"Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets." ~ Henry Ford While it is not always the most comfortable place to be, working in a small business during the lean years can teach you a lot about how to function …
Category: Observations on Life
Make a Difference
While considering my eldest son's graduation from kindergarten I came across Tom Brokaw's recent commencement address at St Lawrence University. I rather enjoyed his speech, particularly his concluding remarks: I have some other slightly less weighty observations that may be helpful. You've been told recently you're about to enter the real world. That's misleading. Your …
The Right Door
"You never know till you try to reach them how accessible men are; but you must approach each man by the right door." ~ Henry Ward Beecher Office dynamics are fascinating. Put a bunch of unrelated people together in a pressure cooker environment and you have a recipe for a complex blend of interpersonal relationships. …
Forward, as occasion offers.
"Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it... Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle." ~ Marcus Aurelius Who is to say that success in the smallest matters is naught but a trifle? Likely the same person …
The Stormy Present
"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew." ~ Abraham Lincoln Well, here we are again. We went to sleep in the old world …
The Little Things
"What we call little things are merely the causes of great things; they are the beginning, the embryo, and it is the point of departure which, generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence. One single black speck may be the beginning of a gangrene, of a storm, of a revolution." ~ Henri-Frederic Amiel It …
The Achievement of Serenity
"The final wisdom of life requires not the annulment of incongruity but the achievement of serenity within and above it." ~ Reinhold Niebuhr How do you achieve serenity while living in a world of incongruity and limitations? Everywhere you look in the world today there is evidence of turmoil, conflict and unrest, a state that …
Charting your Course
"You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was." ~ Abraham Lincoln There comes a point in your life when it becomes clear that you are responsible for charting your own course. Circumstance may require that this comes sooner than ideal, but in most cases the moment is lost upon …
The Law of Similars
The Philosopher by Sara Teasdale I saw him sitting in his door, Trembling as old men do; His house was old; his barn was old, And yet his eyes seemed new. His eyes had seen three times my years And kept a twinkle still, Though they had looked at birth and death And three graves …
Improve the Silence
"Do not speak unless you can improve the silence." I've often wondered what Twitter feed, the blogosphere and Facebook would look like were there to be a filter that removed any content that did not improve the silence. Take Twitter, for example. Users post roughly 1,200 Tweets per second. Facebook has 500,000,000 active users - …
Gregory Hake 