Knowing When It's Time

"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."

Lazurus Long
Philosopher

Let me paraphrase a possible explanation of why that is true. You need to know when to quit so you are free to begin.

No sun rises without sun sets.

Know More, Assume Less

"Get the facts or the facts will get you."

Dr. Thomas Fuller
17th century English Physician

And note well the difference between facts and assumed facts.

Most decisions are based on the latter, less on the former.

Hearing What I Mean, Not Just What I Said

"You can listen as well as you hear."

Mike & the Mechanics

But few of us do.

We hear the words but don't comprehend the meaning, not because we can't but because we don't.

In Pursuit of Truth

"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."

Andre Gide
20th century French author, Nobel Prize (Literature) winner

Think back in your career to all those who were certain about any number of things, or at least said they were.

How many turned out to be right?

Skepticism can be a good thing. Not to the point of doubting everything all the time, but as part of the process of validating what is and is not truth.

Management's Outside Help

"Men in the game are blind to what men looking on clearly see."

Chinese Proverb

Quite often, but not always, true.



As a consultant, I know there are many instances where I don't know enough about my client's business to help them, whereas in other situations, I know exactly what they need to do almost the minute I walk through their door.

Forest and trees with the "art" being knowing when which is which.

Truth in Hiring

"The closest a person ever comes to perfection is when he fills out a job application."

Stanley J. Randall
Author

Did you ever see a resume that said anything other than good things about the applicant?

Did you ever tell an applicant anything bad about the company or position for which they were applying?

Have you ever wondered why so many hires turn out bad for the person being hired, the company or both?

Change: The New You

"We change, whether we like it or not."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

So wouldn't it make sense to not only not resist change but attempt to orchestrate into what we will change?

Your business will be different with the only question being, how?

Start-Ups: Free At Last!

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

Kris Kristofferson

While "freedom" is high on the agenda of most entrepreneurs just starting out, few understand how much this great song lyric also applies to them.

And when you add to it, "Busted flat in Baton Rouge (substitute the name of whatever town you're starting your business in) from the same song, well . . .

In business, value freedom but fear and respect it as well.

How Are We Doing?

"Remember, even at a Mensa convention, someone is the dumbest person in the room."

Unknown

And in a not so smart crowd, someone is the smartest.

While much is made of our individual talents, is enough considered about how well the group does?

Open Minded: Seeing Both Sides at Once

"The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

This seems simple enough but in practice it's not for many. Emotion takes over and we tend to do whatever it was we were predisposed to do in the first place.

But can you think of any other management trait more desirable than the ability to challenge one's own preconceived notions?

Do you?

More Than The Will To Win, Much More

"It's not the will to win that matters, everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."

Paul "Bear" Bryant
Legendary College Football Coach

Most sports quotes related to business, have to do with never giving up, perseverance, etc.

This is different.

You want to win but what do you do to prepare to win?

Good Management: But Only To A Point

"Everyone rises to their level of incompetence."

Dr. Laurence J. Peter
Professor of Management/Author

For those too young to know, this comes from the 1969 book, "The Peter Principle".

The assertion; that all work is accomplished by those who have not yet (but ultimately will) rise to a position they are incompetent to hold.

The book was meant to be a humours assessment of our limits in business, but when you think about it . . .

How far can you go?

The Role of Attitude

"Many an optimist has become rich buying out a pessimist."

Robert G. Allen
Author/Speaker Regarding Real Estate Wealth

And to be fair, many others didn't.

It's not just your outlook is it? Timing also plays a role.

But attitude is where it starts. If you anticipate failure, you're halfway there.

Employee Respect

"The defect of equality is that we only desire it with our superiors."

Henry Becque
19th century French dramatist

Most of us report to someone with some having others report to us.

If both apply to you, are you as anxious for equality with one as the other?

The Habit of Good Management

"Nothing is stronger than habit."

Ovid
1st century BC Roman poet

Good and bad, what we habitually do drives our success and failure and personal habits soon become part of a company's culture.

Do you consider that when attempting to bring change to your organization?

Management Fighting the Paralysis of Fear

"Fear itself has a large shadow but he himself is small."

Ruth Gendler
Author

Being afraid, regardless of what you fear, is worst than the thing you fear.

Given all we have to fear in business today, probably a good time to remind ourselves how true that is.

The Importance of Perspective

"There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees, which are falsehoods on the other."

Blaise Pascal
17th century French mathematician

Like the blind men feeling different parts of the elephant, "seeing" different animals depending on what part they touched, what we see in our business lives has everything to do with perspective.

Do you take perspective into account when making decisions?

Job or Career?

"The difference between a job and a career is the difference between 40 and 60 hours a week."

