The Best Advice I Ever Got
Good article in Fortune Mag about advice. The piece asks 25 well known people about the best piece of advice they’ve gotten. I like getting advice, even if its not asked for, so that made me think of my own advice.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0804/gallery.bestadvice.fortune/
Advice that I follow...
1. Always do the right thing, especially when its not the easy thing. Every person knows right from wrong when making a decision, and they should always do the right thing, in work, in school, in a relationship, in anything.
2. Always be polite because you never know who you are being rude to. I remember in graduate school an older guy in a fancy car cut me off in the parking lot. He waved an apology and instead of giving him the finger, I waved back and smiled, indicating “no problem”. About 10 minutes later I was being introduced to the new Vice Chairman of the university who just joined after a long career at Morgan Stanley, and since I was a graduate assistant, my new boss. It was the guy in the parking lot.
3. Humor is better than anger. In tense situations, I think people respond better to humor than screaming. Unfortunately, I don’t always follow this with the kids. The greatest leaders I have ever met, anywhere, always had a pleasant way about them.
4. Take personal responsibility when you fail. If something bad happens to you, like losing a job, getting a bad grade, not making a sale, having trouble in a relationship, there is no one to blame but yourself. Evaluate why it happened and what you can do in the future to avoid it again. I am big on accountability and HATE HATE when someone never accepts his or her own fault for failure. I hate the philosophy that it is always someone else’s fault. Hate it.
5. Become clear on facts. When bringing up something, know your facts. Make sure you have a story straight when talking about something in the news, get numbers right when bringing up stats, etc. People see through BS very easily.
6. Always go down swinging. My father used to say this to me when I played little league baseball, to never look at a third strike without swinging. I apply this at work all the time. If I lose a sale or something appears doomed, I make sure I do every thing in my power so that I can sleep at night knowing I gave it everything.
Anyway, those are some of my principles. I have other things in my life that are important, but they are more personal, like holding the door open for a woman or letting a female get in an elevator first, and sticking up for others who need help, or show some humility when others give you something. But advice that I would give to someone I mentor at work, it would probably be around the six things I mentioned above.
Good night and be well.