Insights & Observations

By Prof. Paul Gammarano

This is a compilation of all original articles by the author which have appeared on LinkedIn.com, and is intended to raise awareness levels on various business factors and educational essentials.
Each "chapter" or article per se can be commented on at the LinkedIn.com website under the author's name.

THANKS FOR READING AND HOPEFULLY THESE CONTENTS RESULT IN MORE POSITIVITY IN YOUR LIFE !

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669827306

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Copyright © 2022 by Prof. Paul Gammarano.

2022909983

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.

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Rev. date: 05/26/2022

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CONTENTS

Ode To Our Veterans

More Recycling More Re-Use, And More Affordable / Plug-In Solar Powered At The Household / Residential And Commercial Points Are Needed!

Memory Is (Not Merely) An Elephant: Skillsets Are Not Forgotten, These Traits Are Archived...

Suggestion For Suggestions - A Formalized Program That Really Works...

Don’t Let Your Defining Moments Define You Written 17 February 2016

The Nobility Of Work: There Is No Such Thing As An Unimportant Job. Written 3 March 2016

Life Is Like A Pencil

An Interesting (Hopefully) Educational Math formula: AP = (M x Y) + (B x Z)

Some Commentary For Top Executives

Are You A Mini Or Maxi ? By Prof P J Gammarano, Sr.; M.A., JD

Paths We Take – Where Are They Now ? By P J Gammarano, M.A., JD 14 July 2016

Teaching By Analogy And Example: It’s Like...

EEO Hiring Compliance - Plus !

Mental Health & Values Clarification: A Mentoring Exercise

Leaving Las Vegas - Leaving Your Job...Or Not

Observations On Observations: A Commentary For The Observer

Why Use A-V Media In Teaching / Instructing ?

Doors And Other Practical Tools For Effectiveness

Teaching: Not For Dummies // Substance Abuse Awareness: A Guidebook

Everyone’s A Judge

Business Card Caveats

But, How Come You Didn’t...?!

So, You Want To Be An Adjunct Professor

Stress And Coping Strategies

The Joke Is On You: What Goes Around Comes Around !

Positivity In Teamwork And In Coaching

Establish A Hire-Archy, Not A Hierarchy

Health Ed 101: Taking Your Course, Of Course !

Workplace Item - What Type Of Letter Are You ? Mental Health Considerations

Positivity In Teamwork And In Coaching – From 31 Dec 202

Substance Abuse Awareness : How Does Drug Addiction Start ?

Bullying-By-Boss Can Happen In Private Sector And Public Sector

Alternate Universes Happen

One Teacher - Two Lessons

"Good Humor In Education & Corporate Training

Lemonade Logic: A Tale Of Two City Solicitors

Exit Interview Questions, Inter Alia

Lemonade Logic : A Tale Of Two City Solicitors

Not All Jobs Are Created Equal: Parable Of The Scout

Musical Chairs – Why Did We Learn It ? Article 42

The Merits Of A Suggestion For Suggestions" [Part 2] Article 43

"Contingency Planning : Article 44

To Be Or Not To Be: That Is The Dichotomous Employment Question

ABC Basics Of Contingency Planning For Property Damage Prevention / Minimization

Leadership 101: The Hidden Challenges Article 47

Substance Abuse Awareness: Who Needs To Know? Article 48

Book Pitch –>

What Can Happen During A Pandemic: Education 101 – Life Goes On

Linkedin.com –> A Blast From The (Telecom) Past

Homebuyers’ Notes & Preventive Maintenance

Quality Assurance Article – Article 53

Personalization Or Implicit Bias In Higher Education Instruction

Why Not Ever Give Up: Positivity In Teamwork And In Coaching

Brand Name Recognition – Essential For Success In Commerce

Real Estate Screening List (Read As: Fraud Uncovered !)

Mental Health Topic: Conflicts Of Love [Interpersonal Relationships]

Quitting The Vape

Payin’ It Forward

EEOC – I see !

Why Not To Smoke, Nor Vape Article 62

"Law School, Anyone ? Article 63

Back To Basics: Call Center / Contact Center Do’s & Don’ts

Why Listen To The Patients In A Healthcare Facility

"The Real Education 101–Teachers’ Edition

Quitting The Vape Article 67

Is It ‘Failing To Succeed’, Or... ... ‘Failing, To Succeed’ With Life Initiatives ?

"Is It ‘Failing To Succeed’, Or...

