50 Stories & Snippets Extract 6

Here's the latest extract from my new ebook publication for speakers and trainers in the Almost Free series, available on Kindle and Nook:50 Stories & Snippets for Conference & Workshop Presentations. 

Eight Proverbs

 

Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, the neglected opportunity.

Saudi Arabian proverb

 

Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind.

Bulgarian proverb

 

Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out.

Italian proverb

 

If you want a thing done, go. If not, send. The shortest answer is doing.

English proverb

 

Thinking well is wise; planning well, wiser; but doing well is wisest and best of all.

Persian proverb

 

A journey of a thousand miles starts in front of your feet.

Chinese proverb

 

The beginning is the half of every action.

Greek proverb

 

Abundance is from activity.

Turkish proverb

 

Using the proverbs

 

The old management truism has it that you must 'walk the walk' not just 'talk the talk'. A cliché, but it's true. An individual or an organization may be brimming with ideas, may be ambitious for success, but will never become truly effective unless properly organised for action. The world (as demonstrated by the international breadth of the sources above) is full of 'would haves', 'could haves' that go no further because of a failure to act, to act first, or to be organized for the opportunities that emerge from the creative process.

 

Use these eight proverbs from around the world to underline memorably how important it is to act as well as talk about what you are going to do.

 

Famous Failures

From artists to sports stars to world leaders some of the most successful people in history have been labelled at an early stage as failures or no-hopers; here are just a few of them.

Fred Astaire made a screen test for MGM in 1933. The memo from the testing director to the studio read: 'Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.' After he made it in movies the Hollywood star kept that memo over the fireplace in his plush Beverly Hills home.

Lucille Ball was told by the head tutor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, where she started studying in 1927: 'Try any other profession.'

The Beatles were turned down for a recording contract by Decca Records in 1962, weeks before their first hit with EMI's Parlophone. Decca's evaluation: 'We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on their way out... The Beatles have no future in show business.'

Michael Caine heard his headmaster confidently predict: 'You will be a labourer all your life.'

Winston Churchill was rebellious by nature and had a poor academic record, attracting censure and punishment at three different independent schools that he attended. He also had to overcome a speech impediment. Nevertheless he became Britain's most celebrated Prime Minister whose stirring public speeches galvanised the war effort. One of his most famous included the words: 'Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.'

Charles Darwin earned the disapproval of his father when he gave up his medical career. He told his son: 'You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching.' In his autobiography, Darwin wrote: 'I was considered by all my masters, and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect.'

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he 'lacked imagination and had no good ideas.' Many of his early business ventures failed and he was bankrupted more than once. His proposal for a theme park (Disneyland) was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.

Albert Einstein did not talk until the age of four and could not read until he was seven. His parents considered him 'sub-normal' and he was described by a teacher as 'mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams.' He was expelled from school and refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He made up later for his slow start.

Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life - this was to the sister of one of his friends, for which she paid only 400 francs. Despite his commercial failure he completed over 800 paintings, many of which are now regarded as the most valuable in the world of art, worth many millions.

Abraham Lincoln was several times unemployed in his early working life and failed as both a businessman and a lawyer before he turned to politics. He was defeated in his first attempt for the legislature, defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for Congress, defeated in his application to be Commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. He did, however, become the sixteenth President of the USA and is one of the four great statesmen commemorated by having their faces carved from rock at Mount Rushmore.

Louis Pasteur as an undergraduate student was regarded as mediocre at best, ranking fifteenth out of twenty-two students in chemistry.

Elvis Presley was fired after only one performance at the Grand Old Opry. The venue manager Jim Denny told Elvis: 'You ain’t going nowhere, son. You ought to go back to driving a truck.'

Babe Ruth became baseball's most famous player for his home run record, but for years he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career. Babe was philosophical about this: 'Every strikeout brings me closer to the next home run,' he said.

Stan Smith was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was 'too awkward and clumsy'. He went on to win Wimbledon and the US Open as well as eight Davis Cup Finals.

Frank Winfield Woolworth was not permitted to serve customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said: 'he didn’t have enough sense.'

 

Using the stories

 

Advice from others can be crucial in forging a career, but negative opinion can be destructive. Fortunately what all of the people above demonstrated in abundance was a self-belief together with a determination to progress along their chosen path.

Use these examples both as a reminder that 'expert opinion' should not always be taken at face value and, more importantly, that success rarely comes easy but opportunities are available where talent and focused dedication unite.

