Letters to My Grandchildren

By Xlibris US

Robert A. Guerin Jr.called Happy Bob* by his grandchildren
was the oldest son of Robert Sr. (and Audrey), who was the fi rst
American born child of Irish immigrants. While Bob Jr. was born in
New Orleans, Louisiana, he grew up on Chicagos South Side with
his six siblings in a neighborhood called Beverly (not 90210!).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493172078

Book preview

Letters to

My Grandchildren

BOB GUERIN

Copyright © 2014 by Bob Guerin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/04/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

552951

Contents

1.   Leadership-It all starts with self-confidence

2.   Bullies and Being Your Own Person-Dealing with an unpleasant fact of life

3.   Watch What You Say or Write-Your words can come back to help or hurt you

4.   Security-You must be responsible for your own safety

5.   Friends-Treasures for life

6.   Pets-Pets—Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened (Anatole France).

7.   Mentors-Valuable resources and teachers

8.   Careers-What are you going to do and how?

9.   Money-Once you earn it, what are you going to do with it?

10. Automobiles/Driving-Dos and don’ts on purchasing and operating an automobile

11. Politics/History-Never take your citizenship as an American for granted

12. Charity and Public Service-Paying it forward

13. Drugs—Miracles, Addictions, Killers-Miracles, Addictions, Killers

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

To my grandchildren: Riley, Shannon, Delaney and Austin.

They are truly the precious metal in our golden years. In addition to my own grandchildren, it is hoped that some of the over-two-dozen grandchildren of my brothers and sister can benefit from these life lessons.

Leadership

An old Irish proverb describes leadership as an individual who can tell you to go to hell and have you looking forward to the trip! Maybe that was salesmanship as well as leadership.

It is easy to get these two skills intermingled because leadership requires a significant amount of salesmanship. In some cases, the sales effort may be a conscious effort to convince others of your position, thus assuming a leadership role. However, in most cases, a true leader is selling subconsciously by his or her actions—example and charisma.

Another old proverb I was taught was to sell down as well as to sell up. In other words, we all will promote ourselves, if given the chance, to our boss in order to help advance our career. This former marine told me that you better worry just as much, if not more, in obtaining the respect of the troops under your command than the officers you report to. He stated that not only would it be embarrassing but also very career shortening to lead an attack on an enemy position and get there to find nobody was following you!

The inevitable question on leadership is this: are true leaders born, or are they made by training? Perhaps the correct answer sounds like a political one, but I think it is some of both. There are personality traits that contribute to leadership and would be difficult to obtain if not already part of one’s personality. Incidentally, while it may not be fair or politically correct to accept, physical traits often give a potential leader an advantage. Studies have shown that all things being equal, superior height and a powerful image conveyed by a strong square jawline and overall attractive appearance gives one an advantage—let’s say, a jump start.

But that’s all these physical traits are—an initial jump start on creating a leadership image. From here on, it’s like everything else in life: it has to be earned. We spoke earlier about the ability to sell oneself; well, that’s what happens when you are perceived as a leader. Your peers have bought into the idea that you are capable of calling the shots, of creating the direction they will follow. There is an unwritten bond of trust the group places in its leader.

More often than not, a leader becomes a leader by the process of evolution for the position of leadership, but a team must vote on one or two captains. There exists a chain of command in every organization, from our country to our company. Those positions of leadership are filled by a process of selection. Usually the cream rises to the surface, and more often than not, leaders are selected without campaigning for the position.

In trying to identify those ingredients that go into a leader, it is universally agreed that a leader must be dependable and reliable. In other words, someone you can count on to be there when needed. Whether you are referring to the individual as a leader or the skill provided by the individual, which is leadership, the main difference goes back to our first question: born or made? For the sake of this discussion, we feel a leader is probably born with about 99 percent of the right stuff. Leadership, however, is a skill that must be built on