Being One Doesn't Necessarily Mean You Are The Other

"Aspire to be a hero than merely appear one."

Baltasar Gracian

17th century Spanish philosopher

Substitute "great manager" for hero and it works in business as well.

However understand that being promoted to manager is not all that difficult whereas earning the adjective "great" in front of the title is.

"It Was Good Enough For My Grandfather . . ."

"To look back to antiquity is one thing, to go back to it is another."

Charles Caleb Colton

18th century British clergy

Much can and should be learned from the past and not just when it comes to retro design in automobiles.

And as George Santayana ominously suggested, "Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it."

However there is a very fine line between learning from and continuing to live as we once did, no matter how successful that approach might have been.

Whether you be an employee or an employer, is your focus primarily past, present, or future?

They are not supposed to be the same.

Move On!

"How you think when you lose determines how long it will be until you win."

Gilbert Keith Chesterton

19th/20th century British  author

Because too much time spent lamenting those losses keeps you from planning future victories.

Forgive And Forget?

"If I die, I forgive you.  If I live we shall see."

Spanish proverb

If you actually die, why not, you're not around to suffer the consequences of whatever wrong was done to you.

But what about in business where "death" means many things other than actually dying?

Them, NOT Me!

"Much ado about nothing."

William Shakespeare

16th century British playwright/poet

How much of what you do at work does this describe?

How about those you work with?

Are We There Yet?

"The end is never as satisfying as the journey."

Unknown

An abbreviation of a longer quote with the deleted portion making the point why this is true.

But why aside, do you agree with this much?

Whatever level of business and point in your career you are at, if you could would you "wave the magic wand" and put yourself at what you now consider to be the best possible conclusion?

Think carefully.

You Are What You Are?

"Man's character is his fate."

Heraclitus

500 BC Greek philosopher

Can we alter our character?

Division Of Labor

"The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them."

Robert Frost

Late 19th century/early 20th century American poet

An entertaining if not somewhat jaded view of the world.

Is that how you see things where you work?

(Fill In The Blank) vs. Fast

"A good and faithful judge always prefers the honorable to the expedient."

Horace

1st century BC Latin poet

Substitute any number of adjectives for "honorable" and this works in many situations.

Accurate, correct, fair, efficient, timely, effective, etc.

All and more like them, qualities we should emphasize in business more than expedient.

United We Stand? We'll Decide That

"Any unity which doesn't have its origins in the multitudes is tyranny."

Blaise Pascal

17th century French mathematician/philosopher

True unity must come from those who are to be unified; you can't force unity on them.

As a manager can you order your direct reports to work together?

Sure.

Will they?

It's your job to see that they decide they want to.

Maybe Tomorrow

"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."

William James

19th century American philosopher/psychologist

Nor as inefficient in the use of resources.

Have you ever considered how much of your company's time and money is wasted by not completing important tasks as soon as possible?

Too Much Talk, Is

"A dog that barks much is never a good hunter."

Proverb

Think, plan, discuss, talk, even bark if you will, but above all else, do.

I Wonder

"All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance."

Samuel Johnson

18th century British author
photo by Will Koffel
http://will.koffel.org/

A "wonderful" thing already seems identified as good whereas something I wonder about does not necessarily.

It might one day be but until I declare it wonderful . . .

Given all the uncertainty (ignorance) in our business lives, do you employ process to categorize things as wonderful versus those you should wonder about?

Identifying the presence or absence of novelty relative to what you don't understand may be where you start.

That's pretty wonderful.

Do You Believe That?

"The privilege of absurdity; to which no living creature is subject, but man only."

Thomas Hobbs

17th century British philosopher

Just to pick this nit a bit, I could argue that absurdity is in the eye of the beholder.

For example "cleaning" oneself with one's tongue, behavior common to many animals, strikes me as pretty absurd.

Did you ever get the sense that Steve Jobs, Mark Cuban, Sir Richard Branson, and others like them, were absurd?

Or do we only ascribe absurdity to those who fail doing what the rest of us see as outlandish?

If so, how absurd!

Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me

"It's all right to rat, but you can't re-rat."

Winston Churchill

20th century British politician

I like this quote, partly because it is a subject expressed in a way I would not have associated with Winston Churchill.

All the more reason his point hits home.

He's talking about betrayal.

When it comes to business, do you agree?

I Hope You (Yawn) Buy My Product

"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm."

Henry David Thoreau

19th century American naturalist/philosopher

As is true of many of the Business Wisdom quotes, this was intended for individuals, not companies.

But it applies don't you think?

At the heart of every business is a customer and if you can't be enthusiastic about what you want to sell them, how can you expect them to be?

Just Think What I Could Do If I Could Only Get This To Work!

"Technology does not drive change it enables change."

Unknown

I thought this would be appropriate, one day after the introduction of iPad 3.

Of course there are those who believe that technology does little if anything to facilitate positive change; a view I myself have enthusiastically subscribed to while waiting on hold for some tech support agent to take my call.

What do you think?

Thumbs up or down for technology as a change enabler?

Imagine Tomorrow

"The quality of the imagination is to flow and not to freeze."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

19th century American poet/essayist

and namesake of my elementary school

Everything is business comes from imagination.

Without it you will not succeed but if you do you will ultimately fail if you do not continually reinvent what and how you do what you do.

While some of the "wisdom" contained within these quotes is debatable, this is not.

Your Worst Employee?

"If you want to manage someone, manage yourself."

Unknown

Indeed!

It is our ego that prevents us from seeing our own weaknesses, but they are there nonetheless.

Regardless of whether or not you currently manage anyone, start managing yourself and you and those you work with will be much better off that you did.

Can I Help You?

"When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching."

Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

19th century English politician

There is a time and place for lecturing, preaching to employees, but sometimes the more effective alternative is to simply help.

But as I often ask, how do we balance the need for each, particularly in those situations when there are many more employees needing help than we have time to give?

Best Of All, Months Of Eye Blinking

"There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis."

 

Malcolm Gladwell

Author

Yes, but the reverse is true as well and in neither case is the outcome certain.

The best of all worlds is a mind capable of operating on either level.

I'm Not Kidding!

 "Wit is more often a shield than a lance."

Unknown

Humor plays a central role in business with the result of it depending on timing and the balance between there being too much or too little.

How conscious are you in your use of humor?

This is no laughing matter.