Ode To Our Veterans

It does not have to be Veteran’s Day or Memorial Day...but also with every New Year of our nation...!

We take a day or two each year and commemorate

for some of us who prove in life truly great

those men & women who don the uniform

and keep our peace through sun & storm.

We hold these people in deservedly high esteem;

they sacrifice so the rest of us can live the dream.

Our conflicts many in our bright history

outcomes good, but sadness of many a casualty.

We teach our children stand, salute, pledge;

them not knowing how close we were to the edge

in WWI, Korea, and WWII;

those forces of evil almost struck us, too.

Were it not for the many who rose to fight

to prove that good over evil is what is right.

With many gone through visions of war

we only hope for never more.

Our teachers teach of our history;

our Service members know it’s no mystery.

It’s planning logistics, and tactical skill,

and through it all, a reluctance to kill.

If only the slain enemy could know why it’s done;

our Service members do none of it for fun.

They use needed force to keep the local peace.

It affects us all globally, from Australia to Greece.

Ability to function in heat, snow, freezing, or raining...

and serve quite bravely, doing it all with world class training...!

[For US Naval Cmdr big bro’ Peter V Jr, Tech Sgt. Army Ranger D-Day Vet Peter V, WWII MP Uncle John, Sr., WWII vet Uncle Ed Leahy (each in Heaven), and the many millions who have also quite honorably served & who are presently serving throughout our planet !]

––- Paul Gammarano / Faculty / Kingsborough <–-ranked 2nd in the USA for community colleges ! ––-

P J Gammarano, M.A., J.D.

Montclair State University / SUNJ Class of 1980; Seton Hall U. Class of 1990

Help our environment; print e-mails only when really needed . . .

More Recycling More Re-Use, And More

Affordable / Plug-In Solar Powered At The Household

/ Residential And Commercial Points Are Needed!

The next multi-billionaire is going to develop an affordable way for the consumer to literally & simply plug in a solar energy collection / interface device which can provide electricity on the small-scale...

These devices would become useful not only for everyday use, but for emergency lighting & communications...

Author’s note:

Since this article was written ca. 2015, in the present-day future, such devices are now commercially available. Every facilities manager should ‘invest’ in such devices, for any electrical outages, not if these ever occur, but when these occur, i.e. seasonally at least in severe weather.

Every facilities management periodical and book ever written has electricity as the very most essential commodity (arguably after purified water supply) with regard to emergency planning & ‘resiliency’.

Memory Is (Not Merely) An Elephant: Skillsets

Are Not Forgotten, These Traits Are Archived...

• Published on January 9, 2016

We each are a ‘work-in-progress’ product or result of our aggregate life experiences, in every environment we either choose to be in or sometimes are subjected to. In the realm of work and in formal / informal education we hone our physical and mental skills on a daily (circadian) basis.

A common HR (Human Resources) oriented mistake can be described under the rubrics of what have you done for me lately. As my students grow accustomed to my musical renditions of some timely expressions in our discussions (as here you are likely to recall both John Fogarty and Paula Abdul with their dated yet relevant respectively familiar tunes).

Now on a more serious note, think about the ramifications of someone in HR ‘evaluating’ your skillset & chronology represented on paper. One likely (mistaken) disqualifier is when the evaluator (who holds your possible career future!) thinks Oh, but their relevant experience is not current. To use the vernacular about such reasoning : It is a load of crap ! There are many examples to refute such flawed reasoning, and as an Educator I’m compelled to give an example...but here there’ll be two: First, riding a bicycle. After varying numbers of trials & errors, one finally gets it correct, and one’s brain can then balance the rest of their body in our gravitational field, so as not to smash their face, nor skin their knees or break a bone. If one doesn’t do it again for several or even many years, will the brain not muster up some previously learned skill, for the sheer sake of survival...

Second example: After not playing ice hockey for 23 years and 10 months, I was able to return to the ice and do as well as I had from the time I stopped playing...and I have observed others do the very same feat, and after even longer time periods.

As even a third example of trusting our brains on decision-making from an old / dated skill / skillset, if you or I have not performed a mental skill for a long time, such as a review of a house for potential purchase (translatable to ‘sourcing’ in the realm of business), or even helping some kids with their homework, doesn’t our brain resurrect its memory to meet the challenge ?Ever watch a well-liked movie you haven’t seen in years ? Don’t you remember what happens from scene to scene ?

