Archive for category: Filosophy

Thought of the Day #5

August 25, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.

Justice Louis Brandeis – 1928

Truer words applicable to the current election are rarely found.

The time is NOW.

Friday Filosophy #26

August 25, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

The more I practice, the luckier I get.

Jerry Barber

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

George Eliot

Only that which is temporary endures.

French Proverb

Remembering Phyllis Diller

August 21, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

With credit to the AP

I once wore a peekaboo blouse. People would peek then they would boo

I never made Who’s Who but I’m featured in What’s That?

When I told Fang I was going to get my face lifted, he said, Who’d steal it?

You know you’re old when your walker has an airbag

I was the world’s ugliest baby. When I was born the doctor slapped everybody.

I became a stand-up comedienne because I had a sit-down husband.

They say housework can’t kill you… but why take a chance.

The time is now

Friday Filosophy #25

August 16, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself.

Chinese Proverb

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.

Dr. Seuss

A fall into a ditch makes you wiser.

Chinese Proverb

Friday Filosophy #24

August 11, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we should dance.

Anonymous

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Anonymous

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

Aristotle

WH Filosophy v1.2

August 3, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

The best time to plant a tree was forty years ago. The second best time is today.

The Monk who sold his Ferrari

When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.

William Wrigley, Jr.

He who dies with the most toys…… still dies.

Keith Luscher.

Friday Filosophy #23

August 3, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Minds are like parachutes – they only work when open.

Thomas Dewar

Heaven means to be one with God.

Confucius

All glory comes from daring to begin.

Alexander Graham Bell

Friday Filosophy #22

July 26, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

It always seems impossible until it is done.

Nelson Mandela

If your mind is empty it is always ready for anything.

Shunryu Suzuki

There are plenty of acquaintances in the world; but very few real friends.

Chinese Proverb

A thought for your consideration

July 21, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

With the “why” not the “what” consideration from the Management Musing just posted perhaps the following is worth considering.

Caterpillar buyers understand the “why” as the customer service issue – a dealer support issue.
Komatsu buyers understand the “why” as a quality machine.
Deere buyers understand the “why” as a price point for Industrial machines and a “Farming” why for the Agriculture machines.
Volvo buyers understand the “why” as a long life.

Is it possible that features and benefits don’t make the difference they once did? Perhaps the differentiation in machinery is not as prominent a consideration as it is the dealer network behind the machine. The time is now.

WH Filosophy v1.2 Thanks Bill

July 20, 2012/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Those who do not move do not notice their chains.

Rosa Luxemburg, Russian-German political theorist, economist and revolutionary

Worry about being better; bigger will take care of itself.

Gary Comer (1929–2006) American entrepreneur founder of Lands’ End

Most people … discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.

Oscar Wilde, Irish writer

TESTIMONIALS

Falling Upward

Tonight's guest blog is from Sonya Law, sharing the experience of Falling Upward.

How to create a culture of Ethical Leadership and Courageous Conversations

Falling upward is how it can feel like for leaders when faced with an ethical dilemma and there is no rule book…

Firstly, every organization I have worked for has an ethics policy which sets out ethical behavior for all employees and consequences of an unethical act.

What it does not set out is clear guidance in complex environments where we need to make ethical decisions. We have all sat through hours of mind-numbing ethics training with textbook like scenarios that fail to apply to real life situations.

Secondly, a true ethical dilemma, is a moment in time in your career, that occurs only a handful of times that tests you’re grit, resolve and ability to think under pressure. Characterized by 3 main things: you are often alone there is limited time to think, you are acting on gut instincts, fear will kick in followed by a momentary dread of you whole career flashing before you. You know that in this moment it’s not the right thing for you personally, you may need to challenge the status quo, you may take a hiding in the process from those more senior than you, there are no accolades for doing the right thing, it is a quiet and largely unwitnessed act of good faith.

Your resilience, fortitude and courage will be tested and it will feel like falling upward no matter what your position is in the company, Emerging Leader or Senior Leadership Team.

Lastly, ethical leadership at the basic foundation is about following a rule book, however the interpretation and application of ethics is often not clear cut, against a complex external environment. Imagine sky diving for the first time you understand the safety rules and laws of gravity, what goes up must come down and you alone are left with the ultimate decision to jump. Before we can free fall, we must go upward in the plane, reach dizzying heights, adrenalin pumping, fear kicks in and your whole life flashes before you as you get ready to jump.

