WE CAN'T BE BEAT?

"We feel and know that we are eternal."

Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677) Dutch Jewish philosopher

People maybe, companies definitely not.

And still many management teams act as though their company will never die.

And when they do that is the beginning of the end.

JUDGE NOT LEAST YOU BE JUDGED

"A man is not good or bad for one action."

Thomas Fuller

17th century British clergyman/author

Nor, two, three, or even considerably more.

Judge if you must but only after patiently, methodically reaching whatever conclusions would be reached by any normally non judgmental person.

SUPERFICIAL JUDGEMENT

"A man is not good or bad for one action."

Thomas Fuller

17th century British clergyman/author

Nor a woman.

However all too often we are judged by too many about too little of all we say and do.

If you don't judge on most or all it, try not to judge at all.

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND . . .

"Thou hast seen nothing yet."

Miguel de Cervantes

16th century Spanish novelist/dramatist/poet

You could assume at least two very different interpretations of this:

1. A statement of self-affirmation by a confirmed optimist.
2. An opinion expressed by the speaker about the limited life experiences of the listener.

How quickly you decided which says a lot about your propensity to consider alternatives.

HERE COMES THE JUDGE

"If you judge, investigate."

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

4th century Roman philosopher and playwright

And who amongst us does not judge?

It's ok to be wrong but first do your best to be right.

RULES RULES

"The wise know that foolish legislation is a rope of sand, which perishes in the twisting."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

19th century U.S. poet, essayist and lecturer

Rules are necessary, the good ones at least.

Be careful which rules you make and even more so those you attempt to enforce.

Make mistakes to learn not to make mistakes.

"One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat."

Woodrow T. Wilson

28th US President 

Makes sense.

But how do you balance the time necessary to develop "cool judgment" versus "hasty counsel"?

Do you always know which you have?

Maybe Will Rogers had the answer.

What I Will, What I Won't

"All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain."

Epictetus

1st century Greek philosopher

The trick is to know what you will abstain from, what you will work to sustain.

The choice is not always clear but is often difficult.

Sitting In Judgement

"Do not judge and you will never be mistaken."

Jean Jacques Rousseau

18th century Swiss political philosopher

Fine for life in general, at least in theory, but not in business.

A manager's job is to judge, to make decisions, most often without sufficient information.

You have to decide what to do as well as what not to do.

Just do so as thoughtfully and fairly as possible.

But We All Think So

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing it is still a foolish thing."

Bertrand Russell

20th century British  logician/philosopher

Numbers don't necessarily prove intelligence, not in what your management thinks nor what your customers think.

What You Think Or What You Know?

"What you don't see with your eyes don't witness with your mouth."

Jewish proverb

In business you must separate what you think is true from what you know is true. 

Those who find you doing too much of the latter will soon not trust you to do the former.

Everyone Thinks So!

"I guess the definition of a lunatic is a man surrounded by them."

Ezra Pound

20th century American poet/intellectual

You are a manager and everyone but one of your staff is convinced that one individual is wrong, the rest of them right.

While you understand why they feel this way, you privately wonder if she may be right, the rest of them wrong.

What do you do?

The Managerial Responsibility

"Jesting is often only indigence of intellect."

Jean de la  Bruyere

17th century French satirist

Not always but enough so to (hopefully) cause you to pause and think about what you say.

Particularly if you are in a position of power.

I Could Have Told You That!

"Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star."

Confucius

5th century BC Chinese philosopher

A situation made even worse when the ignorant believe they see "moon or stars" when no one else does, and act accordingly.

But how do any of us know for sure that the "light" we think we see is truth?

We celebrate business leaders who take the alternative path and succeed, Steve Jobs being but one obvious example.

And we ridicule those who do exactly the same thing and fail, as if we knew all along that they were wrong.

Somewhere in this is the middle ground of speculative judgement we all should seek to find.

On a completely separate subject, to all those who served our country in the past, or who do so today, thank you!  Have a great Veteran's Day!

I'm A Collge Graduate, I Know Stuff!

"College is a refuge from hasty judgement."

Robert Frost

20th century American poet

Is or should be?

If is, shouldn't the college graduate carry their apparent learned ability to not make hasty judgements with them into the working world?

In all too many cases I think it is the opposite, but then I may have been hasty making that judgement.

What do you think?

What You Don't Say As Much As What You Do

"Wise men are not always silent, but they do know when to be."

Unknown

Success in business depends not only on knowing what to say but as well, when to say nothing at all.