Poised for Outrage

“Don’t understand me so quickly!”
–Yul Brynner as Chris
in “The Magnificent Seven”

Have you noticed that people are “Poised for outrage”? Cutting you off halfway through a sentence? That they see you as “evil incarnate” before they’ve heard your entire premise? Especially when there’s an emotional charge in the air? There are lots of reasons: high-pressure circumstances, high speed technology and, of course, microwave popcorn.

Everything moves

Follow the Leader!

“The worst of corporate culture often originates in the bad habits of the Boss.”
— J. R. StJohn

Madison Avenue:
An executive was averse both to a standard structure and actual eye contact. Accordingly, he (and his Minions…) wrote his presentations out long-hand, essay style, and had them transcribed in IBM Orator Font on clear acetates for use with an overhead projector. The Minions would shepherd the stack to the conference room and solemnly place them one-by-one

A Gestalt of Systems

“Being a successful executive is a process of creating, managing and evolving a gestalt (family) of personal support systems to handle all the daily demands automatically, which leaves the individual with time to work, think, create and live — with sufficient attention left over to drive safely…”
— J. R. StJohn

John Molloy, author of the famous Dress for Success, once spoke of the challenge of office dressing as to create an “Office Uniform” which

Dress for Dismissal

“The most perfect technique is that which is not noticed.”
—Pablo Casals
Cellist, Composer, Conductor

So maybe you’re a watch nut. (As are many of us…) There’s a world of conversations to be had on the subject of fine timepieces. Knock yourself out! Have fun! Be an insider!

Just don’t for a second think that the timepiece, the tie, the suit or the briefcase are going to do anything but get a mental check mark from your listeners. (Check: He looks like

Forgiving Faster

“I concluded a particularly humbling foreign assignment and came home to lick my wounds. The Boss, after a solicitous interval said, ‘Are you going to be laughing about this in 20 years?’ I responded, ‘Well, yes…’ He smiled and said, ‘Why not laugh now?’”
—J R StJohn

There’s a lot of time wasted in self-flagellation over momentary failures. The one thing we know for sure about mistakes, confusion or misfires, is that they are in the past.

An