So the next time some HR specialist, or a potential hiring Manager / Director / VP / CEO downplays your ability to perform old / former skills just as well as you did from the years back, print out this article and mail or e-mail it to them, as a kind way of saying they are quite mistaken...and if they didn’t hire you, to quote my mentor big brother (Peter V. Senior) who was so multi-talented / innovative, accomplished & world travelled in his beautiful lifetime – It’s their loss, not yours !

Suggestion For Suggestions - A Formalized

Program That Really Works...

Ever going happily along in your routine ? Things are going well, and then, wham ! You see a funeral car. Either ahead of you, or passing you–with or without a procession, and it puts a new perspective on life. You realize how short life can be, and unless you are the fictional James Bond, you only live once. This is not a pitch for life insurance, although having a Whole Life policy is rarely or never a bad idea. So with any religious considerations aside here, doesn’t it make sense to live life enjoyably, with a sense of humor, fun, confidence, and getting the job done in an exemplary way ?

See the other person’s point of view before you express any differences. People will typically after that want more to collaborate with you. If you’re in the business of being nice, people will seek your presence more often than not. And maybe even notice when you are not around for your input.

This is more of a motivational brief...if you are a leader, try to set policies that:

1. are human-friendly

2. utilize technology, but with back-up elements that won’t fail if the electrical power sources and / or computerized database fails

3. can be updated periodically, with the generally recommended review cycle as at least yearly

4. accepts input from everyone in the entity without regard to rank, longevity, or status–in the spirit of an old business-oriented movement names Total Quality Management, which valued each person on board in the various parts of the whole entity.

If you are fortunate enough to work (and/or lead/coordinate in any capacity) within an entity that values formal or informal suggestions & recommendations on making things better, take advantage of those opportunities to voice your perspectives–especially in writing.

The best occupational places (public sector as well as private sector) even have a formal Suggestion Program, along with a committee of folks who are like-minded in wanting to see improvements where these can be cost-feasibly or even people-feasibly implemented.

So if your place doesn’t have such an entity-wide Suggestion Program, and if you are ranked up there in the org chart hierarchy (commonly / humorously called the food chain), you can consider such a committee-agenda-driven idea one that yields very positive results. The best Suggestion Programs are the ones that offer periodic prize incentives in various arrangement for those ideas deemed most practical, and once implemented, make things better in some small or large way for everyone in that milieu.

As an example, one very large global electronics corporation had such a well-developed program, albeit at a large worksite, and they offered monetary incentives for viable suggestions. It also serves as a good example of where such popular motivators become by definition mutually rewarding.

"Don’t Let Your Defining Moments Define

You" Written 17 February 2016

In a conversation with a trusted & learned colleague (make friends with a person who has an MLS, or Master’s in Library Science–they are awesome people !) we had a nice discussion about how we all have our defining moments that shape who we are.

But that we should keep an open mind to new experiences in life. Even geneticists would agree that our individual environments make a difference–as how we set these–and how these are sometimes set for us by our own jobs / careers –even in what types of personalities we develop.

America’s freedoms in ‘personhood’–as Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe would describe or define it–is beyond the scope of this article.

And so, ask yourself, if you had to write down (or computer-enter these days !) a list of your top-ten defining moments, you would probably agree that these times in your life helped shape you–for better or worse.

Many of these unforgettable moments go back to your childhood, with the influential people in your life. Hopefully positive figures, but unfortunately life brings us some negatives as well. This brief won’t bore you here with some of my defining moments...those who know me personally know a few of my many true stories...

So, did some of these defining moments happen in your schooling ? I’m not a gambling-oriented person, but I’d be willing to bet that at least one of your defining moments were in your school experiences, at whatever level it was.

Some moments are even captured in photographs, if you ever won an award, or possibly even a spelling bee as a kid, that might have made your list. Or the time your fictional (or maybe real ?!) Aunt Terry told you to do or not do something, as a young child, and it stayed with you for life.

Or what good (or mistakes) you made on your very first job. Even before the resume job...maybe it was babysitting, and the kid almost burned the house down–or in my case, flooded the whole house !Or hilite-markered the whole living room couch...Not so funny, either situation, really...

So, going forward, what does it all mean ? As the title of this brief article would suggest, try not to let any biases or prejudices that you may have been exposed to negatively influence your thinking in the occupational setting or academic setting, where you are apt to encounter a diverse group of human beings.

These biases can become mentally poisonous to others, and could even arguably be called a basis for terrorism, in the extreme/extremist forms that such beliefs can take. Listen to the experiences of people when they share a relevant story...

