Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Days after returning from India, my work e-mail inbox is down to just 84 undealt with e-mails. Which is pretty good since it was just under 300 when I went to India.

I realize, however, that the appearance of prospective manageability of my communications is because people have given up on me. If I start being responsive and replying right away, people will write more.

The key to balancing the inbox, I guess, is to respond quickly but write very discouraging things.

spoken 2001 January 7, Sunday
“
never afraid to acknowledge what I don’t know
ask anyone if they know how to do something, even a six year old child
as long as what needs to be done gets done, it doesn’t have to have my fingerprints on it
leader - knowing what you do not know
running a business for the community down south
at a very young age
it didn’t seem like much at the time, but looking back on it it was pretty amazing
taking people of all different backgrounds
making it work together

four years

applied for a job afterward

Macedonia Cooperative Community in Georgia

John C. Melançon

Was a member of the NAACP. Thought it was too conservative then.

In the South, most of the racist had a few blacks they new that if you included them they would say “Now wait, they are different.”

Person (minister) he worked with worked in the city slums and as he learned all of these people came from some little spot in the country he thought - we’re in the wrong place. Opened some thing with greek name.

Says it is women who did hardest work in civil rights movement.

Recorded 2000 January 9, from John Melançon, paraphrased:

“While I was trying to eat in New York City, some friends suggested technical writing. I don’t know if I’d’ve been able to do it. They knew I was fairly intelligent but they didn’t know of my lack of education. I didn’t spread that around; quite the opposite, I gave the impression I had been to college."

[And in a different context:]

"I’m such a good manager because I have no ego. It’s true. Anyone could give advice, and I would listen to them."

[He knew that "I have no ego" was a laugh line!]