Ethical leadership - takes courage when we make a stand for what is right, we are faced with a difficult dilemma, no clear path of what to do just a guttural feeling of discomfort and a racing heartbeat.

In the military, there are a clear set of rules that must be followed and order of command that must be obeyed, yet the military still face the same ethical dilemmas that we do in Business. Because fundamentally we are all human beings who make decisions just like the moment right before we jump out of the plane. Early in my career as a recruiter I was frustrated when a candidate wouldn’t accept the job offer; what I learnt very quickly is that people have a fundamental floor they often do what is right for them.

How do we create a ‘lived culture’?

Human Resources set Culture

Senior Leadership Team role model behaviors

Employees observe these behaviors.

How do we create a culture of Ethical Leadership and Courageous Conversations?

Accountability and Responsibility

Trust – Create a Circle of Safety

Educate the Senior Leadership Team how to have Courageous Conversations.

Accountability and Responsibility:

Encourage your employees to come to you with ethical dilemmas with what they see are the ethical challenges and what needs fixing in the organization. Resist the temptation as a manager to fix it for them, by giving them the responsibility it activates thinking and accountability. Ask them what do you think? How would you solve it? Empower them.

Trust - Create a Circle of Safety:

Managers tell people what to do but true leaders help people to feel safe, promote thinking and drive a culture of empowerment. Where employees are empowered to do the right things as opposed to the right thing for them which typically stems from a fear-based culture the opposite of a circle of safety. Simon Sinek describes what he calls the Circle of Safety and establishing trust in his book titled ‘Leaders Eat last’.

Educate Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in why they need to have courageous conversations:

As a Human Resources Manager, I held a session exclusively with the SLT on the importance of courageous conversation and in 2019 took them to see Brene Brown live in Melbourne, Australia with the message that by having courageous conversations ourselves is the first step and encourages employees to do the same.

So, what’s it worth to you?

Your reputation and financial sustainability.

January 14, 2021

Friday Filosophy v.05.06.2022

Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was an Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism. He is best known for his work on praxeology studies comparing communism and capitalism. He is considered one of the most influential economic and political thinkers of the 20th century.

Mises emigrated from Austria to the United States in 1940. Since the mid-20th century, libertarian movements have been strongly influenced by Mises's writings. Mises' student Friedrich Hayek viewed Mises as one of the major figures in the revival of classical liberalism in the post-war era. Hayek's work "The Transmission of the Ideals of Freedom" (1951) pays high tribute to the influence of Mises in the 20th century libertarian movement.

Mises's Private Seminar was a leading group of economists. Many of its alumni, including Friedrich Hayek and Oskar Morgenstern, emigrated from Austria to the United States and Great Britain. Mises has been described as having approximately seventy close students in Austria.[6]

Many who are self-taught far excel the doctors, masters, and bachelors of the most renowned universities.

Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping toward destruction. Therefore, everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interest of everyone hangs on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.”

He who is unfit to serve his fellow citizens wants to rule them

If history could teach us anything, it would be that private property is inextricably linked with civilization

The Marxian’s love of democratic institutions was a stratagem only, a pious fraud for the deception of the masses. Within a socialist community there is no room left for freedom.

The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau

Every socialist is a disguised dictator.

Socialism is an alternative to capitalism as potassium cyanide is an alternative to water.

The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inﬂicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster

Under capitalism the common man enjoys amenities which in ages gone by were unknown and therefore inaccessible even to the richest people. But, of course, these motorcars, television sets and refrigerators do not make a man happy. In the instant in which he acquires them, he may feel happier than he did before. But as soon as some of his wishes are satisfied, new wishes spring up. Such is human nature.

All people, however fanatical they may be in their zeal to disparage and to fight capitalism, implicitly pay homage to it by passionately clamoring for the products it turns out.

A man who chooses between drinking a glass of milk and a glass of a solution of potassium cyanide does not choose between two beverages; he chooses between life and death. A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society. Socialism is not an alternative to capitalism; it is an alternative to any system under which men can live as human beings.

The worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.

The Time is Now.

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May 6, 2022