At the Practical MBA (as discussed in our September newsletter), the students were questioned at the end of each learning day about any ‘pearl of wisdom’ that they wanted to hold onto that had come either from the lecturers or from other students. The results, typically at the end of the week’s session, were about 200 statements that the students judged to be wise. At the graduation ceremony, the student, when on the podium, advised the audience of his or her key pearls. We thought we would share two dozen of these with you from the 2017 Practical MBA graduates.’
- Perfection is the enemy of good
- Very few people say things that they intend to be stupid
- Take care of the emotions of your bosses
- In a business, there is no mystery, everything has a reason
- Respect is: not trivializing the statements of others – especially of those with whom you disagree
- Accountability of the worker can only occur when the task measures are developed by the worker (with the supervisor)
- Under promise; over-deliver
- Work is a social event
- The GPS lady does not focus on our past route but on the best route to go forward from where we are now
- Employees can only be expected to be committed to the things over which they have control
- Don’t leave your prized racehorse tied to a plow
- Share numbers with employees; if you treat them like children, they will act as children
- Problems are opportunities for improvement
- We learn through failures, not through successes
- A fish rots from the head down, and so does a company
- You can’t change the wind, but you can change the sails
- Delegating is about taking the risk to trust
- The problem is rarely the problem; the problem is the lack of teamwork to solve the problem
- The single reason that companies collapse is that they fail to adapt to change
- Don’t be busy, be productive; get the job done
- If it doesn’t make sense to you, don’t accept it – regardless of who the author maybe
- Cooperation is a natural human dimension; lack of cooperation occurs because the human feels some form of threat
- Change is the driver of everything
- The more you give to others, the more you get in return
Do you have any pearls to share?
Bill Caswell, Founder