More extracts to come, but if you can't wait or you want them all in one published collection you can download the book to your Kindle or Nook. 

 

50 Stories & Snippets Extract 5

Here's the latest extract from my new ebook publication for speakers and trainers in the Almost Free series, available on Kindle and Nook:50 Stories & Snippets for Conference & Workshop Presentations. 

Charlie's Dream

 

It would certainly have been no surprise if the poor English boy Charlie Chaplin, who grew up to be the great silent movie actor and producer, had instead become in real life the little tramp he portrayed many times on screen. His childhood was desperately poor. Charlie's mother was eventually committed to an asylum and Charlie himself was twice sent to the workhouse before the age of nine. Yet throughout this time of hardship he was sustained by a dream.

 

'You have to believe in yourself, that's the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. I had to feel the exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it, you go down to defeat.'

Charlie Chaplin, actor, filmmaker, writer (1889-1977)

Using the story

 

Charlie Chaplin's is the archetypal rags-to-riches story and the actor is a role model of triumph over adversity. His is an example of determination fuelled by a personal vision and the self-confidence to reach his long-term goal.

 

Use this story to show how a clear vision can be as important to individuals as to organizations. Dreams can be a motivational force, a springboard to successful action, even when the odds seem stacked against.

 

The Child Within You

 

50 Stories & Snippets author David Williams and his wife Paula were collecting their thoughts after a lively training workshop which involved adults making models and collages as they envisioned the future. A couple of cleaners came into the room to tidy up. Surveying the scene they innocently asked, 'Have you been running a nursery class in here today?'

 

'What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.'

Sigmund Freud, Austrian founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939)

 

'Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.'

Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (1881-1973)

 

Using the story

 

A dynamic organization will be constantly searching for imaginative approaches, different encounters and new ways of thinking.

 

A creative environment keeps us fresh and imaginative. It encourages metaphoric thinking, stimulates all the senses, values fun and humour, tolerates (even embraces) risk-taking and avoids the stultifying influence of 'business as usual' habits and practice. Sometimes it helps to think like a child.

 

Use this story and accompanying quotations to show how we sometimes need to throw off the assumptions of our adulthood to find fresh ideas. You may like to precede or follow up the story with a participative exercise in creativity such as the one briefly described above.

 

More extracts to come, but if you can't wait or you want them all in one published collection you can download the book to your Kindle or Nook. 

 

50 Stories & Snippets Extract 4

Here's the latest extract from my new ebook publication for speakers and trainers in the Almost Free series, available on Kindle and Nook:50 Stories & Snippets for Conference & Workshop Presentations. 

Breaking Through

The watching crowd marvelled and clapped as the karate black belt instructor sliced through bricks with his bare right hand. At the end of the performance several people came up to ask the master how he achieved the feat. The instructor said: 'If you want to put your hand through a brick, you cannot do it by aiming at the surface of the brick. You have to aim at a point well beyond the brick. That way you ensure that you strike through a surface that your body would naturally flinch from. Reach beyond your target and you will make that target.'

 

'It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at the goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.'

Arnold Toynbee British economist, reformer (1852-1883)

 

Using the story

 

Though much maligned, targets provide the impetus for improvement and an object of focus for action. Problems occur when targets are either too easy to achieve, thus representing no challenge, or are impossibly difficult, leading to frustration and a feeling of failure. The story of the karate instructor provides an interesting angle on the notion of a target that is more like a vision, an imagined picture of the ideal that inspires an effort to reach just beyond what is actually needed to ensure the effort is fully made.

 

Use this story and quotation to reinforce the importance of creating challenging targets, beyond what you may need to achieve in practice but not plainly out of reach.

 

Changing Times

Soon after taking over the role of Chief Executive at IBM in 1993 Lou Gerstner made a company address and said: 'The last thing IBM needs is a vision.'

 

Two years later, as the computer manufacturer was trying to survive turbulent times, Lou Gerstner declared: 'What IBM needs right now is a vision.'

 

Using the story

 

An organization without a clear vision in times of turbulence and change is like a boat without a rudder. Lou Gerstner's first statement may have been a pot-shot at the 1990s fashion for management consultancy and the often hollow management-speak that emerged from it, but he eventually realized that, stripped of verbiage, a well-articulated vision can indeed be a driver of progress.

 

Use this story to show how good leaders come to recognize the importance of vision, even if it sometimes takes them a little while to get there.

