I love the pithy, brilliant one-liners that have come down through history. The old ones usually specify ‘man’ or ‘men’, because in the era they were said women were ignored—but that doesn’t change their validity, value or applicability to both sexes.

I don’t know how old this Japanese saying is, but it certainly is true if you’re in the wrong corporate culture—“The nail that sticks up gets hammered.”

The same bosses who make free with the hammers often love consultants, but the problem with many of them is beautifully summed up by Colin Powell when he said, “Experts often possess more data than judgment.”

Cardinal Newman said that “A gentleman is one who never knowingly inflicts pain.” Assuming that is true, we have a hell of a lot of folks walking around, on and off Wall Street, who aren’t gentlemen

A similar truth was stated by Pascal when he said, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” Sadly, we have millions of cheerful folks from every religion around the world doing their damnedest more completely than ever before.

Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.” Does that mean that all those people doing something to to those who disagree with them are good people?

Sadly, the one that makes the most sense, and probably answers my previous question, is a true jewel from George Bernard Shaw, who said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. All progress, therefore, depends upon the unreasonable man.”

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Communications are all important to the smooth running of anything involving people.

Obviously this includes business, since companies are no more than an affiliated group of people committed (in varying degrees) to progressing towards the same goal.

Brian R Nichols provided a quote that is a great overview of this in a comment he left,

“Simple clear purpose and principles give rise to complex intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple stupid behavior.” –Dee Hock (Visa founder)

There is no question that this is true as proved by the next two quotes from opposite ends of the clarity spectrum. Follow the first and you will be reviled by your colleagues, but implementing the second will make you both loved and influential.

The first is a superb example of what not to do from an organization that has demonstrated throughout its existence a brilliant ability to obfuscate in all its communications.

“Passive activity income does not include the following: Income for an activity that is not a passive activity.” –IRS form, Passive Activity Loss Limitation

The second is a bit of brilliance from a guy (pun intended) I hold in the highest regard. It’s just too bad more people don’t follow this particular advice.

“I think that no one, or very few, are born as good presenters. It’s a skill that you learn. The key is the 10/20/30 rule: 10 slides given in 20 minutes using no font smaller than 30 points. If people just adhered to this rule, they would double or triple the quality of their presentations. Less is more when it comes to pitching. You cannot bludgeon people into believing.” –Guy Kawasaki

But as important as communications are, never lose sight of the following:

“Organization doesn’t really accomplish anything. Plans don’t accomplish anything. Theories of management don’t much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.” –Colin Powell

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