Erudite Relics of Loc Huu Ho

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

4. That good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only the top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

The Paradoxical Commandments were written by Kent Keith in 1968, when he was 19, a sophomore at Harvard College. They were part of The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council, his first booklet for high school student leaders. Here is how it all came about. Read the rest of this entry »

In a meeting the other day, one exasperated participant exclaimed, “This isn’t part of all the processes I just learned to get my PMP, how am I supposed to run this project?” I bit my tongue and refrained from looking over the top of my glasses and calmly telling him that running a project is a heck of a lot more than a series of check boxes. The poor guy was frustrated and lost. He was truly dumbfounded. His hard-earned certification failed to prepared him for his new assignment. Read the rest of this entry »

The other day a friend said that there were three reasons for project failure.  I took exception and stated there were two.  As I thought about it more, there is only one.  People are at the root of all failures.  Let’s look at some common reasons.

The project is over constrained.  People set the constraints. If they do not understand the project well enough to set the constraints, or listen to the people that are suggesting the constraints, then they are the problem.

It is poorly managed.  Enough said about this.  It is a people problem by definition. Read the rest of this entry »

This article is based on the following book:
The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork
“Embrace Them and Empower Your Team”
John C. Maxwell, author of ‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership’
Published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001
265 pages

To achieve great things, you need a team. Building a winning team
requires understanding of these principles. Whatever your goal or
project, you need to add value and invest in your team so the end
product benefits from more ideas, energy, resources, and perspectives. Read the rest of this entry »

By Scott Berkun, January 25, 2006

The central mistake new managers make is egoism. On the surface, the change is all about you: you’ve been promoted, you have a new job title, you have a new office. Perhaps you’ve been waiting for this change for some time, while watching peers or friends get promotions, and now finally you feel you’ve received the respect you’ve earned. Congratulations! But be warned: how or why you became a manager has little to do with doing the job well. The sooner you recognize how different success as a manager is from success as worker, the better off you’ll be. Good managers are rare (how many have you had?): so if you’re new to the game, and would like to be a good one, this essay is for you.

Why managers are different

On the day your job title includes “manager” others depend on you. They will look to you for leadership, guidance, or advice. They may rely on you for career direction and job security. You have more influence on their happiness, and success than most people in their lives. All this is what makes the transition to management a challenge: even if you are currently the most important programmer, marketer, or designer in an organization, there are new stresses and responsibilities you’ve never faced. The psychology and responsibility of managing others is complex and should be taken seriously. Read the rest of this entry »