As you probably know by now there is change afoot at Leadership Turn. Specifically it’s ending, as all good things end, and that means change for me and you.

But that’s good.

As Harold Wilson said, “He who rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.”

Edwards Deming said it more simply, “It is not necessary to change.  Survival is not mandatory.”

Well, I plan to survive and we sure aren’t dead, so change it is.

When change hits have you noticed how much energy people expend looking for reasons not to change? John Kenneth Galbraith said it best, “Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.”

I don’t mind big changes, such as moving from California to Washington, but I hate changing little stuff, especially personnel changes in the companies with which I frequently deal.

When that resistance kicks in I remind myself of something I read years ago—if nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies. Good thought—change as metamorphosis.

Pauline R. Kezer said, “Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.”

Kurt Lewin opines, “If you want to truly understand something, try to change it.” Boy, is that true.

But it is John Lilly who really understands what change means, “Our only security is our ability to change.”

Change should be embraced, even when you’re not sure what it will bring.

Since b5 notified me the Leadership Turn was ending I’ve wondered what the change would mean to me. Will you migrate to MAPping Company Success and continue inspiring me to explore articles I read and share my off-the-wall ideas? Will you read a blog that doesn’t have ‘leadership’ in the name?  What will I do with the extra time?

What kind of butterflies will this change bring?

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Happy birthday to me; happy birthday to me, etc. etc. etc.

I thought I’d write a rhyme in honor of the anniversary of my birth and share it with you. Not a poem, I can’t write poetry, but I do write rhymes (some better than others:) So without more ado…

It’s my birthday and I’m not shy
shouting the news to the birds in the sky.
That’s the way I approach my life
because increasing years should not add strife!

I wouldn’t go back as an awkward teen,
with raging hormones and pimples seen;
back then I believed I could take wing
because I knew most everything.

I entered my twenties with more of the same,
but as time went by I started to tame
lots of the actions that created a stink;
I listened and learned and started to think!

Over the decades I made sure I kept growing
and the people I met kept new ideas flowing.

These days I coach and I write—a living I’m earning—
but nothing has changed I’m still talking and learning.
My picture is old and won’t be changed soon
and no matter what I’ll never carry a tune.

But life goes on and that’s a cert
even though today I am older than dirt.

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Is Shakespeare still in fashion? I find his insights and commentary just as apropos today as when I first fell in love with his writing, wit and style back in high school.

No matter the subject, you can always find an elegant comment on it from the maestro.

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” –Polonius, Hamlet (Back then the gentry were selling their estates bit by bit to maintain an ostentatious lifestyle in London. These days the gentry sell off our estates to support an ostentatious lifestyle globally. As is said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.)

“‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed
Not by our feeling, but by others’ seeing.
For why should others’ false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?” –Sonnet 121 (In Wall Street speak there’s not a lot of difference between sex and money when you get right down to it.)

“Lord, what fools these mortals be” –Puck, Mid-summer’s Night’s Dream (This says it all—somewhere the gods are laughing.)

Hat tip to eNotes quote help.

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What can I say? There is no way to skip Rod Blagojevich in a weekly post called Quotable Quotes.

But I found a couple of others that add a lot to the picture.

“I appreciate anybody who wants to tape me openly and notoriously, and those who feel like they want to sneakily and wear taping devices, I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate.” (Interesting choice to link himself to considering…)

“When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” –Richard Nixon (Sense a connection?.)

(Soul mates. Sweet…)

“You want to know my philosophy? One day a peacock. The next day a feather duster.” –Pat Quinn, Illinois Governor (Wow! Do you think he’s authentic?)

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Just one quote today—one that’s depressing and sad and makes me very angry.

In a speech in 1962 then-President John F. Kennedy said

“The American people will find it hard to accept a situation in which a tiny handful of steel executives whose pursuit of private power and profit exceeds their sense of public responsibility can show such utter contempt for the interests of 185 million Americans.”

I’m angry because 47 years later it’s déjà vu, all you need to do is change “steel” to “bank.”

But the real question is whether whoever is elected in 2056 will face yet another set of executives who also hold the American people in such total contempt.

Unless it happens sooner…

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I adore Bette Midler. I like her singing and acting, but mostly I love her chutzpah, humor, and all around sense of life; she’s feisty and independent—all traits that I respect enormously and do my best to emulate.

Now, without more ado, I present a few choice Midlerisms.

On Personal Development:

“Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cuz you’re really a yawn if it goes.” (Yup. There’s only one of me—past, present and future.)

“I made a pact with myself a long time ago: Never watch anything stupider than you. It’s helped me a lot.” (That sure eliminates a lot.)

