A metaphor about how a good leader should be
The foreman carpenter allots his men work according to their ability. Floor layers, makers of sliding doors, thresholds and lintels, ceilings and so on. Those of poor ability lay the floor joists, and those of lesser ability carve wedges and do such miscellaneous work. If the foreman knows and deploys his men well the finished work will be good. The foreman should take into account the abilities and limitations of his men, circulating among them and asking nothing unreasonable. He should know their morale and spirit, and encourage them when necessary. This is the same as the principle of strategy.
Chapter 1 The Ground BookKitabı okudu
In 1787, at an inn near Moulins, an old man was dying – a friend of Diderot’s, whose ideas had been moulded by the philosophes. The local priests were baffled: they had tried everything in vain; the good man refused the last sacraments, saying he was a pantheist. Monsieur de Rollebon, who was passing by and who believed in nothing, bet the Cure of Moulins that he would take less than two hours to bring the sick man back to Christian sentiments. The Cure took the bet and lost: taken in hand at three in the morning, the sick man confessed at five and died at seven. ‘You must be very good at arguing,’ said the Cure, ‘to beat our own people!’ ‘I didn’t argue,’ replied Monsieur de Rollebon, ‘I made him frightened of hell.’
Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea
The New Press - 2000
I thought i was her protector. That she was flighty and irresponsible and frivolous. That it was my job to protect her. That i was the strong one, counterbalancing her weakness, her whimsy. But i was wrong. I wasn't the strong one, she was. Because this is what it feels like -to take a risk, to step out of line, to make decisions not based on fact but on feeling. And it hurts.
Sayfa 187Kitabı okudu
... A cooker, dressed in a grey apron, placed the gruel with a spoon to each of the plates. The bowls never needed washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again. Oliver was always hungry. After three months, Oliver was starving that he could hardly sleep at night. One day, one of the strongest boys proposed to ask for more gruel... Oliver was chosen to walk to the cooker that evening and ask for more gruel... Oliver was desperate with hunger and weak with misery. He rose from the table and walked up to the cooker with a plate and a spoon in his hand.
"Please, sir, I want some more," said Oliver.
The cooker turned very pale with anger. He looked at Oliver in surprise. Oliver was paralysed with fear at that moment...
Oliver was sent to the empty cold room. The next morning the master of the workhouse offered five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver as his apprentice to any trade... He walked every morning in a stone yard in the presence of Mr. Bumble. As for society, he was carried every day into the hall when boys dined. The cooker beat him mercilessly as a public warning and example.
Sayfa 9Kitabı okudu
The Five Credos of Success
1. Yesterday's dreams are today's realities.
2. See your dreams ahead of time now: This is a call to action. Don't just talk about dreaming. Dream! Virtually everything I've accomplished of any consequence I visualized and dreamed of before it happened.
3. Simulation - Practice within when
Sayfa 47Kitabı okudu
Suddenly the old story—the water and the gray morning and James’s remark, It would take more than that—was too familiar, too close for comfort to more recent memories. He averted his eyes and I knew we were still thinking the same thing. We climbed into bed, pushed the pillows around, and pretended to get comfortable in disconcerted silence. I lay on my back, dismayed that the five or six inches of space between us suddenly felt like a hundred miles. My petty fears from the memorial service were confirmed—death wasn’t going to stop Richard tormenting us.
Act 3, Scene 9Kitabı okudu
