Reading Response Week 2
The first reading I wanted to discuss is about the boss sending the angry email that upset many people. The Article was “Boss’s Angry Email Sends Shares plunging” written by Mr. Patterson the chief executive officer of Cerner. I really think this email will have a strong effect on Mr. Patterson’s career and future. His behavior is not what I expected from a CEO. His choices of words as well as his tone were poor throughout the email. I think he let his emotions and personal feels take over which proved inappropriate. He could have used constructive criticism by choosing better words or expressions. I expected a person of his caliber to uphold to the companies guidelines and represent the company in a respectable manner. According to the article he has been known to be blunt and sometimes arrogant. Since he is the founder of the company I don’t think he will be disciplined, but he will fill the pain from the losses he is experiencing in the stock market. I think an important lesson to learn from this is to realize that everything you do on the Internet can be traced, no matter how far back the date is. Mr. Patterson should have also thought more about what he wanted to say and how it would sound. I can understand Mr. Patterson’s motive, because I too can be blunt at times. I have written an email to a member of a club I am in and it turned out to be leaked to the entire club. The email was personal to the person and I. I could have avoided this by going to the person and speaking with them face to face. According to the “Ten Habits of Successful Emailers” I should have thought before sending an email that might have provoked emotions. Now I definitely believe emails and text messaging are different. The main reason for this is that emails usually appear to be more formal. My text messages sometimes consist of maybe 2 or 3 words, but my emails are usually a few sentences. Emails are great for the business and industry because they relay messages instantaneously and attachments also can be added to them. As for the HR personnel, I was surprised that Mr. Richardson didn’t like the power adjectives most people use to enhance their resume. I always felt these words were necessary and I still think they are. Mr. Richardson did give some valid reasons for not using these adjectives, I think his idea was for future employees to be themselves.
Comments
adjective use in resumes
I like your statement that "Mr. Richardson didn’t like the power adjectives most people use to enhance their resume." I think this gets at an important issue. It's possible that Mr. Richardson doesn't like them because most people use them in their resumes. It may be that he sees the same things so much that thay have lost meaning.
When we prepare our resumes, we have to do a balancing act. We feel that there are certain things that need to be in there. This is true, but we must also remember that our resume will be evaluated, on some level, by a person—usually one that has seen a thousand resumes before he or she gets to ours. As such, our work should stand out positively in some way. We don't want our resumes to just be a checklist of formal expectations (I've got my statement with power verbs, I've got my bullet list of skills, etc.), because that will get us lumped in with the other 99%. The resume extravaganza on Friday might give us some more insight into this issue.
Personal vs. Business
The idea of defining what is personal and what is business is key to having a successful career no matter what position you hold. I couldn’t believe that a CEO would write such an email. Sometimes I find that I get frustrated or angry with someone or something and I open up Word and type out what I am feeling. As quick as I type it out I delete it. It is one thing to write it to yourself to vent out frustration but then you must let go of the frustration and approach the situation in a business and professional manner which Patterson clearly did not.
Reading Response Comment
I agree on all levels. Your career within the business world depends on how well you can seperate your personal life and your career. Sometimes people say things and then maybe regret what they wrote but not its too late. Mr. Patterson went way too far, and should have approached the problem in a different way. I agree this was definetely not the professional way to handle a problem with this much weight on it. HUGE problems should be settled face to face regardless. There are no excuses for his behavior, and now he maybe knows how to handle problems in a better manner.
Alayna Willis