Workplace Calisthenics: Deaths, terror dwarfed by 'Friends,' Kobe

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Cal LeMon, of Executive Enrichment Inc., solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting.|ret||ret||tab|

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Maybe it would just take the addition of a zero.|ret||ret||tab|

Instead of, "It has just been reported that five U.S. soldiers were killed today in Iraq," what if the copy had read, "It has just been reported that 50 U.S. soldiers were killed today in Iraq"?|ret||ret||tab|

Would that additional zero get our attention? How many digits will it take to engage us in an open discussion about this war on terror?|ret||ret||tab|

Did the "illegal" photos from Dover Air Force Base of perfectly arranged, flag-draped caskets in the belly of a C5-A transport plane get your attention? Their motionless message stopped my world.|ret||ret||tab|

I am concerned that the cardiac issues of our new world do not grab our brains unless these issues are also wrapped in some "wow" factor.|ret||ret||tab|

We are mired in a media-soaked society that slips around in nonstop, 24-hour reports about Martha, Kobe, carbs, NASCAR, NRA, "The King of Pop" and thigh reducers.|ret||ret||tab|

Our minds skid from one "alert" to the next. I do not know about you, but the "Orange" threat level for Homeland Security is becoming a pallid gray for me. |ret||ret||tab|

I believe we have learned the easiest way to deal with news that has been so bad and demanding lately: that our best choice is to anesthetize ourselves with massive doses of surfing 100-plus channels, we hope, will slide us into sleep.|ret||ret||tab|

Specifically, what concerns me about the war on terror is that we cannot remember the terror. When "terror" becomes a distant memory, we are in trouble.|ret||ret||tab|

Once the credits rolled on the "shock and awe," the majority of us have gone about our business praying the economy will bounce back, we will win the state lottery, our tax refund will arrive soon or we will be chosen as a participant on the next "Apprentice."|ret||ret||tab|

It is my opinion we are adopting a national malaise that sings "Don't worry, be happy" until we are forced by some major, gland-wrenching event to rearrange our priorities at the beginning of this new, and often terrible, century.|ret||ret||tab|

We reason that unless we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell a crisis in real time, we just are not interested.|ret||ret||tab|

Think about what is on our plate, I mean platter, right now. |ret||ret||tab|

First, we are fighting a war that was supposed to be a "slam dunk" marked with "They will be dancing in the streets." The 600-plus families that have an empty chair at the kitchen table tonight are a mute reminder that whatever war plan there was it is not working.|ret||ret||tab|

Second, once again we are being held hostage by an oil cartel that regularly has jerked us around in our worst moments. Now watch, when prices dip to $1.50 per gallon, we will breathe a sigh of relief and then reward some politician with another four years in office so this tape can rewind and be replayed a few months from now.|ret||ret||tab|

Third, vast numbers of highly skilled jobs are being permanently erased from our employment rolls. Last month's cover of Fast Company screamed, "Look in their eyes these people lost high-tech jobs to low-wage countries." Try telling them that off-shoring is a good thing in the long run.|ret||ret||tab|

The fact is there is a seismic shift taking place in the workplace that most of us have missed. There are no "somewhere over the rainbow" happy endings here. We have to permanently kiss-off jobs that will never return to the United States.|ret||ret||tab|

Yes, new options for employment are being created every day, but what kind of jobs? Machines are the new proletariat of this economy. |ret||ret||tab|

What kind of hype do we need to start talking about and planning for a brand new economy that sneaked in the back door of our workplaces?|ret||ret||tab|

Fourth, identity theft is not just about a surly person rooting through your trash container looking for credit card receipts. Have we missed that almost every part of your life is now on some technological stage? Look up your name on the Internet. You may be surprised how much of your life has been catalogued, videotaped, recorded and then sliced and diced for the mavens of marketing. Anyone interested in talking about that?|ret||ret||tab|

I am convinced it is getting harder to get an audience for any of these gigantic issues because we will be busy watching the final episode of "Friends" and, you know what, there are just not enough zeros yet.|ret||ret||tab|

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