What to do with the Poop?

We had our Niece’s puppy visiting, and after he left I was cleaning up around the house. I wanted some exercise so I walked to the mailbox. This ‘gift’ greeted me along my path. We live in the country, so I didn’t think anything about scooping while he was making his daily deposits, but now what to do with the poop? Do I leave it? Do I deal with it somehow? Do I wait for someone else to do something with it? Does it really matter what I do with the poop?

I also had a conversation with a friend today about ‘poop’ that is happening in her workplace. No matter what time of year it is, people always find some way to generate ‘poop’. I could not help but see the parallel between corporate caca and puppy poop. Let me put it in terms of my friend’s organization. Does she leave the caca alone, and simply stay focused on what she has to do? By leaving it she doesn’t get upset, she knows she can’t change it, and eventually like all things in a corporate environment they will fade away over time. Nature has a away of taking care of caca and eventually it turns to fertilizer to grow new things.

What if my friend chooses to deal with the doo doo somehow? Does she attempt to clean it up herself? Should she get involved, will she be left holding the caca with it polluting her job or career? Could this be a CLM – career limiting move – that leaves a stain on her ‘permanent record’ that she will never be able to escape? Does she even have the skills and knowledge to deal with the caca? Is it even her place or role to deal with it at all? Or is this time for a referral to the person within the organization who should be dealing with the doo doo? Some of us have a hard time just walking past the poop. We feel leadership means getting involved and getting things done. Yes leaders get things done, and they are also wise enough to know when to let someone else do their job and deal with the doo doo. Or they know when to let puppy poo alone and allow the natural course of things take their toll.

At the end of our conversation she agreed that she can’t control it, has no power to make it go away, and she really doesn’t want to get any poop on her shoes for unnecessary reasons. Yes there is doo doo out there we all need to deal with. Life has a way of serving it up at the oddest, strangest, most inconvenient times. Everyone goes poop and every has to deal with poop. The real thought here is do YOU have to deal with the poop? OR can you let it alone and allow time to do it’s job and transform the doo doo into something productive farther down the line?

So I kept walking, left the puppy deposit and whistled while picking up my mail. If you want puppies, there will be poop. I’m okay with that. Life will always provide challenges and opportunities to step in or avoid the poop. The key is keeping your attitude right, leaving well enough alone, and making sure you focus on what is important in your world.