THE JOY OF UNHAPPINESS

"A lifetime of happiness? No man alive could bear it; it would be hell on earth."

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish writer.

So, if you're not always happy, which no one I know is, you're normal.

Life in balance, no extremes.

GETTING IT RIGHT

"So enjoy present pleasures as to not mar those to come."

Seneca (4 BC-65) Roman philosopher/playwright

But do so with balance.

Avoid not enjoying today because you're worried about tomorrow, or living only for today.

Too much of the first and you never enjoy what you worked so hard for yesterday, while the second means you're not working hard enough today to have things to enjoy tomorrow.

SITTING IN JUDGMENT OF YOUR WIT

"Less judgment than wit is more sail than ballast."

William Penn (1644-1718) British religious leader

However you define "wit", without an appropriate amount of judgment, too much of (w)it is too much.

GOAL: CONSISTENT IMAGINATION

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish poet/dramatist

Taken to the extreme, which it often is, yes.

The need is for balance.

Be consistent enough to get done what must be done while being open to finding new ways to do it.

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?

It All Evens Out In The End?

"Every sweet has its sour, every evil its good."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

19th century American poet/writer

In other words, balance.

Do you agree?

Regardless of elsewhere is this true in business?

In The Balance

"One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead."

Oscar Wilde

19th century Irish poet

When it comes to business we need to be real.

But we also need imagination.

How do you balance the two?

The Art Of Business Change

"No art can be noble which is incapable of expressing thought, and no art is capable of expressing thought which does not change."

John Ruskin

19th century English art critic

Business is, above all, about expressing thought.

Done well, which is not always the case, business is art.

And those companies that do well at both experience more positive change than those who don't.

The Need For Equilibrium

"Order is not pressure that is imposed on society from without, but an equilibrium that is set up from within."

Jose Ortega y Gasset

Early 20th century Spanish philosopher

With all the recent quotes suggesting the importance of balance, I thought it would be good to include one telling us how to do that.

From within.

That suggests the need for management to consider how balanced is the culture it attempts to manage.

Big and Small: Balancing the Best of Both

"Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poet

We need both small and big dreams but the big ones can get in the way of living the small ones, while too much of the small leaves little time to aspire for more.

Whether in personal or business matters, how best to find the right balance?

Passion: Ever Too Much?

"If passion drives you let reason hold the reins."

Benjamin Franklin

Many speak admiringly about those who are passionate about their beliefs.

But do you think Mr. Franklin is suggesting that unbridled passion is not enough, maybe even dangerous? That maybe too much passion blinds one to reality?

There is a fine line between "not letting anything stand in your way" and "not listening to reason."

How do you know where one ends and the other begins?

Balance: Management Equilibrium

"The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that and live that way, you are really a wise man."

Euripides
5th Century BC Greek Playwright

Balance in every aspect of our lives including how we conduct business.

And this is not just about time spent on various activities but one's thinking, focus, commitment, investment, delegation, attitude, aggressiveness (or lack thereof), literally everything.

Too much, too little of anything is not good.

Balanced.

Are you?