 

More extracts to come, but if you can't wait or you want them all in one published collection you can download the book to your Kindle or Nook. 

50 Stories & Snippets Extract 3

Here's the latest extract from my new ebook publication for speakers and trainers in the Almost Free series, available on Kindle and Nook:
50 Stories & Snippets for Conference & Workshop Presentations. 

The Blind Men and the Elephant

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind)

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

 

The First approached the Elephant

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side

At once began to bawl:

'God bless me! but the Elephant

Is very like a WALL!'

 

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, 'Ho, what have we here,

So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me 'tis mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a SPEAR!'

 

The Third approached the animal

And happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands

Thus boldly up and spake:

'I see,' quoth he, 'the Elephant

Is very like a SNAKE!'

 

The Fourth reached out an eager hand

And felt about the knee.

'What most this wondrous beast is like

Is mighty plain,' quoth he:

''Tis clear enough the Elephant

Is very like a TREE!'

 

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: 'E'en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;

Deny the fact who can,

This marvel of an Elephant

Is very like a FAN!'

 

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope

Than seizing on the swinging tail

That fell within his scope,

'I see,' quoth he, 'the Elephant

Is very like a ROPE!'

 

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right

And all were in the wrong!

 

John Godfrey Saxe, US poet (1816-1887)

 

Using the poem

 

This classic poem and various prose adaptations of the underlying parable have been used metaphorically in a wide range of situations - from illustrating the difficulties presented in medical diagnosis to discussing comparative religion - but the common theme is a search for truth.

 

Use this poem to show how limited observation, a particular experience, partial knowledge of a situation, or a conditioned perspective can all affect one's viewpoint and possibly lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding, misinterpretation or mistrust. Promote discussion among your group by asking what the blind men of Indostan might have done to resolve their dispute and reach a common understanding. What may come out is the importance of seeing the bigger picture, of weighing all the evidence before coming to a conclusion, and perhaps seeking objective advice from an expert witness. The discussion may even widen to an exploration of the nature of truth itself. Thus this simple witty verse lends itself both to modest ends and, if you should wish, profound philosophical debate.

The Boulder

 

 

Noam in ancient times was a desperately poor kingdom. People there blamed the king, comparing him to his grandfather who, they said, ran everything so much more smoothly than this lax ruler. Everything, it seemed, was better in the old days. In truth the young king tried his best, but the day-to-day problems were more than he could handle alone. He could not command support, and so the kingdom became poorer year by year.

 

One morning a huge boulder appeared in the middle of the road leading to the gates of the capital. Rich merchants and fashionable courtiers grumbled as they walked around the rock, cursing the king for failing to keep the roads clear and causing them to trail their cloaks in the ditch.

 

A peasant came along on his way to market with a heavy sack of produce on his back. Seeing the boulder he set down his burden and tried to move the rock to the side of the road. He strained and struggled for over an hour under the hot midday sun. Townsfolk mocked as they squeezed by the sweating peasant. Finally he succeeded and his red face broke into a smile of relief and pride as the great rock rolled into the ditch.

 

Stepping back into the road to retrieve his sack the peasant noticed a leather purse lying where the boulder had been. Inside the purse he found a dozen gold coins and a note from the king explaining that here was a reward for the person who cleared the rock from the roadway.

 

As the peasant gazed in wonder the royal coach appeared, travelling towards the city gates. The coach stopped and the king himself opened the door. He invited the peasant to join him, and they rode through a throng of staring citizens to the palace where they talked into the night of ways to save the kingdom.

 

 

'The block of granite, which is an obstacle in the pathway of the weak, becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong.'

Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist, historian (1795-1881)

 

Using the story

 

'It was much better in the old days' is a common refrain in organizations and communities. The tendency to hark back to some mythical golden age goes hand in hand with the urge to blame someone for the present state of things, usually the people seen as running the show.

 

Use this story to remind everyone listening that they need to take responsibility for problems and challenges if they are to make progress, rather than waiting for some higher authority to come along with a solution. The story works well when used together with the quotation from Thomas Carlyle as it reinforces the notion that every problem comes with a gift in its hand, the opportunity for transformation.

 

More extracts to come, but if you can't wait or you want them all in one published collection you can download the book to your Kindle or Nook. 



Quotes about Working

At last, the final section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


An updated version of the book is newly available as part of my Almost Free Kindle titles both in the UK and in the USA.

If you don’t want to work, you have to work to earn enough money so that you won’t have to work.

