• It is not the job – it is your attitude

    "By getting out of the Air Force. That truly seems to be the only way to save myself from what I truly believe is my own personal hell."That's what they call an attention grabber. Unfortunately, I didn't make it up or throw it in for affect. Hard to believe, but this was actually a comment from a

  • Service and volunteerism

    True service is an attitude that always involves sacrifice, and is a constant battle to do what you believe or know you should do versus what you want to do.Serving others and volunteering comes very naturally for some. For those individuals, service can be an automatic response when there is a call

  • Reflection -- A key to improvement

    An interesting event happened to me the other day. While taking a long road trip I had some time to myself and realized how long it had been since I took time to really think.Without the ringing of the phone or another pop-up e-mail message, having only the hum of the tires on the highway, I

  • Mirror, mirror on the wall…

    "Who in this land is fairest of all?" or similar words would be the natural response of most people that see the title of this article.I would guess that the vast majority of folks are familiar with the fairy tale of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and of the magical mirror that her evil

  • Make the call!

    I'm sure he was nervous. After all, he was umpiring his first major league baseball game and millions of fans in TV-land would be watching his every move.No doubt he felt those fluttering "butterflies" long before the first batter even stepped up to the plate. Surely he questioned his readiness on

  • Team Vance is excellent in all we do!

    Watch any professional athlete and you will see them exhibit focused precision as they practice and prepare for their next challenge. Team Vance has shown that same focused precision as we prepared for our upcoming Compliance Inspection.On May 16, more than 115 inspectors and augmenters from

  • You don’t have to be royalty to have a royal marriage

    There has been a lot of preparation and publicity building up to the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Experts on the British royal family have, for months, been explaining many of the complexities involved in a royal wedding.But in a matter of hours the royal wedding will be over and

  • Keeping people safe -- even when their actions defy logic

    You can't fix stupid... or can you?In the safety business, I am constantly exposed to mishap reports that describe how people become involved in accidents. In some cases the individual does something that defies all logic and clearly does not pass the common sense test.Unfortunately, as French

  • Know your opportunity cost

    Everyone knows how to calculate the cost of buying something. First, you want an item. Then you shop around, find the best price, buy it, and add sales tax if necessary. Then it's yours, with the numbers on a receipt that show how much you paid.What the receipt doesn't show you is "opportunity