Message #347
"Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant -- the digitalis of failure."
Elbert Hubbard (A Thousand and One Epigrams, 1911)
WHEN A "YES" IS BETTER THAN A "NO"
As a boss, you don't want people "yes-ing" your ideas when they have legitimate concerns about them. On the other hand, you don't want people "no-ing" them simply because they see problems.
Hire and promote employees who "can do." Fire and demote those who can't. New employees who are smart enough to see problems with projects and bold enough to mention them should be rewarded for their perspicuity -- but corrected about their role.
Just the other day, I had what I thought was a very good idea for a new product. "Don't do anything more with this till you've talked to me!" I urged in an e-mail. When I explained my brilliant idea, a very bright young lady recited 22 possible problems it might create.
Somewhere along the line, she had been rewarded for such behavior.
I should have been gentler. Instead, I was blunt. My response to her was one that I recommend you use when you find yourself in a similar circumstance: "I am not, right now, interested in hearing about the possible problems this idea will cause," I said. "What I want to know is whether you think this idea is good. If you agree that it is good, I'll leave it to you to implement. And when you do that, I'll be happy to hear about the problems -- but only after you have figured out solutions for them."
Contrary to popular business mythology, "yes men" are right. There is nothing phony or fatuous or sycophantish in saying "yes" to new ideas or initiatives. It marks you as a positive person. Someone who is willing to take on a challenge. Someone to be relied on.
The next time you encounter a new idea -- and this applies equally whether you are in the role of the idea-maker or the idea-taker -- do the following:
1. Listen to it with complete sympathy.
2. Understand its business purpose.
3. Ignore, for the moment, all the potential problems you see in it.
4. Consider only whether it can achieve its stated purpose.
5. If you believe it can, say "yes" to it.
6. If you suspect it can't, ask questions that demonstrate its weakness.
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LIVING RICH: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT
The What Wine Goes With What Argument
American wine experts, for the most part, advise wine drinkers to eschew the old "rules" about compatibility and drink the wines they like. Europeans, meanwhile, have preserved the old ideas: that red wines go better with beef and hearty dishes, that white wines go better with fish and chicken, and that sweet wines go well with pate and dessert.
I favor the European view. These ideas are not arbitrary. They are the record of the combined judgment of thousands of wine drinkers over hundreds of years. They represent untold millions of wine tastings. If you believe that experience has value, you have to give some deference to advice that is based on it.
In restaurants all over America, affluent baby boomers are ordering red wine with their mahi mahi. They think this makes them sophisticated. They think they are thinking independently. Somehow, they don't see that they are following rules anyway -- just bad rules.
Do yourself a long-term favor. Follow the traditional rules at least until you have tasted 1,000 wines, half red and half white. If, at that point, you decide that you still prefer Merlot with your yellowtail snapper, order on.
"Malapropism" is another word with an interesting history. It comes from "The Rivals," a play by Richard Sheridan. It is named after a colorful character, Mrs. Malaprop, who has the habit of ludicrously misusing language in an effort to sound important.. Sheridan invented the name by borrowing from the French expression "mal a propos." You know what "a propos" means. Well, "malapropisms" are words that are not at all "a propos" -- as in this quote from Mrs. Malaprop: ". . . and as she grew up, I would have her instructed in geometry, that she might know something of the contagious countries."
MMF
* Sticking to the budget
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* Word to the Wise: Yahoo
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