditions of satisfaction? What are your material aspirations? How much do you need to earn to meet them? How much are your time and skills worth? What kinds of people do you prefer to work with? What kind of work really turns you on, makes you sing?
Thinking about some of these answers, I came across this excerpt from Mike Cook’s new book: Thrive: Standing on Your Own Two Feet in a Borderless World
See the workplace as an ideal setting for personal growth and transformation. This quest is called "walking around spirituality." It means treating your job as your life’s work--behaving and interacting with clients, co-workers, and customers in such a way that you enrich yourself and all those who come in contact with you.
Those among us who are the most fun and inspiring to work with are leading satisfying lives. They are not necessarily the highest paid or highest placed folks in the organization --that may not even be their prime motivation. We admire these people because they are true to themselves. They have found a balance, not between life and work, but between being and doing.
Here are some simple guidelines that might very well help you find more meaning and balance in your work and life.
- Follow your calling. Some tasks are not worth doing. The people who feel happy and satisfied at work at those who are working well at something they consider important. Sometimes it will be interesting, sometimes it will be entertaining, and sometimes it will be boring and difficult. But even then, it should still feel important to you.
- Work in a state of awareness. Day-to-day life in the workplace can be dangerous because the opportunities to go to sleep, or operate on automatic, abound. Try to be fully aware of your behavior and decisions and what your life’s mission and purpose are. Stay awake to each opportunity for self-growth and knowledge.
- Embrace interdependency and interconnection. One of the great paradoxes of life is that we are put here in separate compartments, and yet we are always part of something much greater than ourselves, something that we affect and something that affects us. Whatever we do or don’t do has an impact on the lives of others. Therefore, we have a certain responsibility to each other, which is also true in the place we work.
- Take responsibility. Many people in today’s world are not getting everything they need, either in life or in the workplace, and they are beginning to suspect that maybe this has something to do with them, not their circumstances. Take responsibility for your peace of mind, personal transformation, or attitude overhaul. The workplace is a perfect lab as you search for your own truth, for the main reason that you spend so much of your life there.
- Stay young. Staying young boils down to waking each morning with a sense that you still have places to go and things to do, and you are grateful for the opportunity to have a future. Make your life into a learning experience from beginning to end, and from nine to five. Meet life on its own terms and adopt a student’s mind in doing so.
- Express gratitude. In many people’s experience, the single most missing element in their day-to-day work lives is appreciation. Remind yourself, through the practice of saying thank you--that other people at work don’t have to support you; their support is a gift. That they get paid is immaterial to the notion of your being grateful.
- Accept circumstances without judgment. See business realities for what they are and accept them without judgment, thus creating the condition for acting freely. You cannot control your circumstances, but you can choose your path.
- Have integrity. Be completely true to what you know is right and what you feel you must do, regardless of the immediate cost or sacrifice. Be honorable and behave decently in and out of work.
If you sense the "something is just not right" in your work life, consider that what you may actually be sensing is a gap between your "being" and your "doing" that is causing you discomfort. How do you want to "be" in your job and in your life? In the workplace setting, the most satisfied and successful players are those who have found a way to integrate spiritual common sense (being) with exceptional workplace behavior and business performance (doing).
MIKE COOK is founding partner of Vitalwork, Inc. (www.vitalwork.com), an organizational development firm that helps companies and employees compete in the outsourced economy. His new book is Thrive: Standing on Your Own Two Feet in a Borderless World
Top
ECCC Policy on Use of Mailing List
by Jayne DeLuce
You recently received an email notice from the UI Training for Business Professionals Office about an invitation to a reception on May 7, in conjunction with the Biennial Conference for Women. This was a mailing that was approved by the ECCC board. I thought some of you might be interested in what the mailing policy is according to the ECCC operations manual:
Article IV, Section 3. Procedure. A mailing list is available for purchase by ECCC members. An individual wishing to purchase the list should submit a request to the ECCC President who will take the request to the Board for approval. The fee for the list is $25 for members.
If you do purchase the mailing list, it is a one-time use only. That way, we protect the privacy of our membership. When requesting a mailing, please allow ample time for the Board to approve the mailing and for the Membership Chair to prepare the mailing.
Any questions, please refer them to the president@executiveclubcc.org. Thanks!
Top
Reader’s Corner
Last month when our book club’s reported on what they are doing several people expressed interest in reading some of the books that were mentioned. Here is a list of books that the book clubs have read.
Top
Member Profile
Jayne DeLuce, President
Jayne DeLuce is a native of Springfield IL. She enjoys activities such as tennis, jogging, gardening hanging out with Joe, Jenna and Jordan. She is involved with Crisis Nursery, Robeson School, First Church, Champaign Co. Sports Commission and the Sharks. When asked her favorite music she replied “Whatever’s playing in my ipod to keep me jogging further!” When she gets time to relax she watches CSI, The Biggest Loser, Extreme Home Makeover, and HGTV! Right now she is also reading American Girl Mystery books with her daughter. If you love mysteries she recommends “Stone Cold by David Baldacci. Her favorite quote is We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill
Top
Member Profile
Laura Frerichs
Laura works at Fox Development Corporation as the Vice President of Business Development & Marketing. She currently lives in Champaign, but as a child moved around a lot living in California, Virginia, and Illinois. Her main activities are shopping, flower arranging and Political Campaigns(hmmm I wonder who she campaigns withJ). She loves a wide variety of culture from history, architecture to celebrity gossip and in music she enjoys Alternative Rock, 90’s music, classical, and pop. Her favorite movies include Moulin Rouge, Shawshank Redemption, and Steel Magnolias. If you are looking for a good book Laura recommends Memories of a Geisha, The Namesake, and The Jungle. Her favorite quote is from Daniel Burnham, "Make no small plans. They have nomagic to stir men’s blood."
Top
Member Profile
Jane Adams
Jane is a Senior Vice President of Finance, at First Federal Savings Bank. She grew up in Champaign but has lived in the Fisher area the last 20+ years. She enjoys walking, exercising, gardening, reading and watching both her son playing soccer and their recent foreign exchange student from Brazil who plays on Parkland’s soccer team. She is mostly a classic 70’s and 80’s listener but also likes more recent hit songs by groups such as Augustana, Daughtry. You will know where to look for her when her favorite shows American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, HGTV and TLC channels, and Desperate Housewives are on. Her favorite Movies are Disney movies, Sound of Music, Shawshank Redemption; romantic comedies and "feel good" sports movies, such as Goal and Bend It Like Beckham. She loves mysteries and is currently reading John Grisham’s "The Appeal". On her marquee-screen saver at work it says: "The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age." Lucille Ball