Robert Frost

While there is more to it than that, the implication of the thought is clear.

(And while not critical to the point, the fact that this observation comes from a poet, surprised me.)

Are you working only/as many hours a week as you would like?

Management Anticipation

"Health is not simply the absence of sickness."

Hannah Green
Author

Applied to business, a company with few if any obvious problems is not necessarily in good shape. I know of many whose management complacently accepts the status quo with no apparent understanding of what lay ahead.

The best managers get paid more for seeing what others cannot.

How's your company when it comes to anticipation?

The Limb: How Far Out Are You Willing To Go?

"He ner'er is crowned with immortality who fears to follow where airy voices lead."

John Keats
Poet

Ok, possibly a bit touchy feeling for a business oriented blog, but the sentiment is applicable.

You'll never achieve greatness if you are not willing to step out from the norm.

Are you?

The Limits of Authority

"The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far reaching consequence of submission to authority."

Stanley Milgram
20th century American psychologist

So, you want to be "in charge" but watch how much so you are.

At some point, exerting too much authority results in a lack of initiative on the part of those you lead.

The Business of Revenge

"You cannot get ahead while getting even."

Dick Armey
Ex US Congressman

Is there a role in business for revenge and if so, what is it?

About The Need To Be Heard

"He must be very ignorant because he answers every question he is asked."

Voltaire
18th century French writer

Notice Voltaire draws no distinction between answering correctly and incorrectly.

One of the hardest concepts I see younger workers struggling with is that sometimes less (from them) really is more.

Done! What's Next?

"As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy."

Samuel Johnson
18th century Englishman of letters

I don't think so. I get things done so I can do other things.

Taken literally, this sounds too close to the quote attributed to then (1899) head of the US Patent Office, Charles Duell, who supposedly said the patent office could be closed because "Everything that can be invented has been invented."

What do you think about the concept of working to be "finished" as opposed to working to be able to move on to other things?

Management Perspective: Yesterday, Today or Tomorrow?

"It wouldn't be New Years if I didn't have regrets."

William Thomas, (which William Thomas, unknown)

A number of management books tell us to "learn from the past", "look forward, never back", and "live in the now."

I see value in all three but am not always certain how much of each I should be doing, at any point in time.

What about you?

Embellished Truth

"If you add to the truth, you subtract from it."

The Talmud
(click on image to enlarge)

Everyone exaggerates something sometime.

Everyone, and if somehow that turns out not to be true, at least I just did.

What is the impact on our business decisions when we exaggerate?

Hiring the Unconventional

"We are half ruined by conformity; but we should be wholly ruined without it."

Charles Dudley Warner
19th century essayist/novelist

Would you have hired Santa to head up distribution?

Office Gossip: "Did You Hear . . . ?"

"One who is too wise an observer of the business of others, like one who is too curious observing the labor of bees, will often be stung for his curiosity."

Alexander Pope
18th century English poet

What is the ratio of time you spend thinking/talking about your customers, competition, co-workers?

What do you think is the value of doing the first two versus the last?

Beliefs: The Easy Truth

"It is easier to believe a lie one has heard a thousand times before, than it is to believe a fact that no one has heard before."

Author Unknown

For years I conducted research on behalf of clients. All too often, what they assumed to be true was readily accepted whereas what they did not expect, was rejected.

"Tell me what I know, not what I need to know."

Ideas: Think of Something, Do Something!

"Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them."

Alfred North Whitehead
Early 20 century English Mathematician/Philosopher

Ideas are about the future and without them, you don't have much of one.

But without action, ideas are worth nothing.

How is your company when it comes to coming up with new ideas and of greater importance, acting on them?

The Future: Who's In Charge Here?

"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating."

Anonymous

This will be comfortable for those who believe they control their destiny, not so much for those who feel they are subject to fate.

Which are you?

Relationships: The Role of the Individual

"As a general thing, people marry most happily with their own kind."

Robertson Davies
20th century Canadian playwright/journalist/professor

Professor Davies was referring to marriage between two individuals but I think this applies equally well to business relationships, which after all, consist of people.

To what extent do you consider individual differences in business relationships that involve you?

Employees: On Their Own?

"The will to win is useless if you don't have the will to prepare."

Thane Yost
Author

This relates to yesterday's post; one of the reasons people fail to get things done as expected.

It makes me wonder how much discussion managers have with employees regarding how they will achieve their objectives as opposed to what those objectives are.

How much (if at all) should a manager get involved with how the work will be done?

Failure: "I Can Explain"

"It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't."

Martin Van Buren
8th President of the United States

And yet so many spend so much time explaining why they didn't get the job done as expected/requested/required.

Why?

Betting on Decline: The Eternal Optimist?

