Mexico’s “Drug War”

To understand the violence that has grown so fast in Mexico would require many pages of study and observations from multiple sources, but let’s put it in a simple way, 4 years ago president Felipe Calderon took in his own hands to stop Drug Cartels that have gained control over several part of Mexico, he did this by implementing new control strategies and a more intensive use of military force in the search of drugs and the drug cartel leaders.

 The results as much of us know, has been an increase of violence to levels never seen before in Mexico, in the last three years there have been 28,000 deaths related to this drug war, and the numbers go up every day, and this is only the number of people actually found dead, there is no real count on the number of people that has disappeared or hasn’t been found, so in reality the number could be higher.

 All this violence has had as consequence the closure of several businesses, migration from people to other states or even coming here to the US, news channels have received treats on what they should broadcast and what they should not, areas where after 6 pm is not safe to go out in the streets, and the list goes on, the collateral damage in innumerable.

 The government is trying to fight this problem, but the principal obstacle in succeeding is the lack of trust among all the police departments, there is a lot of corruption in several local and state departments, so this makes the labor a lot more complicated. Low wages of police members is one of the reasons why this corruption exists, or the reason why they prefer to look the other way when something is happening, they just don’t see it worth taking any chances for the amount they perceive every month.

 In recent times the government make a key arrest, than ended up in a killing, of one of the main member in the Sinaloa Cartel, Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel, he was third in rank in this cartel, this represent a hard hit in the structure, but also a source of new information for the government, it’s been said that a laptop was found and it contains strategic information on the way the cartel operates.

 The point here is that the government needs to develop new ways of gaining the trust of all members in the different police corps, so they can work in a more effective way, and here is where the real leaders come in play, good leaders should be able to create this trust and make all elements work in such a way they succeed in this task they have in their hands, this is not an easy thing to do and won’t happen in a few hours, would take work and perseverance, but it is necessary to happen, the collateral damage is getting too big.

 

More to come in future blogs….

The controversial law SB 1070

This is a much discussed subject, and in this one I plan not to have a particular side, I prefer to look at both sides, the ones in favor of the law and the ones against it. This law makes capable for any police officer to check for immigration status on any particular individual they think has a illegal immigration status in the US, allows to arrest this person in case is illegally in the US and make it a subject for deportation and so on.

First of all we have to make clear that they are breaking a law by being here illegally, and no one should be above the law, therefore the law should be implemented in such way they make up for this broken law, every country is able to implement any law that finds necessary to establish any kind of control they consider optimal, US is not the only country with this type of immigration laws.

On the other side is the people that has been living in this country for many year that they consider themselves more Americans than any other nationality, they have kids that have been born here and have lost any family connection they might have had back in their home country, usually this persons do work and comply with everything required for them to live a normal life, pay taxes, contribute to society in a positive way, except for the fact of having no immigration papers in this country.

All politicians try to avoid this subject every time they can, unless they have no other choice they will talk about it, they know it is a hard to talk subject because any side they take they will end up losing political support, and that is something they are not interested in. This I consider has driven all this immigration issue to where it stands right now, if they are not willing to enforce laws or implement new ones that will allow to create more order and a better environment for everyone, then the solution will never come, they are the ones with the power to make things better, yes the people can go out to the streets and protest and claim whatever side is better for them, but unless politicians jump into the plate and work towards something that will create a win-win situation for everyone the solution will never come.

Loss of leadership in the political arena and pretty much everywhere else….

It is amazing how a society can turn into bad when political leaders have lost credibility  and they are not able to improve the society they are supposed to lead, when there is no trust no one is going to believe in them, therefore they won’t be the leaders needed by society.

Actual political systems in most countries allow the same characters to keep in power for many years, in my opinion this is not necessary the best, this political platforms won’t allow new generations to enter the “system”, and what this means is that, they block the entrance to new ideas and points of view.

The idea here is not to establish that the person in power doesn’t know what they are doing, there are bright minds in the political arena everywhere, the problem relies that some of them are not open to new ideas, they are afraid of change and that somehow they would not be able to keep up with this change.

This loss of leadership has had as consequence the problems we see all around the world, wars, civil wars, public frustration, company frauds, increase in crime, increase in drug addiction, and the list goes on.  All of these topics will be discussed in this blog, as possible of course, there are a lot of things going on in the world and society involvement is required.

Individual action is necessary, this includes becoming a more active person and this doesn’t mean to become a politician or a hardcore activist, the proposal here is to be more active in what happens around the globe, in the country where you live, in the town where you live, to provide others with information you have access to and give points of view, to start the discussion and involve as many people as you can, hopefully this will make more people in the political arena and will create new trends that will lead to a change in leadership, I know this is not easy but it’s a start….

 

Silence is worst than words

When an employee in any organization is not able to speak and express his ideas, the problems he notices will never be fixed, and might be ignored by the management team, having as consequence that these problems become a bigger threat to the employees in the organization.

