Ten Life Lessons From Business

Jim Stroud, thoughtful and prolific management issues contributor at Managing Leadership, gave out a call for Business Life Lessons learned. Dave Prouhet, who blogs  at Business Advice Daily, listed  several lessons he has learned in his career as a manager and consultant. He has asked several others, including Jim, to contribute their own thoughts in this area, and then to invite some others in. Dave and  Aaron Potts will follow the contributions and then consolidate them as a single post.

I'm not usually a list kind of guy-- and the title might lead one to expect thoughts on marketing, capital, or organization development. But business is part of life, not the other way around. So here are things that have emerged as important learnings for me over the past 30 years of organizational and consulting life:

Ten Life Lessons From Business and Consulting

1. You can be in charge, but you're never in control.

2. If you have a Powerpoint slide with a graph whose curve always points upward, you're lying. Delete it.

3. If you look at people through your own eyes, you'll judge them for who you think they are. If you look at them through God's eyes, you'll see them for who they can become.

4. You can't be good at who you are until you stop trying to be all the things you are not.

5. Charge what you are worth. If you don't, you'll begin to resent your employer or client, even though you decided to take the assignment.

6. You can't control circumstances. You can control your response to them. Those who learn to respond thoughtfully and peacefully are the ones who are accorded trust and power.

7. Overt displays of position power show weakness.  Genuine humility shows power.

8. All groups aren't "teams". Often they are just collections of people who work really, really well together. Leave them alone.

9. No one can know how to be an effective leader until they've toiled as a dedicated follower.

10. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge applied with discernment.

What Are Your Business Life Lessons?

Do you have life lessons from business that you would like to add? By all means, click on the comment box and contribute what you've learned. I'll pass them along to Jim, Dave, and Aaron.

And, I invite you to subscribe using whatever method is convenient for you in the left sidebar. That way, you'll always know what the conversation is about and can join in as you please.

Photo Source: wikipedia.org

Comments

[Jim Stroup]

Steve - wonderful, and as always, thought-provoking ideas. #4 is very well-expressed, the sort of thing that will help it stay with people and guide and discipline their actions and enhance their effectiveness. #7 is right on the money, also. It's like academics debating from their credentials - if your argument doesn't do the job, it's the wrong time to start showing off your presumed qualifications.

Taking an assist from your last item - a truly discerning list of wisdom. Thank you for it.

[peter vajda]

Good stuff, Steve, and thank you. Some of my thoughts from my experiences:

.Tell people what they need to hear (the truth), not what they want to hear.
.Take an interest in people and they'll take an interest in you.
.Remember what happened to the (skyscraper) window washer who stepped back to admire his own work (ego).
.(#3) and...speak with the voice of God, listen with the ears of God.
. (#6) the stimulus for stress and upset may be outside, but the cause is always inside (i.e, me and my reactivity)
. risk moving out of my intellectual and emotional zip codes; I might be pleasantly surprised
. be the change I want to see (Ghandi)
. give folks the benefit of the doubt.
. know that everyone is in Chapter Three of their life and no one knows what transpired in Chapters 1 and 2...so, don't assume I know what "makes people tick."
. resolving conflict works best when I'm focused on what I want for the relationship, not solely for me.
. honesty....early and often

[Steve Roesler]

When you started this off with your post yesterday, Jim, I thought, "Well, that looks to me like all the important stuff." Then you got me thinking about what was underneath of many of those learnings. It was really fascinating to see where they led.

I'm looking forward to the cumulative product when people have had a chance to weigh in.

[Steve Roesler]

Peter:

You said: "'know that everyone is in Chapter Three of their life and no one knows what transpired in Chapters 1 and 2...so, don't assume I know what "makes people tick."

That's the one that that really sticks with me. May I forward these to Jim if he hasn't already copied them?

[peter vajda]

Sure Steve, feel free...

[Jim Stroup]

Hi Steve and Peter,

I've seen Peter's contributions - they're great. I especially like the skyscraper and book chapter analogies, and there's a lot of wisdom in the advice to focus on the relationship, and not solely on self-interest. Thanks, Peter, for all of those. Thanks, Steve; I've copied them.

[peter vajda]

You're welcome, Jim. I'm grateful I could contribute.

[myspace design]

Great list! My favorite is the top one. Thanks for sharing!

[myspace design]

Great list! My favorite is the top one. Thanks for sharing!

[Martial Artist]

11. Do on to others as they would expect you to do on to them.