I have no idea if George Orwell’s Animal Farm is still required reading, but it should be. In it is one of the most brilliant bits of insight on the human condition ever written; one that is as applicable now as when it was written and will continue to be as long as humans exist. “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”

Many of the quotes you find from Orwell are political, and I skipped those and looked instead for those that I thought applied to the workplace.

If you’re old enough to have watched a few generations grow to adult status you’ll recognize the truth in these words, “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” And Orwell said that before the Millennials were even gleams in their grandfathers’ eyes.

In business there is much talk about the importance of vision and how it must be communicated effectively, so that everyone understands. Orwell said, “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” In hindsight, you can see how these feed off each other over and over corrupting the actions that result from the thought and the language.

That kind of corruption can be stopped in its tracks by following another Orwell recommendation, “Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.”

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Spring is a time of reawakening; of new starts; a time to plant seeds and reap the benefits down the road.

Many of you won’t know who Erma Bombeck was, but I read her column (she wrote what was called “housewife humor and was hilarious) for many years and this one was always a favorite; she wrote it when she was 52, 17 years before she died in 1996.

Read it, then read it again. I believe you will find many seeds to plant that will benefit you and those in your world, especially in our wired, 24/7 world.

If I Had My Life to Live Over (1979)

Someone asked me the other day if I had my life to live over would I change anything.

My answer was no, but then I thought about it and changed my mind.

If I had my life to live over again I would have waxed less and listened more.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy and complaining about the shadow over my feet, I’d have cherished every minute of it and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was to be my only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten popcorn in the “good” living room and worried less about the dirt when you lit the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have burnt the pink candle that was sculptured like a rose before it melted while being stored.

I would have sat cross-legged on the lawn with my children and never worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television … and more while watching real life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband which I took for granted.

I would have eaten less cottage cheese and more ice cream.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick, instead of pretending the Earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for a day.

I would never have bought ANYTHING just because it was practical/wouldn’t show soil/ guaranteed to last a lifetime.

When my child kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now, go get washed up for dinner.”

There would have been more I love yous … more I’m sorrys … more I’m listenings … but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute of it … look at it and really see it … try it on … live it … exhaust it … and never give that minute back until there was nothing left of it.

Image credit: ErmaMuseum.org

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Do you remember Calvin and Hobbs by Bill Watterson? Of all the comics I’ve read over the years that is my all-time favorite. I even own most of the collections in book form.

I did Watterson quotes back in ‘08 and I thought that almost leap-day would be a good day to share some from Calvin.

First, you have to understand how Calvin sees himself and, in doing so, you’ll understand a great truth of the modern world. “People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don’t realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.” Although true, I’ve always reminded myself that for every person I think is an idiot there are at least two others who think I’m one.

It may not be original, but I have always like Calvin’s description of life, “Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine, and valleys of frustration and failure.” That fits my life, except that the summits were all bunched together, with the last decade one continuous valley; I could do with a few more flats.

Calvin says, “History is the fiction we invent to persuade ourselves that events are knowable and that life has order and direction,” whereas I think that order and direction comes from within.

I’ve always thought that Calvin’s comment, “Careful. We don’t want to learn from this,” would make a great Wall Street motto.

But it is his thoughts on the possibility of other intelligent life in our universe with which I most heartily agree. In fact, I was saying something similar a couple of decades earlier.

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”

Image credit: Just-Us-3 on flickr

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I love George Bernard Shaw; he was brilliant and had a rapier wit with which he skewered deserving people, ideas and situations, while supplying pithy commentary on the events of his time as well as inspirational ideas.

Some of the things he said have passed into such common usage that few people even realize they are quotes. How many times have you seen this on cards, plaques and samplers?

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’”

Sound familiar? It’s a favorite of mine; in fact, I have it on my office wall.

So I went looking for a few of the more esoteric Shawisms.

The first is an important heads-up for all of us, but especially anyone in a leadership role; you might even find that it accurately describes the problems you’re having.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

Progress is something that both people and business expend great effort to do; what we often forget is that progress means things will be different.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

Because we progress we are all constantly changing, but too often people don’t take the time to find out who you are now; Shaw sums the problem and solution up in just a few words.

“The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them”

Collaboration boosts progress; Shaw understood this and explained why it’s so important.

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

Progress requires innovation, but real progress requires thinking as opposed to rephrasing previous ideas to sound new, but if Shaw was correct it accounts for the lack of progress in so many areas.

“Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think; and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”

Those who don’t think often lean on ideology to support their agenda. The problem with ideology is that it doesn’t lend itself to seeing another’s world-view. Shaw understood how ridiculous this was.

“The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things.”

My last choice is one I would like to apply to all politicians and educators. Perhaps, if we did, it would significantly improve the quality of those who claim to serve. (Hmm, it probably wouldn’t hurt to apply it to everybody else, too, including yours truly.)

“We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and justify our existence…on pain of liquidation.”

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

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Today is Valentine Day and I sincerely hope that you have better things planned than reading blogs—even mine.

Do you believe in love at first sight? I think that if one is going to be honest the looks exchanged by strangers across a crowded room are more likely to be lust, than love at first glance.

Thousands of years ago Buddha said, “Of all the worldly passions, lust is the most intense. All other worldly passions seem to follow in its train;” whereas Elizabeth Hurley puts a far more modern spin on it, “A bit of lusting after someone does wonders for you and is good for your skin.”

