“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Nietzsche If you ask people what they’re supposed to do or what they’re supposed to be, you’ll get a variety of responses. Virtually all of them will have one thing in common. “Supposed to” … Read more
“Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in public and private life, have been the consequences of action without thought.” – Bernard Beruch I think I could edit the above quote to end “…thought without action” and it would be just as meaningful. It’s bad enough to … Read more
“Don’t mistake activity with achievement.” – John Wooden This qualifies as the understatement of the year, but we live in a world that changes at an almost unbelievable rate. It’s at the point where sometimes it feels like there’s no way our brains can keep up. And sometimes they probably can’t. One of the things … Read more
“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.” – Aristotle Someone recently clued me in to an organization called The Energy Project. If you’re interested, click here to get to their web site. The gist of it is this: a huge percentage of people are disengaged, beaten down, unproductive, etc., and as leaders … Read more
“Nothing changes if nothing changes.” – Unknown We talk a lot in this space about change & how hard it is for us to change, both individually and organizationally. I had an interesting conversation recently about a different aspect of change – how do you get others to change? More specifically, how do you convince … Read more
“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.” – John F. Kennedy I was going to start this week’s post talking about a client of ours who struggles to “do” anything. They talk and talk without it ever amounting to any action. There’s … Read more
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” – Michael Porter We live in a world that likes to measure worth by accomplishments. We’re always talking about what we’ve done, about what goals our businesses have achieved, by what items we’ve crossed off our to-do lists. It’s implied that the more things we … Read more
“In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” – Eric Hoffer I’m sure some of you reading this have either read or at least heard of the late Stephen Covey‘s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It’s … Read more
“When you’re through changing, you’re through.” – Bruce Fairchild Barton I’m a huge sports fan. I’ve probably spent more time playing & watching sports than all my other leisure activities combined. It’s always interesting to watch teams that seem to have an identity. They know who they are, they know their strengths and weaknesses, and … Read more
“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.” – Bertoit Brecht We live in a world of change. That’s been true of everyone who’s ever walked the Earth, but it’s even truer for us today. Things change at an almost unbelievable rate. Just for a little perspective – … Read more
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