The Business Philosopher

"Philosophy always requires something more, requires the external, the true, in contrast to which even the fullest existence as such is but a happy moment."

Soren Kierkegaard

19th century Danish philosopher

Isn't that the essence of what business managers strive to achieve?

At Some Point You Just Have To Laugh

"I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation."

W. Somerset Maugham

20th century British playwright/author

Did you ever notice how happy and accepting many elderly seem to be?

They appear to have accepted this quote as true and a goal worthy of achieving.

Now, how to do this before we get old, particularly in our business lives.

We Won't Be Like You

"The new organization is edgeless, permeable, amorphous . . . constantly reforming according to need."

Unknown

This sounds like something a new generation person would say to demonstrate how they are different from all generations gone before them.

And there's a slight implied bias suggesting that the new way will be the better way.

If so, great, we can all benefit from new and better ways.

However before concluding that is so I'd like to hear how this "constantly reforming" organization intends to manage itself.

Our Own Jailer

"The chains of habits are too weak to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken."

Samuel Johnson

18th century British author

Not always a bad thing; there are good habits as well as bad.

But you know what this refers to don't you?

Averages Are Made Up Of Differences

"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal."

Aristotle

3rd century BC Greek philosopher

Because it can't be done.

You can treat unequal things and people the same but that doesn't make them equal.

How's your promotion policy?

Become The Best!

"We are citizens of the world.  The tragedy of our times is that we don't know this."

Woodrow Wilson

28th president of the United States

And we are still today in all things and none more than business.

As "motherhoodish" as it may sound, the only way to protect ourselves from foreign competition is to continually out perform them.

  

What's In It For Us?

"When a match has equal partners then I fear not."

Aeschylus

5th century BC Greek dramatist

The implication being, one should fear when there is not equality.

For a contract to be valid the law requires benefit to both parties.

It is logical then that there must also be mutual benefit in business relations including those between managers and employees.

Win win or all too often it will be lose lose.

Let Me Tell You Something

"To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming."

English proverb

How much of what you say is poorly aimed?

Shoot To Kill

"If you shoot a king you must kill him."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

19th century American essayist/poet

Not only true of kings but of CEOs and other managers as well.

If the challenge really matters to you, by all means go ahead with it.

However be prepared to leave, you may not survive.

Think (But Not Too Much) Before You Act!

"Reflection makes men cowards."

William Hazlitt

18th century British essayist

You need to reflect before taking action but too much thinking about what might happen and you may not act at all.

How do you balance the two?

Which Dog Will You Work For?

"Don't mistake pleasure for happiness. They are a different breed of dogs."

Josh Billings

19th century American humorist

Your career may bring one, sometimes both, occasionally neither.

Make sure you strive for the one you need as much if not more than the one you want.

Duty To Others

"A sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations.  People wish to be liked, not to be endured with patient resignation."

Bertrand Russell

19th century British philosopher

But since personal relations are important in business, how do you separate the two?

You don't.

Duties can be accomplished without "enduring" those you perform them for, patient resignation or not.

I Promise . . .

"Words pay no debts."

William Shakespeare

16th century British poet/playwright

Your promises to do specific things by a specific time are a form of debt.

Try not to default too often.

I Didn't Because _______

"An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded."

Alexander Pope

18th century English poet

Not always; some excuses are honest explanations for failure.

But I'm being kind.

All too often they are a lie.

But What If They're Right?

"Love your enemies for they tell you your faults."

Benjamin Franklin

18th century American statesman/inventor

Not everything they say about you is true.

Only that which is.

Behind the Veil Of What Might Be

"It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit."

Antoine Rivarol

19th century French writer

"Mystery", "enchantment"; not likely words you associate with your job are they?

Particularly not when you think about your career "pursuit".

But why shouldn't they be?

What Are You Building?

"The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed."

Henry David Thoreau

19th century American naturalist/poet/philosopher

Sooner or later compromise is a part of all our lives.

Better later than sooner.

Made Of Sterner Stuff?

"Such as we are made of, such we be."

William Shakespeare

16th century English poet/playwright

In business as in our personal lives, just as true for our companies as ourselves.

The Price Of Winning

"There are some defeats more triumphant than victories."

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

16th century French philosopher

Ever not get a job or contract you felt you really wanted or needed?

If so you know what this means.

If not you likely one day will.

Stagnant Thinking

"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind."

William Blake

18th century British poet/painter

Notice there is no qualification regarding which opinion.

All opinion.

If you don't believe that to be true, it's time to alter your opinion.

Neither Bad Nor Good

"Every moment of light and dark is a miracle."

Walt Whitman

19th century American poet

Yes, if you let them be so.

If you learn as much from the bad times as you enjoy the good.

Wicked Osmosis

"To see and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of wickedness."

Confucius

5th century BC Chinese philosopher

If at the beginning of your career you willingly work with people who compromise their ethics, chances are good you will as well in the future.

Be careful not to become what you didn't set out to be.

Rather Be Lucky Than Good?

"Substance is not enough, accident is also required."

Italian proverb

What role does luck play in your career?

Because This Is The Way We've Always Done It

"It is the very nature of things human that every act that has once made its appearance and has been recorded in the history of mankind, stays with mankind as a potentiality long after its actuality has become a thing of the past."

Hannah Arendt

20th century German born American political philosopher

That's just the way things are.

Six words that do more to impede progress than anything else.

As I See Things

"If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is.  For man has closed himself up till he sees things thru chinks in his cavern."

William Blake

18th century British poet/painter

How much of what you see would you guess is as it is as opposed to how you choose or would like to see it?

Temperamental Losses

"A person's fate is their own temper."

Benjamin Disraeli

19th century British politician/author

And how much, how often you lose it will determine how much else you lose.