 Managers need to let know their employees that there won’t be negative consequences when complaining about any problems, at the same time it is necessary to let them know that any feedback they put on the table will be considered and that it will be left forgotten by the management team, this way you will encourage your employees to tell you the problems they perceive and will be willing to give their proposed solutions. The more proposals you have the easier will be to get to a better solution.

 The more you keep your employees quiet the bigger the problems will be. Communication channels are fundamental in any organization, managers need to be willing to receive any type of feedback, negative or positive, and be able to process it in a constructive way, that will allow a grow in the trust among employees.

 Managers also need to let know their employees that they want to hear from them, that they want to hear their concerns and what solutions they propose; this will allow the employees feel in control, and at the same time will create a better work atmosphere.

It’s all about the system

In these difficult economic times, many companies are facing difficult decisions, decisions that include cutting budgets, letting people go and finding creative ways to save money or reduce expenses.

 When the personnel working in the company is well capacitated, and the system in which he works in allows him to develop himself to the point where loyalty to the company persist no matter what, these companies have a lot more easy perspective on how things are going, inclusive in these hard times, because having the support of the employees will generate a better image for the company and the costumers will notice it, and will develop the same loyalty.

 If the company treads his employees as if they were the most important factor in the company, because they are, the success of the company will be given by itself, no matter how big the company is they can always tread their employees in a way that would make them give that extra step to make the company be the best one in the market.

 Training, communication channels, empowerment, are some basic tools that need to be expressed to every employee, to make them feel a part of the purpose of the company will create a bigger commitment from them to make things better.

 Team work plays an important role in this, if you want a successful company, team spirit is a must, they must be able to support each other and be willing to make everybody grow, to make sure everybody is getting the same opportunities, and if not, find ways to solve any existing problem, taking into account the necessities of your employees would allow to make the system work better.

 In short, you employees are the most valuable capital you have in your books, so take care of them because they will take care of you.

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Layoff?

The present economic situation calls for difficult decisions, companies see the need to look for ways to survive in the current markets, markets that show no sign of getting better, uncertainty is the predominant word in the financial markets, this uncertainty makes some decision even harder, given the constrained financial market, the easiest solution for a lot of companies is lay off the people that has been working for them, and perhaps this is not the best solution.

 When laying off people sometimes you are letting go the best human capital that you have, the rule that the first ones to leave are the last ones that got hired, perhaps is the worst solution you could ever do, a lot of this new people comes with fresh ideas, and it’s not influenced by the bad attitudes that might be present in the company, and sometimes a lot of this new employees left other job offers with the idea that working for this specific company was the right choice, and in the end can turn out to be the worst one.

 There is also the psychological effect that layoffs have in the remaining staff; it can be difficult for some of the employees to see some of the people they considered friends, just to go away with no job and no idea what’s going to happen next, this can lower the morale of the employees and make them wonder who is going to be next. At the same time the public image of the company can be affected, since letting people without a job cannot be seen as a good thing to do from the company.

 There are always different choices, but no matter what, layoff comes as the first choice for everyone, perhaps because is a fast and somehow easy solution, also it doesn’t require to be really creative when implementing, perhaps that’s why a lot of people think about it, because it doesn’t require from them to use their imagination and look for more ways of succeed trough hard times, every leader in the organization has this job, and this job requires to be creative and always look for the best choices for the team.

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Put the person before the system

When you are the head of the team, the leader, the person in charge of getting things done, there are basically two ways on how you can get things done, the first one you can use your authority as the head of the team and force everyone in that team or under your command to do things, whatever the activities is, or the second one is via a more friendly approach, as a servant leader, a leader that is there to guide and motivate, that empowers people to do things and be able to take their own decisions.

 The second approach will always bring better results, even in the case of mistaking, there is the capability to learn from mistakes, also when the leader perceives there are some troubles he has the capability to act and help solve the problems. This system also opens the door to trust, by empowering people the leader is trusting they can so the job, and he also has to make sure that he is for them when the questions a raise or when some guidance is necessary.

The right development of trust makes a feeling that everybody is equal in the team; this brings more comfort for the members and creates a better environment in the team. At this point the leader is capable of noticing what are the needs of the team and looks for ways to satisfy these needs, in order for them to perform their job better.

In some cases the operating system within the company may go against the better performance of the team, or in some point affect one or multiple members of the team, here is necessary to look for ways of solving this, perhaps looking for different ways to implement the current system, or if possible making a substantial change in the system, after all, if the system is affecting one team the probability that is affecting another is high.

The leader has to realize that the members of the team trust him, and also trusts that he knows what to do in certain circumstances, given the confidence they have in their leader they will certainly do what the leader says, but it is also very important for the leader to get feedback from the members of the team, a diversity and open dialogue must exist at all times, this would make better decisions, in which every member of the team feels he is a part of such decisions.

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