WEEK OF NOVEMBER 21, 2016
“There is one day that is ours.
Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American. “
O. Henry
American Short Story writer
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“When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.
A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”
Elie Wiesel
Holocaust Survivor
and Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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“Gratitude is the sign of noble minds.”
Aesop
The Shenanigan Zone
Executives often ponder the difference between leadership and management. Leadership feels more like fun and drama; management feels more like work. Vistage Speaker and Consultant Tom Foster’s widely read management blog suggests we need more of the latter…with a different focus on just what should be managed (hint: it’s not just people) if we’re to avoid the “Shenanigan Zone”
Rifles or Shotguns: Social Media “Selling” vs Social Media “Marketing”
An old analogy suggests that problems can be approached as requiring a “rife” or a “shotgun.” For maximizing revenue, according to a recent HBR article, you need both; a marketing “shotgun” and a “selling” rifle. Find out How B2B Sales Can Benefit from Social Selling
“Networking is NOT Working”
Most networking events are like attending a party where you don’t know either the guests or the host; but it’s a pretty safe bet that far more people are there to sell (in some way, shape or form) than to buy. One thing is virtually certain; they didn’t show up just to meet you.
What to do? Derek Coburn, CEO of Cadre and author of “Networking is Not Working”, in a brief and provocative article recaps some key concepts from his book and suggests why networking events are a waste of time, and what to do instead.
If your interested is aroused, take a deeper dive with a related article on Mr. Coburns’ book on Forbesand a podcast with the author.
Econ Recon: A Trump Bump?
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, there is no little amount of analysis underway regarding the impact of a Trump presidency on the economy. Alan and Brian Beaulieu of ITR Economics think their long standing forecast for the next two years will be unaffected.
Brian Wesbury looks at the policy aspects of a Trump presidency and suggests that the “impact on U.S. economic policy of last week’s election will be enormous”; nothing short of a Revolution and predicts how various sectors of the economy may be impacted.
Both articles are short and worth your time as you plan for the year ahead.
A Gratitude Sampler
What follows is an excerpt from Vistage Speaker Mardy Grothe’s “Quotes of the Week.” You can subscribe at http://www.drmardy.com/ This weekly offering is always interesting and enlightening. It’s Thanksgiving week, so here are a few some great thoughts on Gratitude from his collection…for which I am Grateful!
Dr Grothe says “As Americans celebrate their annual Thanksgiving holiday this week, it seems appropriate to turn our attention to the topic of gratitude, and its related themes of thankfulness and gratefulness.
Whether viewed as an emotion, a thought, or some combination of the two, there is no doubt that gratitude has been viewed as a virtue for close to three thousand years. In his 6th B.C. fable “Androcles,” Aesop wrote:”
“Gratitude is the sign of noble minds.”
From Aesop’s era to the present day, the twin concepts of gratitude and thankfulness have been associated with “counting your blessings.” However, a strong case can be made that we should be grateful for everything that has resulted in our growth as human beings, including the suffering we’ve endured. In 1939, after receiving an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Princeton, Thomas Mann expressed the thought this way:
“To be grateful for all life’s blessings. . . is the best condition for a happy life.
A joke, a good meal, a fine spring day, a work of art, a human personality, a voice,
a glance — but this is not all. For there is another kind of gratitude. . .
the feeling that makes us thankful for suffering, for the hard and heavy things of life, for the deepening of our natures which perhaps only suffering can bring.”
Carrying the idea even further — and into the paradoxical domain — some believe we should even be grateful for things that have NOT happened to us. Storm Jameson put it this way in “Journey From the North” (1970):
“For what I have received may the Lord make me truly thankful.
And more truly for what I have not received.”
This week, take some to be thankful for EVERYTHING that has made you the person you are today. To assist you in your reflections, here are a dozen of my favorite quotations:
“My wish for you
Is that you continue
To let gratitude be the pillow
Upon which you kneel to
Say your nightly prayer.”
Maya Angelou
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues,
but the parent of all the others.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Gratitude is one of the least articulate of the emotions,
especially when it is deep.”
Felix Frankfurter
“One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.”
G. E. Lessing
“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.”
Jacques Maritain
“If the only prayer you say in your entire life
is ‘Thank You,’ that would suffice.”
Meister Eckhart
“When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren’t
grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event,
we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”
Cynthia Ozick
“Gratitude is indeed a duty which we are bound to pay,
but which benefactors cannot exact.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”
Albert Schweitzer
“Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone who has done a lot for you.”
Gladys Bronwyn Stern
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it
is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
William Arthur Ward
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!