What I Believe

I’ve learned a few things over the years — from experience and from the written word.  As I work to better refine Bulldog Simplicity and what I bring to clients or employers, this list summarizes my philosophy of life and business and forms the foundation of many of the posts on my blog.  I welcome your thoughts. 

Ideas are worthless without great execution.

Shorter is often better, but the key to good communication — written or otherwise — is clarity.

Don’t let perfect get in the way of better.

Perception is reality.

If you decide to take Vienna, take Vienna (Napolean).

Preparation is the only thing over which you have total control.

Deadlines are critical. It’s amazing how much you can achieve with the clock ticking down and no alternative.

The simplest explanation or strategy is generally the best one (Occam’s Razor).

You can tell a lot about people by the way they treat people in the service industry.

Good enough isn’t.

If you’re enthusiastic about the things you’re working on, people will come ask you to do interesting things.

The guaranteed formula for success:  Create a list every morning of the things that need to be done that day.  Then do them.

Karma is real…particularly during a job search or when starting a business.

If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid.

At the heart of it, project management is really Who does What by When…and remembering that people are the engine of project success.

Speeches and presentations are not information dumps; they’re an opportunity to persuade.

I’m not a moral victory kind of guy.

You should do one thing every day that scares you.

You can’t think your way through every problem.  Trying things and engaging people helps you get unstuck.

Troubleshooting is never part of a job description because if you could describe the steps needed to shoot trouble, there wouldn’t be trouble in the first place.

Leadership is:

• The ability to motivate and inspire people to achieve challenging goals.
• Seeing the threat when things are going well and making changes.
• About persuasion, about convincing others of the soundness of your point of view.

Listening is not about surviving the conversation.

The test of a good manager is not if your feedback is right, it’s if the person thanks you and commits to change.

You earn business by demonstrating, not asserting.

No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back.

Without risk taking, Michaelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.

Assumption is the mother of all screwups.

Pressure is what you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing.

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

Telling a complainers that “It’s our policy,” is the corporate equivalent of your parents saying, “I told you so.”

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.

Vision without action is a daydream.  Action without vision is a nightmare.

Calm water often hides crocodiles.

From a sign at American Legion Post 721 (via the great Tim Russert):  “What a club this would be if every member would try to do only half of what they expect other members to do.”