Nelson, Administrative Assistant: Fill & Download for Free

How much can any Head of State accomplish for his country? They all want to leave a great legacy yet few do more good than harm and we soon forget them. The Chinese already credit President Xi with doing a lot of good in a short time, and the Western media often attributes this to Xi's 'power' which, they say, is comparable to Mao's.Let's look at the components of Xi's power and effectiveness.Xi has the constitutional powers of Head of State and Chief Secretary of the Party. He's also effectively Commander in Chief of China's armed forces, the largest military on earth. That's a lot of power before we add personal attributes that help him exercise that power effectively.He's freakishly honest [I would put him in the Nelson Mandela class of persons. A person with enormous emotional stability who does not allow his personal misfortunes or sufferings affect his judgment. In other words, he is impressive.--Lee Kwan Yew, Founder of Singapore] and has been since anyone could remember. So was his dad, who – twice! – was sentenced to death for speaking his mind.Xi was born famous. All Chinese know his dad, Xi Zhongxun, as one of the Eight Immortals: a gifted administrator who was a general at age 19. It was his dad who welcomed and sheltered Mao at the end of the Long March.It was Mao (China's greatest hero, regardless of Western media reports) who personally sent young Xi to the poorest village in China for seven years. He wanted the boy to learn what peasant life is really like. Xi is Mao's final gift to China.When Xi was allowed to return to Beijing he had no educational qualifications for admission to university, so the university let him audit his courses but refused to grant him a diploma. Then the Party refused his application for membership. For years.Then he got his first paying job: at age 23, he was made Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (who was his dad's wartime buddy). You could say he started at the top, bossing generals around as he had seen Mao and his dad do.Then he went to the countryside for 25 years, studied for his PhD (in Rural Development) at night, learned how to govern and married the most famous woman in China.In those 30 years he never made an enemy. He was straight and direct with everyone.He cleaned up Shanghai, a den of iniquity, and it's been straight ever since. Today it has the best courts, the best cops and the best schools in the world.He staged the Beijing Olympics–the greatest spectacle in world history–on time, on budget, without a hint of corruption.He's cleaning up China's bureaucracy–which is more honest than most Chinese people.He recently invited America's most powerful CEOs to dine with him at Bill Gates' house to discuss an Internet Code of Conduct that the White House has been resisting. They all attended, the told President Obama to support Xi’s vision.He's very, very powerful but, unlike American Presidents (who daily order people to be kidnapped, tortured and murdered), he hardly ever uses his power. Mostly he gets his way because people respect and admire him and see how much good he’s done for everyone all his life.

When I was 21, I used to work incredibly long hours as I thought that would fuel my career success. Boy, was I wrong. Sure, I was productive over the short term. But then something funny happened. I started to get really tired all the time. I couldn’t focus anymore during the late nights. I began to make mistakes. I wasn’t as polished in my presentations. I realized most people didn’t even care that I was putting in the extra hours. I burned out. Over my 11 year career, I’ve learned to focus on working smarter. I’ve taken detailed notes from some of the top individual contributors and executives from companies like MTV, VMware, Cisco, Box and Optimizely. In those 11 years, I went from being a labor foreman to now being a VP at a fast growing startup. I’ve also started a motivational website called(more)

What do teachers not like about teaching? (My personal dislikes below)Social promotion is something that teachers dislike. In California, students cannot be held back a year unless the parents demand it happens. This changes a little in high school, but I teach 8th grade and students have learned that if they do nothing and get a zero percent in the class, they will still be promoted to the next grade level. At the end of 8th grade, we have a promotion ceremony and even students with straight failing grades will still be allowed to take part in the ceremony just like those who had the highest marks. Last year at the ceremony, a parent yelled out to one of the persistent failing students (all fails from 6th to 8th grade) “You did it (insert name)! You can do anything you put your mind to!” What would you have yelled back to the parent if you were her teacher? I restrained myself. (Social promotion encourages to not try. I mean, if you got paid for doing nothing, would you work hard? Some of you would, others would not… just like the students.)Incompetent administration. I have taught for 25 years and have had 3 competent administrators for 5 total years. This is 12 principals (we had 4 one year) and 13 assistant principals. Think about that turnover for a minute. of 25 administrators, I have had 3 competent ones out of 25! I have also had over 20 superintendents and assistant sups in that time, but only 2 have been competent. ( I have taught at 4 schools in 25 years. I only moved when we opened a new school.)Turnover. (See above) When good people leave, it is truly sad.Calling parents. I try to work with students at school to try to figure things out. I rarely have problems and equally rarely call home, so this is not a huge issue usually, but I still dislike it. Usually when I talk to my student, he/she will stop doing the behavior. When I have to call home, many bizarre things can happen. “My child would never whip another student with the jump rope! How dare you take away the rope and bench my student for the rest of recess (4 minutes!)” “Let me tell you my life story for an hour…” “I just don’t know what to do with him/her!”Endless meetings that could be summed up in an email.Constantly changing curricula. There is a new philosophy about behavior and how and what to teach every other year. With new admin every other year, it gets a bit tiring to start over with a new program all the time.Grading papers for 204 students. They want to make every assignment “meaningful,” but it takes a lot longer to correct assignments that are a higher level of the learning pyramid.EDIT HERE: I thought about another “not like.” I hate that there are no alternative paths (in the U.S.) for students to take if they do not excel at traditional schooling. Alternative schools are popping up and many of them are great, but they are still school. Why not have more trade schools for students who excel at working with their hands and minds in a non-traditional way. I teach eighth grade and some of my students have checked out of school mentally. When I was in school, many of these students got to go to “shop class” (I did well in school and also loved shop classes!) Wood shop, metal shop, auto shop, cooking, home economics- these classes allowed teaching traditional skills at school- a non-traditional setting for such skills. We are starting to more “STEM” or “STEAM” classes at some schools, but they are not preparing people to work. And most of the shop classes have disappeared in the area that I teach. Let’s get kids ready for the real world. Do you know how much a plumber or electrician makes an hour?!?What I love about my job.The kids! They are fantastic! People are worried about this generation, but they are great! They are still kids. They are far more concerned about others and sensitive to injustice. Sometimes they need guidance, but that is what being a kid is about.Teaching! I love this!Technology! It just keeps getting better and better and I use it a lot! Phones are part of life and most of my students use them responsibly. Laptops are awesome, but these techs do not completely remove some traditional teaching. I also give the young adults all of the web sites they need to complete computer tasks, it they are needed. Students navigating sites all day does not work out for most.Alright, that is enough for now. Gotta get back to #7. Progress reports are due. Wait, did I mention progress reports?!? Why have them if all of the grades are online? A mailed out piece of paper that is 2 weeks old when a parent could just check it online for current grades?!? Crazy, eh?