21 Thought Provoking Tidbits

I was struggling for a topic for today’s blog.  So, I decided to flip through some of my notebooks.  I have notebooks all over the place so I can write down what I learned, thoughts and so forth.  Now with an iPad, I kind of miss my habit of notebooks, they have slipped lately.  Yet, I refer back to them often.  I encourage it.  I decided to just give you some tidbits from one of my notebooks.  I’ll give you a bunch of one liners that will hopefully be thought provoking.

1. In the absence of information, people make it up.

2. All people are social or pack animals.

3. If you don’t know who you are in bed with.  You don’t know if you are making love or getting screwed.

4. There are no surprises in life; you just weren’t paying attention.

5. Maximize clarity by being slow to understand.

6. The problem you name is the problem you solve.

7. Confrontation is merely a search for the truth.  Do it early, easy and often.

8. The reason for divorce is there on the first date.

9. The care of rivers is not a matter of rivers, but of the human heart. – Jenaka Shozo

10. Never launch into a project without a mission.

11. It’s not instruction, but provocation.

12. You are mature when you do the right thing.

13. Are you emotionally mature enough to look in the mirror?

14. You are either a leader or you are being led.

15. What is the worst decision you made in the last five years?

16. Give me an example of when you paid the price to maintain integrity?

17. It is easier to change people than it is to change culture.

18. You are what you tolerate.

19. Stick to your values.  Say, “we’ll miss you” if necessary.

20. Your journey as a leader begins when you understand who you are, what you care about and why you do what you do.

21. When you hire someone, you hire the group they came from.

Which one is your favorite?

We often keep track of the pithy things we say in meetings.  Or maybe they are just silly.  Yet, humor is culture too and I find them to be funny sometimes.  Here are a few from some of my meetings.

1. Beyond this, I’m incompetent.

2. Sell crazy somewhere else.

3. Did you cut your own hair?

4. They want their luck buttered.  Attributed to Mark Twain.

5. My favorite thing about this group is lunch.

Do you carry notebooks with you?