CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU?

"There is no indispensable man."

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) Thirty-second President of the USA.

Or woman for that matter should you think otherwise.

And, man or woman, you become even more dispensable the more you think you are indispensable.

I Need You?

"Make yourself necessary to somebody."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

19th century American poet/essayist

Good advice on a personal level in addition to business, but certainly in business.

People sometimes pay for what they don't need, but always pay for what they do.

Key Man

"There is no indispensable man."

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd president of the United States

While I've always known this to be true, I haven't always acted as thought I did.

My ego occasionally made me out to be more (to myself) than I actually was.

What about you?

This Is Hard!

"Every noble work is at first impossible."

Thomas Carlyle

19th century British historian

And while you're at it you can substitute "important", "critical", "beneficial", and a host of other adjectives for "noble" as well.

In short, if it's worth doing it may well initially appear to be difficult if not impossible to do.

But don't let that stop you.

Do It!

How About Relatively Useful, Relatively Glorius?

"Unless what we do is useful, glory is vain."

  Latin proverb

Much of my early career was spent as a Senior VP Marketing and Product Development selling car and home stereo. 

Was there glory in that?  

What if you sell ketchup, clothes, hardware, grass seed, laundry detergent, most anything you can think of that is not essential to sustain or preserve someone's life?

I suppose what is and is not "useful" depends on one's perspective.

How about what you do?

Resource Allocation: What Will And Will Not Be Done?

"There is nothing so useless as doing that which should not be done at all."

Peter Drucker
Consultant, Educator

Motherhood!

Insightful motherhood but motherhood nonetheless.

The trick is knowing what should and should not be done and Mr. Drucker was handsomely compensated throughout his career for helping companies decide which was which (you didn't expect him to explain that in a free, public quote did you?)

How do you decide?