Sunday, October 23, 2005

Uncle Bill’s Words of Wisdom

My Uncle Bill is one of the funnier people I know. He also happened to be a very successful Consumer Products executive usually playing the "new products" role. Upon his retirement, he shared a few of his words of wisdom...

  1. Honesty is not only the best policy; it is rare enough today to make you pleasantly conspicuous.
  2. The expedient thing and the right thing are seldom the same thing.
  3. The best way to get credit is to try to give it away.
  4. You cannot sink someone else’s end of the boat and still keep your own afloat.
  5. If you get a kick out of your job, others will get a kick out of working with you.
  6. It is not important that you come in early and work late. The important thing is WHY?
  7. No one should knock research that has ever been helped by a road map.
  8. Chicken Little acted before her research was complete. The competition ate her up.
  9. A New Products person who can’t take a lot of punches had better win in the first round.
  10. A man/woman of stature has no need of status.
  11. Never trust a person who is Dr. Jekyll to those above him and Mr./Ms. Hyde to those under him.
  12. You learn more from your defeats than from your victories.
  13. Few people are successful unless a lot of other people want them to be.
  14. Folks who think they must always speak the truth overlook another good choice...silence!
Hugh Macleod has a somewhat related list of how to be creative but is another list of guidelines to live by. Yet another I picked up off the bottom of a cook table on a rafting trip.

2 comments:

miadar said...

Nice list, but I wonder if such a list really helps anyone. It seems that I truly understand these items only if I already agree with them, only if I have the life experience that has tought me that they are true. Otherwise, I may read them and think I understand them, but have not done that really.

I find that examples help me understand much better.

TLR said...

This is an old post, thus my comment may be unnecessary--but, I want to make it in response to the question of whether or not such lists are helpful:

Yes, I think they are, particularly for those who are working to improve and grow personally and professionally. One or two sentences can often have the instant impact that a scenario or example cannot.

Many people have trouble adaptaing examples to their specific work or life situations. But, a pithy thought or a short paragraph can reinforce, remind, and provide a new perspective.

I have especially enjoyed THIS list, because it reflects some truths about work life that I need to remember. Thanks! And, if there IS an "Uncle Bill" thank him for me!