Management Lessons…

I recently came upon these lessons from my favorite, Unknown Sage.  Enjoy.

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?”  The crow answered: "Sure, why not."  So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.  All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson:

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy.”  "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull.  "They're packed with nutrients."  The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree.  The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.  Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree.  Soon, a farmer promptly spotted him and shot the turkey out of the tree.     

Management Lesson:

Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

A little bird was flying south for the winter.  It was so cold; the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field.  While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it.  As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was.  The dung was actually thawing him out!  He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.  A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.  Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him!

Management Lessons:

1) Not everyone who drops crap on you is your enemy.

2) Not everyone who gets you out of crap is your friend.

3) And when you're in deep do-do, keep your mouth shut!

The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked.  As they went long, they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding.  The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.  Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk."  They decided they both would walk.  Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride, so the both rode the donkey.  Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey.  The boy and man said they were probably right so they decided to carry the donkey.  As they crossed a bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.     

Management Lesson:

If you try to please everyone, you will eventually lose your ass.

How many people do you know who aspire to become “the manager”?  How many have already done so?  Careful what we wish for, true?

                                                            GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Titles…

I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its title, but…  titles do catch our attention, yes?  I wonder: If we added clever titles to our Progress Reports, would it make for better reading by our managers?  Could a title improve our content?

One of my favorite book titles is Hope is Not a Strategy© by Rick Page.  Applicable to so many of life’s challenges, true?  I liked the book, too.  Rick suggested to be successful in the sales profession we need to go out and “hunt” for business vs. hoping business will somehow find us.

I bought a book once titled,  How to Work for an Idiot © by Dr. John Hoover.  Question: If I’m a Manager, do I buy that book for my people?  What if they but it for themselves and I see it on their desk, then what do I do?  What if they have dog-eared several pages!!  It brings to mind words from our favorite, Unknown Sage:

Owen’s Theory of Organizational Deviance: 

Every organization has an allotted number of positions to be filled by misfits.

So, should we put titles on our Progress Reports?  In my career I noticed when I wrote a report it always stimulated a call from my manager to discuss what was in the report.  It made me wonder; if we’re going to talk about it anyway, why did I have to write the report in the first place?  Back to our Unknown Sage:

Sweeny’s Law: 

The length of a Progress Report is inversely proportional to the amount of progress.

I don’t write Progress Reports anymore.  If you do and you’d like a little help you with your report title might I recommend, Only the Paranoid Survive © by Andy Grove?

GAP

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Common enemies…

How can that title correlate with peace and positivity?  Well, we can harness power for the greater good from negativity.  Emphasis on the greater good. 

Friday, America will recognize Pearl Harbor Day.  On December 7, 1941, an emotionally negative event occurred that summoned a powerful, driving force for the greater good.  According to Google: 

In total, 2,335 Americans died and 1,143 were wounded. 

Nothing remarkable in the annals of bloody combat, or even the bloody headlines of today, true?  But the highly-charged political discourse that followed, epitomized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Infamy Speech” ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infamy_Speech ), united our country against common enemies.  Emphasis on uniting our country.

Negative emotions can be a powerful driving force.  But a force for good?  

The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. 

Albert Einstein 

Thinking differently may offer us hope, but different does not have to be violent or dividing.  Our thinking should create more friends and allies than it does enemies. 

In the business world we often see evidence of power when a company unites against common enemies.  Steve Jobs famously crusaded to be taken seriously – until Apple rose to dominance.  The common enemy was marketplace disrespect.  That adversity rocketed Apple to astronomical heights. 

"ADVERSITY”: 

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. 

Horace 

The American Red Cross was inspired from the carnage of our Civil War  This powerful organization is also untied against common enemies – the devastated; the wounded; the needy; the destitute. 

We have many common enemies that can help us harness power for good.  Emphasis on the good:  

In every community, there is work to be done. 

In every nation, there are wounds to heal. 

In every heart, there is the power to do it. 

Marianne Williamson 

Here’s to Pearly Harbor Day and the power it generated to propel our country forward in the face of common enemies.  How will we propel America and our fellow Americans forward this December in the face of today’s common enemies?  

Yes Marianne, in every community there is work to be done for the greater good.  In our hearts and minds we all have the power to do it! 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Thank you again and always…

‘Tis the season of thankfulness.  Not that we should wait throughout the rest of the year but certainly November and Thanksgiving remind us of our blessings, don’t you agree?  So before I go any further - permit me to say, “Thank you”! 

Thank you for reading me.  Thank you for commenting on my little ditties.  Thank you for respecting my viewpoints; even those you disagree with.  Thank you for encouraging me to continue.

I am blessed with many people who enrich my life beyond count.  Thankfully, smart people have put counting in the proper perspective: 

Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted. 

Albert Einstein

I can’t count all that I am thankful for; nor all of the times I have wanted to thank someone for their kindness.  But I am thankful for sure. 

I’m thankful for living in Denver – most of the time anyway: 

Welcome to Denver: 

The morning rush hour is from 5:00 to 10:00 AM. The evening rush hour is from 3:00 to 7:00 PM.  Friday's rush hour starts on Thursday.

Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere.  Denver has its own version.  The car or truck with the loudest muffler goes next at a 4-way stop.  The truck with the biggest tires goes after that.  Blue-haired, green-haired, or cranberry-haired ladies driving anything have the right of way all of the time.

North and South only vaguely resemble the real direction of certain streets.  University and Colorado are two boulevards that run parallel.  Geometry evidently not working at altitude, these streets intersect south of C470.

Highway 285 runs North, South, East and West and every direction in between; it can be found in every section of the Denver area making navigation very interesting.  You can turn west onto southbound 285; you can turn north onto westbound C470; and you can drive southeast on the Northwest Parkway.  This is why Denver uses the additional driving directions of “out”, “up”, “in”, “down”, and sometimes “over”.

Construction barrels are permanent, and are simply moved around in the middle of the night to make the next day’s drive more challenging.  When you see an orange cone, you must stop and then move ahead slowly until there are no more cones.  There need not be construction, just cones.

If someone has their turn signal on, wave them to the shoulder immediately to let them know it has been accidentally activated.

If it’s 70 degrees, Thanksgiving is probably next week; if it’s snowing, it’s probably the weekend after Memorial Day.

If you stop at a yellow light, you will be rear-ended or cussed-out.  A red light means four more cars can go through.  Not three; not five.  Four.  Never honk at anyone.  Ever.  Seriously.  Never yield at a “Yield” sign.  The yield sign is like an appendix; it once had a purpose but nobody can remember what it was.

Just because a street on the east side of town has the same name as a street on the west side of town doesn’t mean they’re connected. 

Unknown Sage 

Thankfully, we can celebrate with family, friends, food, and fun… maybe even a little football during the Thanksgiving holiday.  Let’s take a few quiet moments to reflect on all we have to be thankful for:

Thank you Lord.  I may never have a lot; but I have always had enough. 

Gary A. Pokorn 

Thank you again and always. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.