There are hundreds of sites that highlight Independence Day with stories, articles, quotes, etc., so I didn’t feel the necessity of augmenting them. However, I did like the idea of finding some interesting quotes on the subject of independence.

Applying the freedoms recognized by the Declaration of Impendence to woman was a radical idea when Leland Stanford said, “I am in favor of carrying out the Declaration of Independence to women as well as men. Women having to suffer the burdens of society and government should have their equal rights in it. They do not receive their rights in full proportion.”

But it was Susan B. Anthony who recognized that true freedom comes from being able to take care of oneself. “I think the girl who is able to earn her own living and pay her own way should be as happy as anybody on earth. The sense of independence and security is very sweet.”

It was Henry Ford who recognized that money itself wasn’t the key to independence, “If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.

Henry Van Dyke saw independence as a first step only, “In the progress of personality, first comes a declaration of independence, then a recognition of interdependence.”

Where as Marianne Moore celebrated impatience in the quest for independence, “Impatience is the mark of independence, not of bondage.”

The thought of bondage is what kept Samuel Dash out of politics, “I’ve always wanted to be my own person and stand by the things I believe in and I thought I might lose that independence if I ran for political office.”

Alexis de Tocqueville made this comment back in the first half of the Nineteenth Century; sadly, it’s just as true, if not more so, today. “I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America.”

Personal independence has great value, just as it offers great satisfaction to those who achieve it, but, as Stephen Breyer warns, “Independence doesn’t mean you decide the way you want.”

I would phrase it a bit differently; your independence doesn’t give you the right to interfere with someone else’s.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewbain/8065537/

Image credit: Nammer

Few people put much thought into organizing meetings, whether company-wide, department or team. The best create an agenda, but little beyond that.

If this sounds familiar, you need to think again.

The idea that meetings need to be consciously designed as does any successful, productive business process is addressed by Business Week Innovation.

More new age voodoo?

According to Debra Dunn, a 22-year veteran of Hewlett-Packard, “Meetings have tremendous symbolic power.”

Robert Sutton, an expert in organizational behavior and author of, most recently, The No Asshole Rule, says, “If you destroy the culture, then you destroy the company.” (Both teach at Standford University.)

Read the story and the Playbook and compare your attitude, approach and most importantly results to the case study presented.

How do your meetings measure up?

What changes would make them more productive?