Audio Tidbits

There is a space between you and me where the balance is just about right, but if the balance gets out of balance, all is not well. That's true whether you are my child, my partner, my employer, or just someone who wants and needs my attention. In this episode of Audio Tidbits, I give some thought and attention to this balance.

There is a space between you and me where the balance is just about right, but if the balance gets out of balance, all is not well. That's true whether you are my child, my partner, my employer, or just someone who wants and needs my attention. In this episode of Audio Tidbits, I give some thought and attention to this balance.

orris, Tom. If Harry Potter Ran General Electric: Leadership Wisdom from the World of the Wizards. New York: Doubleday, 2006.

The greatest teachers are always masters of their subjects who lead, train, guide, and inspire their student apprentices to their own forms of excellence. They never just pass on information. The master is a model, coach, helper, and motivator as well as a teacher and trainer.

The best leaders teach by example and guide with encouragement.

What we haven't ourselves received, we can't pass on to others. ... A great mentor is a person who has filtered his or her own prior personal experience, along with the experience of many others, analyzed it fully, and extracted from it the wisdom it contains.

Ultimately, he is a great leader because he's a wise man who knows human nature, and who acts in everything he does with great character.

Without truth, people can't work effectively. Without trust, people can't work efficiently.

The best leaders in most circumstances tend to be just completely committed people with keen intelligence, great skill, focused energy, a clear vision, the courage of their convictions, a passion for what they're doing, strong character, and a robust sense of concern for others.

We can mess up, and then clean up, and end up better than we started.

The deepest emotions are compatible with the highest rationality in any life that is in full control of all its faculties. But without proper self-control, no amount of passion or intellect can guarantee either great leadership or even long-lasting personal success.

...Ethics is really about creating strength. It is a matter of making choices that preserve those values and qualities most deserving of preservation. It's about doing what's right in any given circumstances, regardless of the consequences we might happen to predict, and it's about becoming a properly formed, strongly virtuous person as a result. All of ethics comes down to the choices we make every day. And who we become is a result of those choices.

There are many aspects to strength of character. An ability to make the right choices hinges on all of them. Honesty is important, as is a proper sense of loyalty, an empathetic appreciation for the needs of others, moderated desires, and a grounded, appropriate personal sense of self-worth and dignity. Any leader should seek to surround himself with people who have such qualities.

If you want to be a great leader, be a great person. Work on embodying and living the classic virtues. Broaden and deepen yourself as a human being. Seek to govern everything you feel and whatever you do in accordance with your most fundamental beliefs and values. Believe in other people. Show that you care about them. Never forget the power of apprenticeship. Make it a habit to exercise appropriate control over all your emotions and actions. And remember to have fun whenever it's at all possible.

orris, Tom. If Harry Potter Ran General Electric: Leadership Wisdom from the World of the Wizards. New York: Doubleday, 2006.

The greatest teachers are always masters of their subjects who lead, train, guide, and inspire their student apprentices to their own forms of excellence. They never just pass on information. The master is a model, coach, helper, and motivator as well as a teacher and trainer.

The best leaders teach by example and guide with encouragement.

What we haven't ourselves received, we can't pass on to others. ... A great mentor is a person who has filtered his or her own prior personal experience, along with the experience of many others, analyzed it fully, and extracted from it the wisdom it contains.

Ultimately, he is a great leader because he's a wise man who knows human nature, and who acts in everything he does with great character.

Without truth, people can't work effectively. Without trust, people can't work efficiently.

The best leaders in most circumstances tend to be just completely committed people with keen intelligence, great skill, focused energy, a clear vision, the courage of their convictions, a passion for what they're doing, strong character, and a robust sense of concern for others.

We can mess up, and then clean up, and end up better than we started.

The deepest emotions are compatible with the highest rationality in any life that is in full control of all its faculties. But without proper self-control, no amount of passion or intellect can guarantee either great leadership or even long-lasting personal success.

...Ethics is really about creating strength. It is a matter of making choices that preserve those values and qualities most deserving of preservation. It's about doing what's right in any given circumstances, regardless of the consequences we might happen to predict, and it's about becoming a properly formed, strongly virtuous person as a result. All of ethics comes down to the choices we make every day. And who we become is a result of those choices.