...Keep an open mind with your wise decisionmaking !

To share one wise axiom here (which I was once asked to take down, as an educational posting...how’s that for a defining moment !), but at least free to write here:

Do your best, and your best will get better !

Be credible to become incredible– in your quality, and talents

The Nobility Of Work: "There Is No Such Thing

As An Unimportant Job." Written 3 March 2016

Nobody starts at VP...unless you’ve been a VP already. That is an alternate ‘take’ on an old expression. It seems that almost everyone has had humble jobs in their earlier lives, which brings to mind the statement at HR orientation of Lenox Hill Hospital to our small group, where the then-President of that place of excellence had addressed us briefly, as we were to start our respective positions. Mine was as a lowly messenger, i.e. Pharmacy Departmental Assistant with a limited career path (one promotion to Pharmacy Tech possible), before the days of an even greater need for formalized school / education for increased career possibilities. Among us were new physicians, medical interns, registered nurses (RNs), hospital ward clerks, LPNs (Licensed Practical Nurses), custodians, maintenance staff, lab technicians. And a diverse group decades before such terminology became a requirement. It was (and arguably always should be) about qualifications. Mine was six years of after-school Community Pharmacy, a fancy term for helping the local neighborhood Pharmacist with his many chores of keeping a store as the neighborhood Duane Reed, before there was a Duane Reed. And to that I would add four years, as the way to finance my way through Brooklyn College, taking any overtime that was available from a part-time weekend graveyard shift. Looking back, did it adversely affect my grades ? Absolutely so. Did joining (i.e. earning a place on) a worst-to first in the league standings Varsity Ice Hockey Team adversely affect my grades ? Absolutely again. But after serving my virtual second Dad in George Restuccio (father of the also-heroic EMS decorated officer David Restuccio) for four years,

Did I let the ice hockey team (with all its travel opportunities) or even my college studies compromise the quality of the performance of my job ? Absolutely not. And not merely because I would be terminated. There was no other way to do a job, but the way it was supposed to be, and to seek additional work or make suggestions for process improvements (for myself as well as for others) in the process. The older people in the Hospital Pharmacy treated me (as the new kid on the block) with alot of respect, as I did toward them–knowing how challenging it was to even become a Pharmacist. (Both of my brothers chose this career, attaining very distinguished records of achievement). I was absent three times in almost four years of weekends, and had a similar attendance record when transferring to work in their O.R., when work started at 7am, and the infection rate went down as a part of my duties to clean up the messes of the surgeries, as well as to prepare those rooms, as a part of a small team. When swabbing the mop, a few times I recalled those words: There is no such thing as an unimportant job.

In being the different one, I chose Law a bit later in life, seeing the incredibly ‘diverse’ applications of such a degree, which proved itself true, after a Master’s degree in Health from a top-ranked college, i.e. Montclair State University / SUNJ. Seton Hall University School of Law chose me as much as I chose them, and hopefully I haven’t let them down in what has been accomplished with such an awesome education and degree. It gives me better or fuller understanding when fellow lawyers express themselves publicly, from the rigorous coursework such a degree entails. And led me to do at least one history-changing telecommunications contract which led to telecom service on the day of 9-11-2001. Those who know me well, and my SJU Telecom students in the latter parts of the years of service (from 1999-thru-2005) have been bored with that professorial story.

The title of this article made perfect sense also, during a certification in an old corporate movement named Total Quality Management (TQM), where the metaphorical troops in an organization get to tell the generals directly about their weapons could be improved, or that they need more bullets.

HR people, or other executives, as fellow ‘LinkedIners’, you might use this article (or at least the headline title) if you need a motivator for their new people; somehow and fortunately my own kids as grown individuals have adopted this mindset, and become most reliable and competent in whatever they have done to earn a buck as well.

And if you are short on time during an orientation, because of the need to hit all of the private corporate or public sector agency requirements, do leave your new employees with the same words that LHH President Reed said to his diverse group in his Gettysburg-like brief statements to us all in that room many decades ago (1971 !): There is no such thing as an unimportant job.

Life Is Like A Pencil

by P J Gammarano, Sr. 23 March 2016

Starts out shiny & new,

gets ground down to inches few;

a new one you would seek anew...

...but the shorter it gets your knowledge grew.

Many mistakes you’ll make and would like to erase,

but forensics will tell you, there’s always a trace…

Memorialized when written, thus better than spoken;

in