Subtle Trap on the Path to Expertise



 

I really wish somebody had told this to me …

Your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you …

A lot of people at that point, they quit. And the thing I would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be — they knew it fell short …

the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work. …

it’s only by going through a volume of work that you are going to catch up and close that gap.

— Ira Glass
Complete Quotation at
Brain Pickings


 

From the Nothing New Under the Sun Department

Mr. Edward Rochester, “And you felt self-satisfied with the result of your ardent labours?”

 

Miss Jane Eyre, “Far from it. I was tormented by the contrast between my idea and my handiwork: in each case I had imagined something which I was quite powerless to realise.”

 

Mr. Edward Rochester, “Not quite: you have secured the shadow of your thought; but no more, probably. You had not enough of the artist’s skill and science to give it full being.”

Jane Eyre Chapter XIII
Charlotte Brontë, 1847


A Giant of Business Innovation’s Guidelines For a Good Life

First of all, RIP Clay Christensen. He did great work and set a fine example in many aspects of the way he lived. I may even forgive him for cultivating the Mormon Mafia at HBS, which spawned Bain Capital and other banes of business.

I am grateful to a client who recently shared this wonderful Harvard Business Review article with me, Managing Yourself | How Will You Measure Your Life? Here are some of my favorite excerpts with commentary.

I can relate to his insight from a meeting with Andrew Grove of Intel. It is what distinguishes coaching from what most consultants and advisors do, “instead of telling him what to think, I taught him how to think—and then he reached what I felt was the correct decision on his own.”

I also agree strongly with this, “Management is the most noble of professions if it’s practiced well. No other occupation offers as many ways to help others learn and grow, take responsibility and be recognized for achievement, and contribute to the success of a team.”

I can’t agree, however, that people become, “unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children. [because they] implemented that strategy.” Individuals do not have total control over outcomes. He should remember the admonition, “If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans.” Stuff happens.

I agree that, “People who are driven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers—even though intimate and loving relationships with their families are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness.”

I heartily endorse his version of, Culture eats strategy for breakfast. “Culture, in compelling but unspoken ways, dictates the proven, acceptable methods by which members of the group address recurrent problems. And culture defines the priority given to different types of problems. … Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built consciously or evolve inadvertently. … Like employees, children build self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works.”

I could quibble with his interpretations of marginal cost analysis or humility but I endorse where he goes with even those loose premises. Rationalization and opportunism are corrosive. Healthy self-esteem improves learning, respect, & cooperation.

This quote sums it all up, “Don’t worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people.”

 


 

Parasitic Strategies & How to Manage Ourselves

2 Ways of Life title .PNG

Enjoy this free sample of my novel, Crimes of Cunning.

In Chapter 15, Who Has the Helm, the main character learns about the childish tactics that persist into adulthood and sometimes take control of our actions. His wife also shares the counterintuitive response that takes away their power over us.

Click here to download the free .pdf. No registration, no pitch, just a gift. Read it and reap.

2 Ways of LIfe animated GIF

Kindly Plan Your Funeral Now

I have never heard in a funeral that this person made a lot of money or is politically very strong. They never discuss that. In a funeral, people discuss how this person was kind or gracious or had character and integrity. … I learned from the funerals that we must plan our funerals when we are young. Plan your funeral, start early, by being kind.

I desire to leave this world as I entered it — barefoot and broke. To many, that may seem like an odd, unrealistic, even foolish thing. Not to me. Too many wealthy people hoard their riches, believing that dying with a large bank account is a virtue. I read about one woman who died and left her dog $10 million. What’s a dog going to do with that kind of money? Help other dogs? I see it another way: If I die with nothing because I have given it away, humanity is the beneficiary.

Jon M. Huntsman
Huntsman Corporation

 


 

Teddy Roosevelt gave me the title for my new book

CofC_Teddy_new
Click here to read more about the book.

 


It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social-betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the entire body politic of crimes of violence.

Theodore Roosevelt
Annual Message to Congress
December 31, 1901



Click here to read a free sample.


 

Click here to be notified when it is released on Kindle and as an Audible audiobook on iTunes.

 


 

Crimes of Cunning


 

On Sale Now!Crimes of Cunning now on Kindle

Crimes of Cunning

A comedy of personal and political transformation in the deteriorating American workplace.

Click here to see it on Amazon.com

Or, here for Barnes & Noble

Fast-paced, funny, and smart. This novel puts you into the world of a young MBA striving to succeed at a famous high-tech company. Brash and confident yet comically inept, Tony clashes with colleagues, clients, and even his biggest supporters.

He fires his most loyal employee, derails the career of his only friend, and nearly destroys his young marriage before transforming from chilly corporate collaborator to empathetic executive coach. Laugh and learn as his clients turn criminal, corporations collapse, and compassion triumphs.

It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social-betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the entire body politic of crimes of violence.

–Theodore Roosevelt, 1901

A veteran executive coach draws on his years inside Arthur Andersen, Wall Street, and MCI to share a moving story that explains why your 401k shrank, your house is underwater, and your job stinks. The comedy and conflict illustrate management methods and personal practices that can improve your career and deepen your personal relationships.

 



Click here to read a free sample.


 

Click here to be notified when it is released as an Audible audiobook on iTunes.

 



Click here to learn the source and meaning of the book’s title.