Frederic Ogden Nash, US humorous writer, poet (1902-1971)

 

Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.

Kenichi Ohmae, Japanese management consultant (b. 1943)

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.

Richard Bach, US author (b. 1936)

Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.

Katherine Whitehorn, British journalist (b. 1928)

Work is not man’s punishment. It is his reward and his strength and his pleasure.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, known as George Sand, French author (1804-1876)

If you do not feel yourself growing in your work and your life broadening and deepening, if your task is not a perpetual tonic to you, you have not found your place.

Orison Swett Marden, US editor, author (1850-1924)

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.

Thomas Alva Edison, US inventor (1847-1931)

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.

Indira Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister (1917-1984)

Good work is always done in defiance of management.

Robert Woodward, US journalist (b. 1943)

It’s not enough to be busy. The question is, what are we busy about?

Henry David Thoreau, US essayist, poet (1817-1862)

No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

Booker T Washington, US educator (1856-1915)

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day.

Robert Frost, US poet (1874-1963)

A man who works with his hands is a labourer; a man who works with his hands and his brains is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.

Louis Nizer, British lawyer (1902-1994)

There is no easy method of learning difficult things. The method is to close the door, give out that you are not at home, and work.

Joseph Marie De Maistre, French diplomat, author (1753-1821)

In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it.

John Ruskin, British author, art critic (1819-1900)

The superstition that all our hours of work are a minus quantity in the happiness of life, and all the hours of idleness are plus ones, is a most ludicrous and pernicious doctrine, and its greatest support comes from our not taking sufficient trouble, not making a real effort, to make work as near pleasure as it can be.

Arthur James Balfour, 1^st Earl of Balfour, British Prime Minister (1848-1930)

The law of work does seem utterly unfair – but there it is, and nothing can change it; the higher the pay in enjoyment the worker gets out of it, the higher shall be his pay in money also.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, US author (1835-1910)

Work seven days a week and nothing can stop you.

John Moores, British entrepreneur, philanthropist (1896-1993)

The Encyclopaedia of Famous Last Words does not contain the entry, ‘I wish I’d spend more time at the office.’

Quotes about Wisdom

Here's the penultimate section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


An updated version of the book is newly available as part of my Almost Free Kindle titles both in the UK and in the USA.

We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.

Michel de Montaigne, French essayist (1533-1592)

Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.

William Cowper, British poet (1731-1800)

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.

H L Mencken, US journalist (1880-1956)

That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next.

John Stuart Mill, British philosopher, economist (1806-1873)

The believer is happy. The doubter is wise.

Hungarian proverb

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight. The truly wise person is ‘colour-blind’.

Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian theologian (1875-1965)

Albert Schweitzer

If one is too late to think, too vain to do a thing badly, too cowardly to admit it, one will never attain wisdom.

Cyril Connolly, British critic, author (1903-1974)

Be wiser than other people, if you can, but do not tell them so.

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4^th Earl of Chesterfield, British statesman, letter-writer (1694-1773)

Quotes about Winning

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


An updated version of the book is newly available as part of my Almost Free Kindle titles both in the UK and in the USA.

If it doesn’t matter who wins, then how come they keep score?

Vince Lombardi, US football coach (1913-1970)

He who hesitates is last.

Whoever said, ‘It’s not whether you win or lose that counts’, probably lost.

Martina Navratilova, Czech/US tennis player (b. 1956)

The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.

Joe Paterno, US college football coach (b. 1926)

If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.

Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, US football coach (1913-1983)

Desire is one of the immense advantages that the underdog often has: simply wanting to win more than the top dog does.

William Bridges, US engineer, researcher, educator (b. 1934)

Please don’t ask me what the score is, I’m not even sure what the game is.

Ashleigh Brilliant, British philosopher, author (b. 1933)

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you’re still a rat.

Mary Jean ‘Lily’ Tomlin, US comic actress (b. 1939)

Quotes about Voice

Here's the next section of quotes from my book 1000 Great Quotations for Business, Management & Training.


An updated version of the book is newly available as part of my Almost Free Kindle titles both in the UK and in the USA.

The ability to express an idea is well nigh as important as the idea itself.

Bernard Baruch, US statesman, businessman (1870-1965)

The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, US essayist, poet (1803-1882)

A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.

Nelson Mandela, South African statesman (b. 1918)

Nelson Mandela

No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value they become leaders.

Warren Bennis, US academic, management author (b. 1925)