On Sex and Politics

“If sex is such a natural phenomenon, how come there are so many books on how to?” (Isn’t sex part of life coaching?)

“I haven’t left my house in days. I watch the news channels incessantly. All the news stories are about the election; all the commercials are for Viagra and Cialis. Election, erection, election, erection — either way we’re getting screwed!” (Amen!)

On Responsibility

“Self-esteem is something you have to earn! The only way to achieve self-esteem is to work hard.” (You mean it’s not the result of singing “I am special…” in kindergarten?)

“People have an obligation to live up to their potential.” (Check. More hard work.)

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Greed, like water, just keeps flowing along, flooding the land and leaving destruction and misery in it’s wake. The current flood, which dwarfs Katrina, makes greed a timely subject for our quotes today.

“Laissez-faire, Supply-and-demand, – one begins to be weary of all that. Leave all to egoism, to ravenous greed of money, of pleasure, of applause: it is the Gospel of Despair!” –Thomas Carlyle (Said way back in the 1800s, seems nothing has changed—not encouraging.)

“It always seemed strange to me that the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first, they love the produce of the second.” –John Steinbeck (Good grief! You don’t confuse talk with actions, do you?)

“New York City is a great monument to the power of money and greed… a race for rent.” –Frank Lloyd Wright (Definitely living up to it’s reputation!)

“If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed [and] if we are not willing [to change], we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect.” –Jacques Cousteau (Long hail the mighty cockroach [see above].)

“No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” –P. J. O’Rourke (Whoever invents the test will wind up the richest person in the world without any need to be greedy!)

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Wow! Just three more days and it will be New Years Eve. And that means you have a choice to make.

Either you think of something intelligent to say when you raise your glass at midnight or you need to be so drunk no one will expect you to say anything, let alone something intelligent.

In case you’re planning on the first choice and need creative input, here you go…

The first two are for events that involve less booze, more formality and the impression for which you’re striving is that of deep thinker.

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” Bill Vaughn (Which are you?)

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” Hal Borland (I can quantify my experience, but I’m not sure any of it translates into actual wisdom.)

However, if you’re at one where things are looser, the spirits excessive and your goal is to generate laughter and impress that gal/guy you just met turn the conversation to resolutions and then use one of these.

“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other.” Anon (Yup, that’s why I stopped making them.)

“He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool.” F.M. Knowles (That’s me, a foolish weakling—see above.)

My final offering should make everybody happy. It’s good in any circumstances and really does exemplify the transition from experience to wisdom—and it’s experience that almost everybody has.

“People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.” Anon (Pure wisdom!)

What are your favorite New Year’s sayings? Why not take pity on others and add them in comments? Choice is good and your additions will increase it.

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You’re probably too young to have seen Groucho Marx on a TV game show called You Bet Your Life, but maybe you’ve rented some of his movies after hearing about him. If you haven’t, then I hope today’s post motivates to do so.

Marx was a brilliant comedian and offered great commentary on his times; as funny today as he was then.

“Humor is reason gone mad.” (An insight that give us a perfect reason to laugh as much and as often as possible.)

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” (If anything, TV has gone downhill since this comment.)

“Oh, I know it’s a penny here and a penny there, but look at me. I worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty.” (Just think what he could have done with a credit card!)

“Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.” (As has been proved over and over throughout history—and especially during the last eight years.)

“Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.” (Sounds like the honchos on Wall Street.)

Now go rent a Marx Brothers movie and laugh you’re a** off.

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I’m about as far from pop culture as you can get—not into *ratti’s at all.

But I have to confess that I adore everything about Sir Richard Branson.

Where Larry Ellison comes over as arrogant and obnoxious, Branson is laid back and friendly—and oh so sexy. (Would that we could all look like that at 58—or 38 or any age for that matter.)

So, smart, sexy, brilliant, talented businessman and serial entrepreneur in the grand manner—what’s not to like?

“A good idea for a new business tends not to occur in isolation, and often the window of opportunity is very small. So speed is of the essence.” (A great message for all those ‘leaders’ who not only think they know best, but also don’t know how to get out of their people’s way.)

“We expect the first Virgin Galactic space flight to take place in 2008, which gives our Flying Club members time to save up all their miles.” (Just started testing this year, so it looks as if you have another 18 months to accrue more miles.)

“You’ll have at least two ways to get lucky on our flights.” (And a great sense of humor. He said this when his airline started offering casinos and double beds on it six new Airbus A380 planes.)

“I don’t think of work as work and play as play. It’s all living.” (14 words to by which to live—think about it.)

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