What Else You Got?

"With coarse rice to eat, water to drink, and my bent arm for a pillow--I have still joy in the midst of all these things."

Confucius

5th century BC Chinese philosopher

I have to believe that positive attitude is a decided advantage when dealing with severe business problems.

What do you think?

The Ticking Clock

"I am what you will be, I was what you now are."

Unknown

For all our differences this does describe us all.

Time is the great leveler.

Use yours wisely.

Which Path Will You Take?

"The path is smooth that leadeth on to danger."

William Shakespeare

16th century British poet/playwright

There are two reasons this could be true.

One, because what's at the end of the path is not all that dangerous.

Two, because what's at the end of the path is dangerous and because it is few take that path.

Which do you think it is?

I Didn't Know That

"In the end knowledge is based on acknowledgment."

Ludwig Wittgenstein

20th century Austrian-British philosopher

Acknowledgement of what?

That there is much you don't know.

That's very hard for some to do.

You?

Being Up When You're Down

"The test of success is not what you do when you are on top.  It's how high you bounce when you hit bottom."

General George S. Patton

20th century US Army General

Suggested by Business Wisdom reader Ron Hixon

There are many variations of this all saying essentially the same thing.

It's easy to be positive when things are going well, tough when they're not.

How are you in both situations?

This Hobby Is Killing Me

"A hobby is hard work you wouldn't do for a living."

Unknown

I've been fortunate to (mostly) enjoy doing what makes me money, a lot of which is "hard work".

I'm also fortunate that I no longer have to do anything just to make money.

A hobby?

Let's Ask Bill

"Consult.  To seek another's approval of a course already decided on."

Ambrose Bierce

19th century American newspaperman

As a strategy/planning/"change" consultant, I can attest to this.

How much opinion do you ask for where the real intent is just to support what you've already decided to to do?

You Must Move On To Get To The Future

"Finite to fail but infinite to venture."

Emily Dickinson
19th century American poet

What didn't work no longer matters.

Only what might does.

Seeing Through You

"Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth."

Aesop

6th century Greek fabulist

And sooner rather than later everyone will know which you are predominately.

Looking Beyond

"What you see, but can't see over, is as good as infinite."

Thomas Carlyle

19th century British historian

Is it?

What if believing you see what is beyond, causes you to stop looking?

That Worries Me!

"I am an old man and have known many troubles, most of which never happened."

Mark Twain

19th century American humorist/author

Talk about business wisdom.

He's telling us that most of what we worry about never amounts to much.

Now I'm worried about what I'm not worried about.

I'll Tell You What I Think

"Opinion is the medium between knowledge and ignorance."

Plato

3rd century BC Greek philosopher

How appropriate towards the end of this political season where once again there is far too much of two of these, not nearly enough of the third.

And don't think this is just confined to politics.  It's not.

Every aspect of our lives is based more on opinion and ignorance than knowledge.

We just don't act as though that were true.

Enjoyable Misfortune

"It is remarkable how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion.  Our ears, it seems, are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men."

Eric Hoffer

20th century American philosopher

Is it easier to believe bad as opposed to good?

Do we more enjoy hearing or imagining the worst than we do the best?

Knowing Is Not Doing

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience."

George Bernard Shaw

Late 19th/early 20th century Irish poet/co-found of the London School of Economics

(Contributed by Ron Hixon)

While I don't think the unexpected "always" happens, I do so enough to understand the point of this quote.

We are capable of learning from experience, we just don't choose to do so nearly enough.

I Feel Your Pain?

"Those that will not hear must be made to feel."

German proverb

Maybe should be but how often will that happen, particularly in business?

Making people "feel" what they cannot "hear" is a lot more difficult than doing the reverse.

Ready, Set, Doubt?

"It is always the same; once you are liberated you are forced to ask who you are."

Jean  Baudrillard

20th century French sociologist/philosopher

And for young people "liberation" comes with graduation and first jobs.

You feel you know your strengths and weaknesses.

Do you really?

Can There Be Orderly Revolution?

"Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit."

Henry Brooks Adams

19th century American historian

I can see that.

But too much of one at the expense of the other and you end up with nothing.

How do you balance the two, particularly in a large company?

Your Replacement Is Here To See You

"To the old, the new is usually bad news."

Eric Hoffer

20th century American philosopher

But as a manager (old) part of your job is to find employees (new) who could potentially do your job.

What do you think of that?

The Devil Is The Devil You Don't Know

"For it is not death or hardship that is a fearful thing, but the fear of death and hardship."

Epictetus

1st century Greek philosopher

In business as in our personal lives, we fear what we do not know.

Replace unknowns and assumptions with facts.  Verify, plan, and the right path will become clear, the fear diminished.

How Much Time Do We Have Left?

"Nothing is to be rated higher than the value of the day."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Late 18th/early 19th century German poet/author

And still we often wish the day would end.

We can't include time on our balance sheets even though it is the one asset which often has most to do with our success or failure.

The Illusion Of Truth

"Pleasure can be supported by an illusion; but happiness rests upon truth."

Nicholas Chamfort

18th century French writer

How many of your business decisions are based upon illusion versus truth?

How do you know which is which?

Imagine There's No Imagination

"Imagination is the eye of the soul."

Joseph Joubert

18th century French moralist

If you don't consider yourself to be particularly imaginative, hire some people who are.

Foolish Business

"Many talked like philosophers yet lived like fools."

Unknown

And this doesn't just apply to philosophy either.

A business plan, or management managing without one, are expressions of a philosophy.

Self-Reflection

"Only by acceptance of the past can you alter it."

T.S. Elliot

20th century American-English poet playwright

And before you can accept it you must understand it, including things you've done and said you now wish you hadn't.