This is a quote taken from Lao Zi, and he is of course the founder of the Taoist persuasion. There are a great many other quotes attributed to him, of course, and he is also known as the author, by and large, of the “Tao Te Ching”, which is the basic text of Taoism. Well, […]
I’ve had quite enough of being told to “Go down to their level.” Stop this nonsense. The only reason you go down to “their” level is to raise them up to yours. And the only reason you raise them up to your level is to raise them higher than yourself. One of my favourite quotes […]
Confused? Really? There used to be a television series called “Lost in Space” which first aired in the mid-1960s. One of the characters was the “B-9, Class M-3 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot” usually known only as “Robot.” The Robot is memorable for two phrases: “Danger, Will Robinson!” and “Does not compute!” It is […]
Acquisition The desire for gain is one of the two basic motivations we humans have. The fear of loss is the other one. This desire for gain is not just for material things. It can be the adulation of others, having deep friendships or perhaps simply having the ability to enjoy the wonders of Nature. […]
POS. Point Of Sale. POS stands for, among other things, Point Of Sale. Although narrowly defined as “The place where a retail transaction is carried out”, I would like to include here that it means everything surrounding the moment the sale is made. It includes the buyer, the seller, the goods and/ or services provided, […]
Inanities How often have you read a report about once-great entities now gone to the dogs? Have you noticed how often those entities are described as being “Victims of their own success”? What does that mean? I don’t know, do you? How do companies become “Victims of their own success”? After all, if your success […]
What comes to your mind when “viral” is thrown across your path? Do you see wildly popular content shared by millions of people across the web? Do you wish that you could create similar content? Are you anticipating millions coming your way, so that you can retire to a life of ease? Or do you […]
We hear about it so often. Don’t take care of the customers, take care of your employees. Then your employees will take care of the customers. In similar light, Richard Branson has been credited with saying “Don’t build the business. Build staff who will then build the business” or words to that effect. Check that […]
I am fed up with people selling fantasies to everyone on their contact list. Exasperated by declarations of “It Will Be Great!” with no definite, organic steps in the right direction. Signs like “You Should Be Here!” make me shake my head at the foolishness of exploiting others. I’ve never read that classic called “The […]
“If there is no pain, there is no business.” ~ Attributed to a prominent regional, (meaning around Singapore), Venture Capitalist. ~ “Before you build a better mousetrap, you’d better see if there are any mice out there.” ~ Has been attributed to Yogi Berra, rightly or not. ~ Have you had the above and/ or […]
“Look before you leap.” “Think before you act.” “Logic makes people think, emotion makes them act.” Yes, we’ve heard all these before. Some of us might even be living by them. Level-headedness is more the exception than the norm. “Go with the flow” is often taken to the extreme and becomes nothing more than impetuousness. […]
The expected answer to the question above would be “No objections.” Is that good? Is that the norm? I once heard Patrick Lencioni say that consensus is a four-letter word. I agree. Consensus is a convenient way of saying that we don’t like what you, the Boss, is saying, but we can live with it. […]
Kate Thome wrote a three-part series on Executive Presence on LinkedIn recently. She discussed three kinds of observable behaviours which would indicate whether or not a person has that X-factor commonly known as Executive Presence. I call them tell-tale signs. Uptalk. This is when every statement you make sounds like a question from someone with a […]
What comes to your mind when you think of soft skills? Scoffed skills? If so, you need to change your mindset or continue hemorrhaging to death at whatever your current hemorrhage rate is. Soft skills are not some airy-fairy “I love you, Sister” kind of thing. They are actually much harder to develop than training […]
Inducements to be normal are very powerful indeed. So powerful that individuals tend to remain silent and compliant when living in a highly “abnormal” society even when they feel things are not right. As a whole, we don’t want to believe the scientific evidence that the law of entropy is relentless and that the human […]
Have you ever been admonished about the way you dress? Or perhaps about the way you don’t dress? Have you ever asked why it is so important? Well, it actually is. I talked about some of that in a previous post. Now, I’d like you to reflect on the oft-quoted “Dress for success” mantra. When was […]
Are you cockily confident? Brazenly bold? Confidence comes from getting better at what you do, and having a right perception of yourself. Want to get more confident?
Comments I made on the post by Suzanne Snowden on “Seven skills needed for tomorrow’s CEO.” What do you think? Skills? Competencies? Core values?
Do you buy on emotion? Not the best thing to do, although experts tell us that is what we do. Buy rationally. The good emotions will come because of that!
Is it wet? Is it dry? Does it matter? Have we become so used to our rut we refuse to get out of it?
Are systems and automation wonders going to solve all your business issues? Hardly. YOU are! For that, you need to automate consciously so that your business can operate at the unconscious competence level. So you can focus on relationships.
Would any of your staff lay their lives down willingly for your sake? How about you, would you lay yours down for them?
Feeling blase? Feeling, as some put on their social media statuses, “meh”? Your mouth has a lot to do with that! Switch from “Blah-say” to “Bon-say”!
This doesn’t say that branding isn’t important – it is VERY important! Why get so concerned about it? Become your brand, and it then becomes unconscious. No effort required. After getting there, of course!
There are many advantages you stand to gain when you hire veterans. Treat them well and you will gain even more!
