Author: J Cleveland Payne

Diversity is a hot topic these days.

Few people will not say openly that diversity is great for an organization.

Many will say that diversity is great but will do little to bring in diverse people to interview and even less when someone shows up to hire them.

Diversity is also challenging. To the defense of some, the trouble with finding diverse candidates is there are none in the traditional wells that talent is found. For others, there are real barriers to entry that various candidates can not easily overcome, and to their detriment, they are not given the tools to change their situations.

So what do you do if you are actively seeking diversity and not doing a great job of implementing?

Try harder.

Are you ready to try harder? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can discuss.

I am used to being known as the guy who seems to know everything.

The reality is I answer just about every question, even if the answer is, “I don’t know.”

Because of this, there is the façade of me knowing just about everything, which forces me to know a little bit about everything.

But as I have grown older, wiser, and more cranky, I have learned that I don’t need to know so much about everything.

Except when people who believe I know everything asks me about the things they care a lot about and I have chosen to care less about.

This becomes a problem for them. They think it becomes a problem for me, but not so much as I grow older, wiser, and more cranky.

What do you think? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can discuss.

I have been working on a new meal-management plan.

Yes, I know exactly how dangerous that is to attempt during the holidays, but it really is a matter of determination or excuses.

It is just as hard to stick to a consistent meal-management plan in March as it is in December. Food never goes away, and marketers are trying to keep their food provider clients in business by pushing more and more food for you to seek out.

I have been working on this system for three weeks, and after some initial adjustment weight gain, I am officially down 3 pounds from the start.

But I’m missing eating bread regularly.

I am not entirely grain-free. My meal-management plan doesn’t forbid anything. It just asks you to think really really hard about everything you put into your mouth.

But there is so much bread everywhere is an excuse. Through determination, I have cut down on bread intake.

But I want to eat more bread because bread is really delicious and is everywhere.

Until I feel safe going back into a gym (and have time to go), I will have a problem losing the total twenty pounds I want to shed, but I am on the right track with my eating, and I am far from starving.

But I want to eat more bread.

Are you a fan of bread? Can you live without bread on the side? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can discuss. Maybe even grumble about it.

If you cannot process and accept criticism, you have a problem.

If you have way too many things people can pick and choose from to criticize you, then you have a totally different problem.

You can still process and accept all that criticism, but if there is always something to criticize, you have to wonder how much merit the criticism holds.

This was a short post, but was it a good post? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com and tell me what you think.

The process of publishing an article is similar to the process of creating a meal.

If a person is hungry, someone must do some work to get a digestible meal.

It doesn’t always have to be pretty or elaborate, but it has to be adequately prepared to ensure safety.

Sure, you could crack open a raw egg and down it, but someone has to go get that egg from a chicken, and we all don’t have the capacity to raise the animals.

You could possibly eat and digest small amounts of raw meat, but you still have to butcher it, and if you don’t have the space for a chicken coop, you probably don’t have the space to raise pigs or cattle.

Whether you are publishing a potential New York Times bestselling novel, an article for the New York Post, or just a post for your personal blog about life in your corner of your borough of New York, there is a process that must be processed.

The level of presentation may or may not make a difference. You might be catering a large gathering or just making a quick snack. You might be completing a large manuscript or turning in a short memo. You have a process. Words and meals don’t just appear ready for consumption.

Bad analysis? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can discuss.