HOW AS MUCH AS WHAT

"He gains everyone's approval who mixes the pleasant with the useful."

Horace (BC 65-8) Latin lyric poet

Note to engineers: How something works is every bit as important as what it does. 

A parachute will get a person from an airplane to the ground but that doesn't make it the preferred method of descent for most.

SOONER OR LATER YOU HAVE TO PERFORM

"In times of storm, the shallowness of the root structure is revealed."

Unknown Source

Anyone can perform when unchallenged.

The trick is to do so when most others can't.

Ornamental Education

"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity."

Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher

The degrees we list on our resumes only suggest our worth; until we are tested they are, as Aristotle says, "ornaments".

However, education of any sort put to use, which doesn't always happen, is an advantage.  

In either case, sooner or later, and generally sooner, we must perform.

THE BEST REVENGE

"Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated."

George Bernard Shaw

19th/20th century Irish writer

Intimidation comes in many forms.

You can be intimidated by someone else's ideas, competence, intelligence, relationship with others important to you . . . any number of things.

The best revenge . . . do better.

The Future Apple Of Our Eye?

"Not what I have but what I do is my kingdom."

Thomas Carlyle
18th century Scottish philosopher

Apple has cash but it remains to be seen if they can continue to do as they have in the past.

And on that rests their future.

On Or Off The Person, An Empty Suit Still Is

"Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul."

Alexander Pope

18th century English poet

Whatever gets you in the room.

But once in, you need to perform.

Perfect Mediocrity

"Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything."

Eugene Delacroix

Early 19th century French artist

What role does perfection play in business?

A lot of company mission statements talk about "seeking perfection", but I've never known one that came anywhere near close.

Nor many managers who really attempted to.

Doing What You Say?

"Patience when teased is often transformed into rage."

Proverb

"Teasing" can take many forms.

For example repeatedly promising and failing to fulfill those promises.

And as to "rage"?

How about being fired for not doing what you said you would?

Or "fired" by a customer who is no longer willing to buy your product, having been disappointed in what you previously sold them?

Who's Got the Crystal Ball?

"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day."

Unknown

So, everyone can be right at some time but the critical question is, how often are they?

Do you evaluate employee performance based on the frequency they see things in what turns out to be the best possible way?

Failure: "I Can Explain"

"It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't."

Martin Van Buren
8th President of the United States

And yet so many spend so much time explaining why they didn't get the job done as expected/requested/required.

Why?

Results: Nothing Less!

"Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts."

Edward R. Murrow

Often I heard from employees and kids why something expected would not be happening.

I found it difficult to explain that no matter the reason, our client, the teacher, coach, etc., wouldn't care why something they were told would happen, wasn't going to as they assumed.

However, as Mr. Murrow said, the fact that I found getting this point across to be difficult, did not relieve me of the responsibility to do so.

In the end, reward goes to those who perform rather than those who explain why they don't and that is just as true for us adults as it is for our kids.

Management: Knowing Enough Never Is

"My experience has shown me that the people who are exceptionally good in business aren’t so because of what they know but because of their insatiable need to know more."

Michael Gerber
Author

Unfortunately business rewards knowledge, penalizing lack of knowledge even in those cases where am attempt is being made to learn. We don't pay for potential; only performance. But if all of us have much to learn, and rest assured we do, isn't this back asswards?

How can we establish a culture that one, recognizes all managers need to continually learn, two, rewards those who admit they do and take steps to learn, while three, still meeting company performance targets?