Yes indeed. In the commodities market, that is. Not as in trading in commodities, but in treating too many things and too many people as if they were commodities. When we do so, the one thing that always comes to mind is price. Commoditization pushes price down by increasing consumption, maximizing efficiency, and large-scale production. […]
We love referring to classics, don’t we? Many of the quotes that we like to use for self-affirmation or when we’re just trying to appear as if we do have some degree of sophistication come from some classic or other. Someone has of course quipped that a classic is “A book everyone knows about but […]
You might inadvertently give someone influenza or catch influenza if you mispronounce influencer. I suppose you could say that both are infectious in nature. We have all heard the saying “Attitude is infectious. Is yours worth catching?” and we all know what that refers to. We also commonly use the term COI, meaning “Centre of […]
Seems like an inexhaustible number, right? Wrong. Seven billion is finite. Seven billion can still be counted. I’m talking about our collective insatiable need to “Get this cheaper somewhere else. Never pay full price again.” Someone, somewhere, will always be selling it more cheaply, and we will never run out of sources of cheap goods […]
You might be having some trouble being creative once people start referring to you as an “expert.” That’s because we as human beings tend to let the “expert” label go to our heads. Oh, sure, we all know that pride goes before a fall and all that, but we still let such compliments inflate our […]
I’m in one of those reflective moods that assail me from time to time. Hence, the title of this post. Seriously now, have you ever thought about how you will be missed? At the workplace, I mean. Ron Jenson once described how someone who was working in a large company had witnessed a colleague being […]
It’s a VERY dangerous thing! It is a very dangerous thing because we tend to believe that it is all we need to know about any particular subject. It is fine if we recognize that we know only a little, because then we continue asking questions and we try to integrate the increasing amounts of […]
Brainstorming sessions, or whatever you might like to call them these days, are excellent for a couple of things. They do churn out lots of ideas, of which one or two might even be great, and they do throw light on areas of developmental need in our organizations. “Bouncing ideas off each other” is a […]
Mankind has been searching for the elixir of youth for a long, long time. Anti ageing, the quest for youthfulness, indeed, the search for eternal life, is something innate in all of us. Even those who talk about an eternal blackness, of no consciousness, actually seek an unimaginably joyous eternity but sink into blackness because […]
Someone shared a post on “16 Ways to Put More Enthusiasm in Your Work and Life” by John Wood, and I was struck by how true the Law of Entropy is. The little drawing below came to mind, how different character qualities all support one another. In fact, we need all facets of our character to […]
“Four legs goood…..two legs baaaad…..four legs goood…two legs baaad!!!” go the sheep in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. People behave in many ways just like sheep. Feel insulted already? Think about it! Sound bites, short attention spans, focusing on what others have and lacking in self-control. Some guru declares that we need to be more assertive, […]
Tired of your job? No one appreciates how wonderful and valuable you really are? Sack your Boss and become an entrepreneur? Sure, do that! But before you do, you might like to consider the following intrapreneurship qualities: 1. Are you REALLY good at your current job? Ask your co-workers. Not directly, ask around […]
Most people I know have no problems with producing results, fulfilling KPIs, chalking up the numbers, and so on. Production is no big deal. You do what you’re supposed to do, maybe make some small, incremental improvements, do your due diligence, and….. voila! … the day is done. Even if some innovative new thing comes […]
Imagine two pairs of great-looking leather shoes. The first pair are of high quality and not branded. The second pair are not-as-high-quality but branded. All other things being equal, which pair would you be inclined to buy? If all other things are not equal, what would be the one factor that would influence you either […]
We can all expect similar responses, or perhaps reactions, if we bring up the topic of dressing well at work. Popular culture seems to have reacted against the perceived hypocrisy of being well-dressed and well-heeled outwardly, but being just the opposite inwardly. I suppose that’s where the term “stuffed shirts” comes from. The well-dressed of […]
Intrapreneur is actually the same as entrepreneur except it operates within the framework of a larger organization that the Intrapreneur does not own. I think that most of us are born with an entrepreneurial mindset already embedded within us. Tragically, this is eroded by the time we get to school and start working, and is replaced […]
You come into the job eagerly, with high expectations, perhaps a degree or two behind you, or perhaps with some years of experience under your belt. Your interviews had gone very well, and you look forward to making a big difference together with your new co-workers and managers. Yes, this is your dream job! Six months […]
Yes, I’ve been referring to the organismic company for a while now. And yes, I’ve been coming across posts and articles talking about how to make “Industrial Age” companies more organic, how to have better Job Descriptions, how to have more flexible Organization Charts and how to better tap on the vast Knowledge Bank that […]
At this writing, the question of whether the Scots go their own bonny way has yet to be decided. Ironically, as I took in more news on the subject, the song “When a child is born”, popularized by Johnny Mathis, sprang to my mind. What happens when you think of a child being born? Do […]
Everybody wants to rule the world. Everybody wants to be an author for the same reason. The word “author” refers to someone who has authority vested in him or her by virtue of the fact that he or she is an expert on the subject, has at least some degree of experience in it, has […]
But of course! Please stand in front of me. Now, bend forwards at the waist until your body forms a right angle with the trunk of your body horizontal and your derriere facing me. Ready? Prepare for the first kick. Say “Thank you!” Prepare for second kick. Say “Thank you!” Repeat process until inertia and […]
“Say what you mean and mean what you say” seems to have lost its meaning for at least some people these days. Whatever proceeds forth out of your mouth is no longer valued as what will be done, what has been agreed upon. Saying “You have my word on that” no longer holds water for many […]
Probably yes, whether you’re male or female. Before we go further, let’s establish a few things. 1. When you put men and women in stressful environments and make them work together and be dependent on each other for long periods of time, they will soon cease to act as working professionals towards each other […]
It’s hard to write when your head is stuffed, so this will be a short post. Probably. I find that more and more people are asking me for referrals, regardless of how well or how little I know them and their businesses. In a way, that is a good sign. It means that the spirit […]