Karesansui
By Lehan Winifred Ramsay
There will be no quotes on this page. Quotes are getting out of hand. Even recipe books contain quotes these days. Unfortunately it is just the beginning; Twitter is teaching people how to believe themselves to be full of wisdom and witicism. And training them to make their output entirely of quotes. Ridding consultants and other book writers of the need to troll through actual books and pull them out.
I don’t believe that half the quotes are really by the people who they’re said to be from. If I was to make a great quote, it would die a quick death. If I were to tell you all that it was really Henry Ford, perhaps it would do a few more rounds.
I have been reading some books on management, and it seems to me that a lot of people think that to be a good manager you have to go around giving out pithy little quotes that hit the ground running like a whiff of common sense. I say that probably gets people to stay watching your you-tube clip, may well bring in a thousand people to your TedTalk signing up for your daily blog-out. But otherwise, I can’t really see that it makes you a better manager.
It does though make you more popular, and a lot of people seem to think that good management equals popularity. And these days that is often the case. More and more rules are there to rid the workplace of dissent, initiative, chaos and creativity, and the result is, predictably, that we get good safe results that everyone is happy with because they cause no extra work and result in no unknowns.
Do you really think that Henry Ford had a best friend? I do not. Nor do I think that Einstein liked cats. Not only that, but I do not care if I am wrong. Which makes me a bad manager. I do not like Twitter, either.
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
Either that, or more and more rules are there to ensure good safe results that everyone is happy with because they cause no extra work and result in no unknowns, and the side-effect is, predictably, that we strip the workplace of dissent, initiative, chaos and creativity .
LikeLike
Hmmmm – most of the new rules are for OH & S and for what to do about bullying.
LikeLike
I was think of a quote but couldn’t find one. compliments of the season Lehan.
LikeLike
Cats and panadol and how well the two go together
LikeLike
Do you take the cat with a glass of water Hung.
LikeLike
Yes, it prevents fur balls
LikeLike
I started twittering a few weeks ago, with, I thought, some profound insightful words. But where to next? I noticed people are following me now and I have become totally private and insular. The tweetings are supposed to raise one into prominence and fame but after reading that tweeting can be disadvantageous to self-esteem and libido, I stopped and am back where I started from, and now concentrate on chicken wings marinatings and grating of fresh ginger on top of cheese on toast.
Merry Christmas Leehan.
LikeLike
Good point, Lehan, stop the bloody quotes, manage from the front, and stop caring if people like you. Last time I told someone to stop doing doing some thing f#$% ing stupid, she didn’t like me. later she realised that I was right. Now she likes me. One has to say the right thing, not some silly quote.
Merry Christmas, Lehan, sorry if that sounds like a quote!
LikeLike
I have to be short beacause I only know very few words, mainly short ones….I’m sorry that I only know one very long word, and I have forgotten it.
LikeLike
I’m thinking the books Lehan is reading might be a bit old. Good communication is the starting point. Hubby lectured Communications for the Business students – he never had any chapter or reference to quoting ‘quotes’. Referencing is another matter as is quoting an important paragraph from another source to support your argument in an essay.
LikeLike