POOR RODDY’S ALMANAC OF
ORGANIZATIONAL AND SOCIAL AXIOMS *
A lack of preparation on your part does not create an emergency on my part.
The appearance of a conflict of interest is a conflict of interest.
No one of us can be as smart as all of us combined.
Beware of half-truths; you may have heard the wrong half.
Trust is the "fairy dust" of organizational efficiency.
Wisdom generally comes with age, but not for all of us.
"Silence" is rarely consent.
When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. -Elayne BooslerThe difficult we do first; The impossible just takes longer.
The most critical resource to give is our time.
Some of us are too blessed to be stressed
The key to good communication is ensuring that it is understood.
Meetings without the right participants and a known agenda are folly.
It is nearly impossible to over communicate.
The hardest part of appearing "smart" is knowing what you are "dumb" at.
The ideas and rights of a minority are as important as those of the majority.
"The majority" in America has never been creative or innovative, nor has always been right.
In 1934, 95% of Germans who were registered to vote went to the polls and 90% of the adult German citizens voted to give Adolph Hitler complete and total authority to rule Germany as he saw fit... [from "The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer.]
Diversity is the uniqueness each individual brings to any organization. This includes differences such as nationality, religious values, physical ability, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, experience, education, physical appearance, and position in the organization.
A woman’s place is in the House – or the Senate or the White House.
Money is wonderful, if you don't have to pay too high a price to get it
Life goes on, long after the fun of living is gone.
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
Who "ministers" to our pastors who minister to us?
If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
We are continually faced with great opportunities which are brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems – Margaret Mead
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." - Charles Darwin
"An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. It's knowing where to go to find out what you need to know; and it's knowing how to use the information you get." - William Feather
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." - George Bernard Shaw
"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it." - Harry Emerson Fosdick
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds." - Albert Einstein
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
"If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else." -Yogi Berra
"Before seeking revenge, first dig two graves." - Chinese proverb
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds." - Albert Einstein
"The degree of one's emotion varies inversely with one's knowledge of the facts - the less you know the hotter you get." - Bertrand Russell
"I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity." - Cicero
Many Americans confuse their need to do what makes them feel good with the need to do things that are good – interview on NPR 2004
Most churches still offer no more than neapolitan to a community that considers 31 flavors too few – Rod Bush 2005
It's not my job to run the train, The whistle I can't blow.
It's not my job to tell how far, The train's allowed to go.
It's not my job to let off steam, Nor even clang the bell,
But let the damned thing jump the tracks, AND SEE WHO CATCHES HELL!
Author unknown
Maslow approach the problem of what is self-actualization is to talk about the special,
driving needs of the self-actualizers. They need the following in their lives in order to
be happy:
Truth, rather than dishonesty.
Goodness, rather than evil.
Beauty, not ugliness or vulgarity.
Unity, wholeness, and transcendence of opposites, not arbitrariness or forced choices.
Aliveness, not deadness or the mechanization of life.
Uniqueness, not bland uniformity.
Perfection and necessity, not sloppiness, inconsistency, or accident.
Completion, rather than incompleteness.
Justice and order, not injustice and lawlessness.
Simplicity, not unnecessary complexity.
Richness, not environmental impoverishment.
Effortlessness, not strain.
Playfulness, not grim, humorless, drudgery.
Self-sufficiency, not dependency.
Meaningfulness, rather than senselessness.
* These axioms reflect my own experiences and opinions and in no way reflect on any specific organization. – Rod Bush rodbush@earthlink.net