Dana Bell

Today we celebrate the life of a man that epitomizes a movement that improved the civil rights of millions of Americans, not just the black people, but all minorities. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up to the authorities in Alabama and accelerated the movement to give people of all skin colors the freedom to live their lives without oppression.

Unfortunately, the work of the civil rights activists has not improved the lives of African Americans as much as it should have. While minorities have been pushing and celebrating improvements in civil rights and their freedom as Americans, they have largely ignored those people that have appropriated that freedom to excel.

The lives of people like George Washington Carver should now be at the forefront of today's drive for independence in our present day culture. His drive to be successful in whatever he did allowed him to find a hundred uses for peanuts, to develop products for industry, and to foster the efforts of others.

He used what he had, and made it a valuable commodity. But, I'm not talking just about peanuts. I'm talking about his character. As I read one of his biographies, I admired him for his perseverance, his hard work, and his concern for others. He was a valuable role model for African-Americans. He had some help from others but he didn't have it easy.

It is true that many of our professional athletes are dark skinned, and professional sports does involve work, but becoming a successful professional athlete should not be everyone's dream. One of the things that George Washington Carver did was debunk the idea that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. As individuals, we can have our own dreams, dreams that we can turn into reality.

Last month I relayed a recent experience with some meetings, in a blog entry entitled Meetings 101. As I suspected, that title has been used before in a more practical way; to enumerate some guidelines for effective meetings. EffectiveMeeting.com is a saver for the administrator of any organization. The principles aren't so profound, but they do list everything that is most often forgotten or neglected. The briefs cover everything from planning meetings, to forming teams, and making presentations.

On the other hand, a site that sarcastically characterizes everything that shouldn't be done in a meeting, might be just as effective. Maybe something like this.

• If you want to excel in an organization, you have to have meetings to demonstrate how much you know.
• And, you can tell if your subordinates are being productive by what they say in a meeting.
• There's really no need to plan for a meeting; that's what meetings are for, planning.
• Meetings show that your department is important. Have them regularly whether you have anything to discuss or not.
• Brainstorming meetings are essential to cutting edge development.

If it were up to me, I would suggest that the ability to call a meeting should require the same type of authorization that corporations might require for other expenditures. After all, with the high costs of management salaries, the expense of a single meeting is just as real as any other expense. Beyond that, the decisions to invest company finances are very often made in a meeting.

I might also suggest that meeting organizers submit a justification, and plan for any proposed meeting, and maybe even a cost estimate for the meeting. It doesn't matter if the attendees are not working extra hours. Their attendance requires them to leave something else undone.

Of course, making plans for a meeting is the most crucial element of a successful meeting. Heck, with effective preparation, you might find that you don't really need to have a meeting. Then you can boast about how much money you saved by not having a meeting.