"A lot of people become pessimists from financing optimists."

CT Jones

How many successful business managers do you know who were also pessimists?

Consider David Tepper.

Are hedge fund managers who take risky market positions based on assumptions of industry segment and/or company demise, optimists? Or is optimism only associated with positives assumptions?

How optimistic/pessimistic are you as a manager?

Management Tail Chasing

"I'll go anywhere as long as it is forward."

David Livingstone
19th century Scottish explorer

This makes particular sense when physically exploring because there is nothing worse than having to cover the same ground more than once.

But I think it applies in business as well.

Is there any good reason to pay for the same thing twice, which is what you do when you repeat behavior, particularly bad behavior?

Assumptions: Management's Achillies Heel

"The least questioned assumptions are often the most questionable."

Paul Broca
20th century French physician, anatomist, anthropologist

While I don't know for certain, I am willing to bet that more plans fail due to faulty, unchecked assumptions than for any other single reason.

In other words, planning the future on faulty foundations.

And I would also bet there is a linear relation between unchecked assumptions failing, the more certain those who made them were that they were correct.

I'll have to check that.

Management Certainty

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd."

Voltaire

And why do you think he feels this way?

Isn't the goal to be as certain as possible of the outcome of our decisions?

The Bent Truth

"What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truths to deceive the public."

Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Early 20th century Canadian Arctic Explorer, Educator, Ethnologist

You can tell the truth and still deceive, and not just in advertising.

Do you?

The Power of Reinvention

"You'll find boredom when there is the absence of a good idea."

Earl Nightingale
Commentator

Your customers will be bored, your employees, you; literally everyone in anyway connected with your business.

But this is not limited to your product or service. Good ideas positively affect everything.

In addition to everything else you must do, do you consciously work to create new ideas?

Leadership: Paying Your Dues

"You're gonna have to serve somebody."

Bob Dylan

Is it possible to be a good leader if you were never a good follower?

Planning to Worry

"The nicest things about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression."

Sir John Harvey-Jones
Chairman Imperial Chemical Industries, Retired

So, is he in favor of planning?

What about you?

Do You Have the Right Time?

"Last week is the time you should have bought or sold, depending on what you didn't do."

Anonymous

It does feel as though we often end up on the wrong end of timing, doesn't it?

Or is it that our expectations are too often wrong?

The Power of An Open Mind: Can You See It?

"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."

Jonathan Swift
Early 18th century Irish essayist

I dabble in small, independent investments and as a result, meet a lot of entrepreneurs with new products and ideas. As you would expect, most do not warrant a second look while a very small number do.

Often these are ideas that most people initially reject; however, due to the entrepreneur's ability to see "things invisible", a few succeed.

How about you? Do you look for that which most cannot see?

Strategic Withdrawal or Doubling Down?

"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one often comes from a strong will and the other from a strong won't."

Henry Ward Beecher
Mid 19th century social reformer

One of the most difficult tasks we all continually face is knowing when to quit.

In business, do so too soon and we miss opportunity. Too late and we are out of business.

How do you strike balance between the two?

The Truth: Not Exactly

"No legacy is so rich as honesty."

William Shakespeare

If you can't leave anything else behind, at least leave the truth.

But I will admit, that is unfortunately easier to say than do. From little white lies to massive distortions, we all at least occasionally misrepresent; if not purposely than accidentally (I think more often purposely.)

1 to 10 scale with 1 equal to dishonest and 10 equal to honest, how do you rate yourself? (I assume all responses will be anonymous.)

Finding the Best and the Brightest

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly."

R. Buckminster Fuller

Talent.

I suppose if we could always see it we would only surround ourselves with those who have it.

How do you decide who is and is not talented?

Evolutionary Management

"We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
18th Century German Writer

Paraphrasing . . . use it or lose it and that includes mentally as well as physically.

If you are 50, attempting to manage as you did when you were 30, no matter how successful you might have been, it won't work.

If you are 30 and believe you've discovered management tricks the older managers have not, unless it's that you need to evolve, you're in trouble.

Teamwork: All For One Or One For All?

"No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I suppose because all that rowing was always only about getting the shell across the finish line before the other team?

Maybe it's similar to the lack of attention paid to the effort of any one individual ant by all the other ants in the colony. If they don't all work, the colony dies.

But still, no praise for individual effort within a team?

Management: Age Is Only A Number

"Age is no guarantee of maturity."

Lawana Blackwell
Author

Nor of much else including wisdom.

While the odds improve that one will be wiser, more mature as they grow older (because they've had more years to become so), whether or not that will actually happen is another matter.

Do you assume older managers will be better than younger ones, or vice versa, and regardless, why, in what ways?