Andrew Roe - About Me

Let me explain a little more about myself. The first picture to your right (or below if using an iPhone) is overlooking the Mississippi River, which is where I now live. It is pretty far removed from where I grew up. The second picture is my first school.

I believe adapting to change is an important skill. I recently saw a quote about adapting to change.

It is not the strongest or most intelligent who will survive but those who best manage change.
--Charles Darwin

Photo by James Dean

Learning is something all of us can do and I believe should do. One thing I have already learned, mainly from my mother, is that learning to learn is a skill in and of itself. Learning to learn requires; keeping an open mind, willingness to dig in on our own, knowing when it is best to draw upon external training resources, keeping track of what we've learned, and repeatedly refreshing or updating what we've learned with new information when we can. Learning is a constant and valuable mental activity much like staying physically active and thus in good shape physically.

Honesty

As mentioned above in the essay, I believe learning is good, but it is also important to recognize what doesn't change - to have learned what values are as invaluable in the past as they are today and will be so in the future. One of the key lessons in life is the need for honesty. We tend to recognize that honesty is needed in our interpersonal relationships. But it has surprised me when I've encountered those in professional situations that don't seem to recognize the importance of honesty in that arena too. In business lack of forthrightness just leads to unnecessary mistakes and missteps. Those missteps cause inefficiences and all too often outright failures! I try my best to be honest in all situations and will make every attempt to be honest with anyone in my professional dealings.

Dependability

A big part of honesty is being dependable. I like the notion of, "say what you do and do what you say." That sounds like a clique and I must have heard it somewhere. But it sticks in my mind and is something I try my best to adhere to. If I tell you I'm going to do something, I will make my best effort to follow through and do it. Sometimes we all run into difficulties, usually unforeseen, that keep us from the success we planned and expected. For me, in that case, it is incombant upon me to let those I've made a commitment to to know about my difficulty. In those events and as best as I can, I will explain in detail what unexpected challange caused my commitment to be delayed or whatever. That is the responsible thing to do. I don't like to be less dependable than expected, but what I insist on for myself is being dependable about is that I will let those who need to know when an expectation is in jeapordy of not being met as soon as possible. That to me is an essential business practice.

Being a Team Player

Being honest and dependable is what being a team player is all about. Being a good team player certainly involves listening and communicating, but that commumication has to be as reliable as I can make it. Being a team player can become a bit "squishy". There are times to speak up and get things ironed out. But there are times when it's best to focus first on getting one's assigned task accompished. As a team player it is important to know the difference and not just try to play the "notice how I'm being a great team player" aspect of work to excess.