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January
2012
George Bernard Shaw, playwright and critic said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them.”
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February
2012
Life can be understood by looking backward, but it must be lived by looking forward. - Soren Aaby Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher & theologian
The only justification for looking down on anyone is that you’re going to stop and pick them up. - Wynton Marsalis
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March
2012
A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you.” The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued, “I am going to give each one of you a SEED today – one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure. Six months went by – still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil – he so wanted the seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach. It was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful – in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!” Suddenly the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed. Jim told him the story. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!” Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed.
“How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.
Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”
*If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
*If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
*If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
*If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
*If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
*If you plant hard work, you will reap success
*If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation
So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.
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April
2012
One word of encouragement during a failure is worth a whole book of praise after a success. – James E. Tingstad
Learning requires a pause. You must stop to harvest the lesson from each adversity. – Paul G. Stoltz
Do it better than it need be done. Next time doing it will be child’s play. – Harlow H. Curtice
Planning is of no use at all unless it degenerates into work. – Peter Druker
There is no such thing as minor lapse of integrity. – Tom Peters
Smart people learn from their own mistakes. Smarter people learn from the mistakes of others. – Unknown
There are those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there’s less competition there. – Indira Gandhi
Failure is not permanent and neither is success. – Michael Altshuler
A man without a plan for the day is lost before it starts. – Lewis K. Bendele
Nothing gets other people’s attention as effectively as calling them by name. – Lydia Ramsey
Failure is an event, never a person. – William D. Brown
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