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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

OPINION

Mac McKinnon

Friday, January 2, 1998

Observations


By Mac McKinnon

Making predictions, resolutions for New Year

The new year is underway. How's it going so far for you?

Did you make any resolutions? If so, have you already broken them?

I've given up on making resolutions because they don't seem to do any good. For sure, there are many I could and, probably, should make.

What do you believe the new year has in store for you? What about Pecos? What about this region, the state and the nation?

There was a very interesting show hosted by Sam Donaldson on ABC-TV's Nightline Tuesday night on making predictions and holding the predictors accountable for their predictions last year for 1997.

The three who are radio and newspaper personalities didn't score real well with one getting half the predictions right (out of 10) and the other two four out of 11. Of course, some of the questions that prompted their predictions were difficult to foresee such as will Hillary Clinton be indicted, will Newt Gingrich still be speaker of the house at year's end, what will the stock market do, who will win the Academy Award for Best Picture, who will win the NBA, the Super Bowl and World Series among others.

It's always interesting to make your own personal picks on matters of this nature and then look back and see how you did. I don't know that anyone would have forecasted the economy staying as good as it has but many are saying that rosey picture will continue.

Of the three making predictions, they all differed on who will win the Super Bowl, one picked Green Bay, one selected Denver and the other Kansas City. The Chicago Bulls were picked once again to win the NBA crown except one forecast that the Jazz will win.

My own predictions are that Green Bay will win the Super Bowl against Kansas City, and the Bulls will win the NBA. Who knows about the World Series but I believe Seattle and Atlanta will be in it and Seattle will win.

Titanic was the overwhelming selection to win the Academy Award. I don't know about that as I haven't seen it but everyone says it is good, although long.
What about Pecos? It appears the future is bright for our town as unemployment is down and more jobs are paying better. At least I hope that is true. It looks like we'll get at least one new industry this coming year and hopefully more.

I believe more and more people are discovering that life is good in West Texas so our region should prosper as it has in the past few years. The same is true for the entire state of Texas.

I don't see any reason for a downturn in the national economy but of course, I'm not privy to a lot of information that others have, particularly on the economy of other nations that has such a big impact on us.

Who will win the local elections? That's a good question. There are many other questions that could be asked and it could be a good party game. Think of all the local questions that could be asked, everyone puts their answers in a box and that box is opened at the end of the year to see who was right. That could be fun.

Maybe I should have suggested that as an idea for a New Year's Eve Party.

Let's go into this new year with a positive attitude and make it a good year!

Editor's Note: Mac McKinnon is the Pecos Enterprise Editor & Publisher whose column appears each Friday. He can be reached by e-mail at: bigmac@bitstreet.com.

Critic's Corner

The right tools make managing easier



If you've ever worked on your own car or done home repairs you've probably realized how much easier the job is when you have the right tools. "The Manager's Toolbox" supplies managers with the basic tools to make their jobs easier.

At less than 150 pages the book is a quick read but contains enough useful information that it would serve a reader well to go back and study it point by point. "The Manager's Toolbox" was written by Mark Kelly and can be found at Barnes & Nobles, Border's, Brentano's, B. Dalton and the Paradies Shops for only $11.95. Or from the Enterprise online bookstore

Kelly founded TASC management consultants after a career as CEO in the electronics and professional services industries.

Written in a style that even a first time manager can understand, "The Manager's Toolbox" offers tools that would benefit any manager. Its 11 chapters offer tools to help managers be a catalyst for change, prioritize and delegate tasks, communicate, manage time, motivate, plan, set goals, lead and more.

"Have you ever tried to mow your lawn with a pair of scissors or weed your garden with a fork?" Kelly writes. "These activities would require a great deal of effort and yield little or no success.

"Many managers put forth tremendous energy each day which yields similar small rates of success because they, too, aren't using the right tools."

Kelly explains that managers must constantly achieve results under the weight of increasing responsibilities. Many managers feel overloaded with responsibility and Kelly offers examples of how to avoid that situation.

If you are performing tasks you are a technician, if you delegate tasks to others you are a manager.

"The Manager's Toolbox" provides easy to use tools to help anyone become a better manager.

Rick L. Smith



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Mac McKinnon, Publisher
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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise