LIFE/WORK BALANCE

"No man tastes pleasures truly, who does not earn them by previous business; and few people do business well, who do nothing else."

Lord Chesterfield

18th century British statesman

Your title should be what you do, it is not who you are.

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?

A Voyeur Or Participant Of Progress?

"We love to overlook the boundaries which we do not wish to pass."

Samuel Johnson

18th century British author

The sweet spot in business is being agressive enough to always be moving ahead.

Too agressive and a loss may mean the end of your business.

Not enough and everyone passes you by as though you were standing still.

How's your risk balance?

On The Merits Of Being Cautiously Agressive

"Caution is not cowardly.  Carelessness is not courage."

Unknown

I have one individual in mind who has consistently demonstrated balance between managing aggressively and being overly cautious.

And when I think of his failures they are almost always the result of being too much of one or the other.

Seeing You Is Not Necessarily Liking You

"Fanatics are picturesque; mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reason."

Frederich Nietzsche

19th century German - Swiss philosopher

I don't know that we knowingly choose, or prefer, to watch fanatical, managerial behavior.

Demonstrative managers, whether or not they warrant watching, naturally catch our attention, but only in a way similar to when we drive by an accident.

We may be compelled to watch but that does not mean we condone.

Make sure you warrant being watched.

What's Your Real Agenda?

"Be curious, not judgmental."

Walt Whitman

19th century American poet

Which are you really when questioning your subordinates?

It's very easy to think you are one while actually being the other.

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.

The Ideal Manager

"They are eloquent who can speak low things acutely, and of great things with dignity, and of moderate things with temper."

Marcus Tulius Cicero

1st century BC Roman writer/orator

An eloquent prescription for balanced management.

So Much More!

"Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing."

Henri Frederic Amiel

19th century Swiss writer

Clever, intelligent, charming, educated . . . whatever adjective you wish, is not enough alone to succeed in business.

Successful business people are often many of these things, and more, all at once.

The Protective (Company) State

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."

Thomas Jefferson

Third US President

Regardless of how you feel about this relative to politics, what about in business?

Are you politically a small government advocate as well as a micro manager at work?

Be honest.

Wanting To Is Not Enough

"He who is firm in will molds the world to himself."

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

18th century German poet/author

A poetic argument for being strong-willed, but what this doesn't mention is the equally important need for power to back up your conviction.

And it also doesn't take into account that one can be both strong-willed and wrong at the same time.

Just beginning your career, or maybe wondering why 10 years into it, you're not getting promotions as are your peers?

Think about your will power, ability to reason, and power to influence others, in concert with each other as opposed to being separate entities.

Too much of one, too little of the others and you won't get where you want to be.

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 Power of Negotiation

"The greatest conqueror is he who overcomes the enemy without a blow."

Chinese proverb

The more broad your interpretation of "overcome", the more empathy you have for your "enemies", the easier this is to do.

And yes I mean in business, particularly in business.

Neither A Borrower Or A Lender Be?

"If you can't pay for a thing, don't buy it.  If you can't get paid for a thing, don't sell it."

 Benjamin Franklin

18th century American statesman

Leave it to old Ben to reduce commerce to its most basic form, with a dose of New England pragmatism thrown in for good measure.

Don't over extend is still good advice but how practical is it to attempt to conduct business this way?  

I never could have started and grown my companies had I not sometimes borrowed and had I not accepted some assignments where I might not (sometimes did not) get paid.

Minimize Reactive Management

"Incidents should not govern policy; but policy, incidents."

Napoleon Bonaparte

Late 18th century French general

Eight words, which, in my opinion, should be the center piece of management philosophy.

Don't react to transitory events. 

Manage in a way that is, as much as possible, appropriate for the great majority of likely events.

Can You Be Both Effective And Liked?

"Good nature is worth more than knowledge, more than money, more than honor, to the persons who possess it."

Henry Ward Beecher

19th century American politician

As it relates to management, what is "good nature"?  

A lack of anger, maybe being liked by many if not all?  

Can a business leader in difficult times, both achieve expected results AND be seen as "good natured"?

Does "good nature" relate to management?

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.

The Ability To Accept The Unacceptable

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

Aristotle

If I had to pick just one indication of a person's management skills, this would be it.

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?