Lust can rest in one’s mind and never be acted upon, but, if action is preferred, it is wise to first ponder the words of John Barrymore, “Sex: the thing that takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of trouble.”

If that doesn’t dampen desire, then—man or woman—heed Shakespeare’s warning in Macbeth: “Alcohol provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.”

The thing about lust and sex is that they are both short-lived, although a lot of fun while they’re happening.

But, as Joanne Woodward points out, “Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that’s a real treat.”

And that brings us to love—about which millions of words have been spoken, not to mention written.

Love is quirky and difficult to define, but Roy Croft offers a bit of wisdom that makes a great deal of sense, “I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.”

Anon has a bit of wisdom to offer up that would improve life on all levels is we would just follow it, “Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.”

But what of intimacy?

Barbara Cartland, who certainly knows all about these topics (do you think she does her own research?) says, “Among men, sex sometimes results in intimacy; among women, intimacy sometimes results in sex.”

However, true as that is, it is Thomas More who really understands the road to real intimacy, “Romantic love is an illusion. Most of us discover this truth at the end of a love affair or else when the sweet emotions of love lead us into marriage and then turn down their flames.”

Have a wonderful day. Spread love lavishly throughout your world and it will come back to you as a tsunami.

Image credit: jmjvicente on sxc.hu

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See all mY generation posts here.

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Today is Super Bowl XLIV, so I thought it only appropriate to offer up some quotes relevant to more than just football—in other words, super quotes.

As you know, sports are often a metaphor for business and other parts of life.

I agree with Knute Rockne’s comment that “one man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it,” only I’d apply it to “leadership.”

Jock Sutherland said, “Speed is not your fastest, but your slowest man. No back can run faster than his interference.” This harks back to the weakest link theory and is true in business and in life.

Darrell Royal’s words are as true for entrepreneurs and they are for any sport, “The only place you can win a football game is on the field, the only place you can lose it is in your hearts.”

I thought it would be nice to end on a lighter vein.

Small errors can make your team focus too much on the words and not enough on their meaning as Bill Peterson should have realized when, while giving a pep talk, he said, “Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl.”

Then there are the questions asked in all seriousness, only to bring forth hilarious laughter or shocked silence; as these two examples show.

Before Super Bowl XVIII, Julie Brown asked Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, “What are you going to wear in the game on Sunday?”

Then there was the reporter who didn’t just put his foot in his mouth, but his entire leg when he asked

Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, “How long have you been a black quarterback?” (Super Bowl XXII)

Sadly, while the questions were preserved, the responses were not.

Finally, there is Duane Thomas’ question, the one could have been asked every year for the last 44, “If it’s the ultimate game, how come they’re playing it again next year?”

Only one thing left to say—GO SAINTS!

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Bob Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford and a Professor of Organizational Behavior, by courtesy, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, but he is best known to the majority of people as the author of The No Asshole Rule.

He is also a genuinely nice guy, has a prominent email link on his blog and actually responds when you write him.

The blog is called Work Matters and it’s one of those ‘if you read nothing else…’ things. In the left column Bob has listed “15 things I believe” and my favorites form today’s quotes along with links for context.

Which ones would you choose?

Getting a little power can turn you into an insensitive self-centered jerk.

The best test of a person’s character is how he or she treats those with less power.

The best single question for testing an organization’s character is: What happens when people make mistakes?

Saying smart things and giving smart answers are important. Learning to listen to others and to ask smart questions is more important.

Image credit: Stanford Report

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Opinions are what set us apart from other animals that deal solely in reality or, as some wag said many decades ago, “Opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one!”

Of course, when opinions differ, obviously, it’s the other person who is the asshole.

Oscar Wilde hit the nail on the head when he said, “One can give a really unbiased opinion only about things that do not interest one.” You can’t get away from the fact that caring means bias.

Most of us spend (waste?) a great deal of time and energy in an effort to positively influence others opinions of us; instead we would be better off to remember the words of Olin Miller, “We probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.”

But if you are one of those who worry Quentin Crisp would not only understand, but applaud the effort, “The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we hold of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.”

As one listens to opinions it is wise to remember the words of E. B. White, “Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.” And that seems to be the most prevalent approach these days.

When ‘everybody says…’ is used to support an opinion it is well to remember Bertrand Russell’ comment, “The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a wide-spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible”

That’s all for today, but I’ll leave you with the words of James Russell Lowell to ponder and embrace, “The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.”

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There is much talk about how empowering workers juices creativity and hikes productivity.

Some companies claim that the best empowerment comes from eliminating full-time employment completely so that workers can move freely from one company to another.

My own opinion is that while that may work for a small percentage, it will have the opposite effect on the great majority.

Google’s Eric Schmidt says, ”Employees have to feel empowered. That’s what makes people love what they do and where they work,” but if they don’t really work there why should they love it?

Before the turn of the century, Bill Gates said “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others,” but many leaders seem more interested in accumulating, holding and controlling power.

They don’t understand that doing so makes them smaller and weaker, whereas, as Barbara Colorose said, “The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process.”

Scott Adams has another take on the subject. He says, “I’m slowly becoming a convert to the principle that you can’t motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.”

While I don’t agree about the motivation, I do agree about removing obstacles—and one way to do that is to empower people with enough authority to do their job.

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