Posts by Mark Morgan Ford
Getting Criticized: How To Make It Work For You
“They have a right to censure that have a heart to help.” – William Penn (Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693) You know when it’s coming. Your boss or colleague sits you down and says, “You know how much I admire you, but …” or “Please don’t think of this as a criticism, but …”That’s how…
Read MoreHere’s Another Contrary Thought — About Parenting
“The energy which makes a child hard to manage is the energy which afterward makes him a manager of life.” – Henry Ward Beecher (Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1887) If, as I asserted in yesterday’s message, it’s a mistake to think that government should give handouts to businesses, maybe it’s also wrong for parents to…
Read MoreGet Your Email Habits In Order
“It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Natur und Kunst) You know the ETR rule on e-mail: Unless you are in the very unusual situation of being responsible for hourly deadlines (in which case you probably need to work your way up in the organization), you should…
Read MoreThe Myth Of Excellence, Or “What Are You, Anyway”
“The question should be, ‘Is it worth trying do?’ not ‘Can it be done?’” – Allard Lowenstein (The New York Times Book Review, November 7, 1993) Many years ago — before you were born, perhaps — JSN (my at-the-time boss and later-on partner) gave me an insight into business that eventually changed my basic thinking…
Read MoreAgreements: Written? Oral? What?
“Wrong must not win by technicalities.” – Aeschylus (The Eumenides, 458 B.C.) A very common question among businessmen: Is it prudent to “paper” deals? During the 25 years I’ve been in business, more than 90% of the deals I’ve made have been oral. Usually, the process is some version of this: I’m talking with a…
Read MoreFive Useful Principles of Persuasion
“Flattery’ll get you anywhere.” – Jane Russell (in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953) While salesmen and business leaders have developed and refined the skills of persuasion in their daily working lives, experimental psychologists have been studying it from the outside — trying to figure out what the principles are that can reliably lead people to concede,…
Read MoreSorting Your Inbox Into Priority Files: Why It Doesn’t Work
MA, a new ETR reader, responded to my advice re organizing daily tasks according to Steve Covey’s four-quadrant principle. (The idea, in a nutshell, is that you should organize your life so that you give priority to Important but Not Urgent goals since they will make the biggest difference in what you accomplish.) MA offers…
Read MoreNo More Excuses
“One unable to dance blames the unevenness of the floor.” – Malay proverb At any given time, I am individually mentoring a dozen or more individuals. It’s not something I seek to do. It seems to be the natural result of (a) knowing a lot of ambitious people and (b) being happy to offer advice…
Read More14 More Good Rules For Getting A Better Job
“Do more than hear, listen. Do more than listen, understand.” – John H. Rhoades Jeffrey Fox tells the following story in his book “Don’t Send a Resume”: Douglas MacArthur, the legendary World War II Army general, was looking to hire a new aide. After a staff review of candidates, MacArthur interviewed the “short list.” One…
Read MoreWhen You Want A Better Job…
Most people end up with jobs that result from a series of half-baked actions and fortunate accidents. Ask a dozen executives to retrace their careers and you’ll hear a dozen versions of “this happened” and “that happened” but very few saying “I wanted this so I did that.” When you try to get a better…
Read MoreWord Play
“Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which before their union were not perceived to have any relation.” – Mark Twain (Notebook, 1935) Not too long ago, CW told me about a contest the Washington Post ran for its readers in which they were asked to come up with playful definitions for common words.Over the…
Read MoreA Thanksgiving Day Task — And Another Resolution
“When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, It concentrates his mind wonderfully.” – Samuel Johnson On New Year’s Day, most people make resolutions. But how many people are thankful on Thanksgiving Day? If you ask the typical American what Thanksgiving is about, he’ll mention family, friends, and football. Oh, and…
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