5 Gems of Wisdom from Senior Leadership

I had the opportunity to attend an executive leadership conference recently as a fly-on-the-wall. That is, I was not a participant, but I was present for the extended discussions. From those discussions, I culled the following quoted words of executive wisdom.

1. Truth has a date-time stamp.

Shared as an explanation of why direction and guidance from leadership sometimes change.
Implication: get over it and get on with it.


2. The ball that you stop looking at is the one you drop first.

Shared as a counter to a request from subordinates to identify what the priorities are (and thereby eliminate non-priority tasks).
Implication: tactical priorities are not static.


3. Better is the enemy of good enough.

Shared as a counter to the suggestion that a plan should not be executed until perfected.
Implication: waiting for a perfect plan kills momentum; it is better to move forward with a partial solution now.


4. Slow down to go fast.

Shared as a counter premature conclusion of the discussion. Note that item #3 is somewhat opposite of item #4.
Implication: knowing when to conclude discussion to drive action and when to extend discussion to avoid wrong action is an art form. Good leaders have a knack for correctly setting the speed of problem solving.


5. I will squash you like a grape.
Shared to clarify the importance of ethical management practices.
Implication: high production numbers are not a license to violate ethical or legal requirements.

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