FAULTY JUDGMENT

"Everyone complains of the badness of his memory, but nobody of his judgment."

François de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680) French writer.

Memory plays a very important role in judgment.

To a large degree we judge based on what we believe we remember.

The results of our judgments are too important to trust only to that.

SMART, JUST NOT ALWAYS WISE

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way."

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist/writer/lecturer.

We're smart enough to recognize most "cats", and the likely outcome should we attempt to carry them by their "tails", without actually attempting to do so.

However  being "smart" isn't the same as being "wise".

IF YOU ONLY KNEW

"Know-how beats guess-how."

Unknown

And your chances for know-how greatly increase when you plan, your chance for success too.

THE CREATIVE SELF

"The creative adult is the child who survived."

Ursula K. Le Guin

20th/21st century American author

Notice she does not distinguish between types of creativity.

We are all potentially creative in things far beyond what is generally considered art.

We have only to foster that part of us, at the very least, not stifle it.

JUST GOT A BIG PROMOTION?

"Every ruler is harsh whose laws is new."

Aeschylus (BC 525-BC 456) Greek dramatist.

Best to learn what and who you are managing before you actually begin to manage.

And even then, do so carefully, with great thought.

YOUR RULE IS NOT ABSOLUTE

"Those that rule must hear and be deaf, must see and be blind."

German proverb

Management rules but success only comes from the willing participation of those told what to do. 

Lose that and you do not rule.

SOMETIMES ONE, SOMETIMES THE OTHER

"I have never seen a greater monster or miracle than myself."

Montaigne (1533-1592) French philosopher and essayist.

We are capable of both.

Which you consciously attempt to be more often than the other is up to you.

YOU MAYBE, NOT ME

"Every man, in his own opinion, forms an exception to the ordinary rules of morality."

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) British essayist.

The excuses we allow ourselves for being exceptions to rules we don't wish to follow.

Make no mistake about it, they are rules nevertheless.

KINDLY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

"The kindness planned for tomorrow doesn't count for today."

Unknown

Another example of what you do, not what you say you'll do.

What is, not what you say will be.

And nowhere more important than for kindness.

WHAT DO YOU HEAR?

"Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so we could hear twice as much as we speak."

Epictetus (50-120) Greek philosopher.

Twice as much!

I'll bet most of us don't listen half as much half the time.

AND SOMETIMES TWO

"One fool at least in every married couple."

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) English novelist and dramatist.

And just as true in business acquisitions, mergers too.

Just because you can buy some other company doesn't mean you will own them.

THE BARE MINIMUM

"If people should ever start to do only what is necessary millions would die of hunger."

Georg C. Lichtenberg (1742-1799) German scientist, satirist and anglophile.

Many do only what they perceive as necessary, simultaneously wondering why they're not more successful.

There's no wonder about it.

An occasional lazy day, sure, just not an entire lifetime.

NOT THE BEST OF US BUT ALSO NOT THE WORST

"The mass never comes up to the standard of its best member, but on the contrary degrades itself to a level with the lowest."

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American naturalist/poet/philosopher.

Possibly cruel to say but true in concept.

The best of any group can act less so while the least capable cannot immediately become something they are not.

It is the group's responsibility to resist becoming the lowest common denominator.

VIRTUAL CONTACT? VIRTUALLY NO

"Better to see the face than to hear the name."

Unknown

I'm going to update this a bit: "It's better to see the face than to network with someone virtually."

I appreciate social networking mostly done online; however the value of that sort of contact is extremely limited.

There is no substitute for in-person interaction.

Virtual contact produces virtual results.

THE PRICE OF OBSTINATE NEGOTIATION

"Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind."

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) British novelist and playwright.

There is a cost for being right as well for when you act as though you are even when you're not.

Make sure you're willing to pay it before you incur it.

THINGS ARE GOOD, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND . . .

"The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist knows it."

Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) American nuclear physicist.

Which one, the optimist or the pessimist, do you think is the realist?

Your answer says a lot about which you are.

WHICH ARE YOU?

"People are eternally divided into two classes, the believer, builder, and praiser, and the unbeliever, destroyer and critic."

John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic.

An overly simplified description of the human race, not far off truth.

We all belong in one or the other overly generalized categories; which are you?

It's never too late to change.

WHAT YOU'LL HAVE, NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU THINK YOU NEED

"Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable."

Montaigne (1533-1592) French philosopher and essayist.

Good to remember during your next budget exercise.

You'll have what you'll have and no more; no sense wasting time complaining it's not enough.

It is what it is so focus on spending it the best possible way.

MONEY BUYS . . .

"It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquillity and occupation which give happiness."

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Third president of the United States.

Good for all of us to remember and none more than those just beginning their careers.

Happiness comes from what we do for a living and how we relax when not working, not the wealth that comes with the job or the things we buy hoping for happiness.

Money buys a lot, just not happiness.

SOME, NOT ALL OR NONE

"It is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust nobody."

English proverb

There are probably more who do the former than the latter, the majority somewhere in the middle, but yes, being either is problematic.

Few, if any, extremes are good, these included.

ENOUGH SAID

"Whatever you teach, be brief; what is quickly said the mind readily receives and faithfully retains, while everything superfluous runs over as from a full container. Who knows much says least."

Proverb

Management: Understand?

LET'S MOVE ALONG HERE

"One must change one's tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one's superiority."

Napoleon I (1769-1821) Napoleon Bonaparte. French general.

During Napoleon's time 10 years was probably reasonable, and not just for war.

However now? Not a chance.

I can't think of anything where not changing your tactics much, much sooner than 10 years would leave you anywhere other than way, way behind.

Update, refine, change or be swept aside.