There are many aspects to strength of character. An ability to make the right choices hinges on all of them. Honesty is important, as is a proper sense of loyalty, an empathetic appreciation for the needs of others, moderated desires, and a grounded, appropriate personal sense of self-worth and dignity. Any leader should seek to surround himself with people who have such qualities.

If you want to be a great leader, be a great person. Work on embodying and living the classic virtues. Broaden and deepen yourself as a human being. Seek to govern everything you feel and whatever you do in accordance with your most fundamental beliefs and values. Believe in other people. Show that you care about them. Never forget the power of apprenticeship. Make it a habit to exercise appropriate control over all your emotions and actions. And remember to have fun whenever it's at all possible.

Come with me now into the heart of the pulsing confusion that passes for reality. There we find all of the experiences that register as real and meaningful. We also register that which we call phantom and fanciful. It is a cauldron of real and not real, possible and not possible, and what we determine to be reality and the other. It’s the other on which we are focusing.

We know that our experience goes beyond what we know to be real and meaningful. It is the realm of the other. But how do we distinguish and what are the distinctions?

We want to believe that the real is that which we see but we nonetheless invasion that which we know to be of the other.

We want to believe what we hear and don’t want our ears to mislead; but even so, we hear sounds and voices that can only be from the other.

The other appears to us and intrudes as sound, but still we believe in the real but not the other.

The other may come to us through taste, touch, or smell, but we still persist in believing that we can know it is of the other and not of reality.

We like to conclude that real is what our senses tell us is real, but experience tells us that our senses provide a somewhat imperfect set of instruments for knowing the real from the other. We know that it is far from axiomatic that seeing is believing just as belief cannot be firmly based on hearing, touching, tasting, or smelling. If we are to know the real from the other, our sensory instrumentation is necessary but not sufficient.

Then what is the non-sensory capacity that supplements and corrects the reality distortion that would come through exclusive reliance on our senses? Here is where experience mediated by judgment and intelligence can serve us, can prevent most if not all false positives and false negatives. This internal capacity has the potential to protect us from the mistakes of our senses, protect us from believing that things are real which are not, thinking that things are illusions that are in fact real.

This capacity is no more useful than when we need to distinguish between truthful and valid news and information on the one hand and fake news and misinformation on the other hand. It is for each of us our built-in BS detector. This BS detector is there for each of us but frequently ignored and even more often just turned off.

What to do? Be sure that your BS detector is turned on and working correctly. Once you have assured that your BS detector is fully operative, run everything you see and hear through your personal BS detector before ever considering anything to be true or real. This starts with being skeptical with respect to anything important that you hear or are told, no matter who tells you. Other than your close friends and family, don’t believe anything you are told until you have thoughtfully run it past your personal BS detector; and even friends and family may be misrepresenting reality or distorting the truth, so beware.

Here is the conclusion. Since much of what we hear and are told is BS, simply assume that anything you hear or are told may be BS. So, keep your BS detector in front of you at all times, scanning and assessing the flow of news and information coming your way. It is the least you should do and, when you get down to it, it is the only protection we have from lies and damn lies that seek to overwhelm us.

Come with me now into the heart of the pulsing confusion that passes for reality. There we find all of the experiences that register as real and meaningful. We also register that which we call phantom and fanciful. It is a cauldron of real and not real, possible and not possible, and what we determine to be reality and the other. It’s the other on which we are focusing.

We know that our experience goes beyond what we know to be real and meaningful. It is the realm of the other. But how do we distinguish and what are the distinctions?

We want to believe that the real is that which we see but we nonetheless invasion that which we know to be of the other.

We want to believe what we hear and don’t want our ears to mislead; but even so, we hear sounds and voices that can only be from the other.

The other appears to us and intrudes as sound, but still we believe in the real but not the other.

The other may come to us through taste, touch, or smell, but we still persist in believing that we can know it is of the other and not of reality.

We like to conclude that real is what our senses tell us is real, but experience tells us that our senses provide a somewhat imperfect set of instruments for knowing the real from the other. We know that it is far from axiomatic that seeing is believing just as belief cannot be firmly based on hearing, touching, tasting, or smelling. If we are to know the real from the other, our sensory instrumentation is necessary but not sufficient.

Then what is the non-sensory capacity that supplements and corrects the reality distortion that would come through exclusive reliance on our senses? Here is where experience mediated by judgment and intelligence can serve us, can prevent most if not all false positives and false negatives. This internal capacity has the potential to protect us from the mistakes of our senses, protect us from believing that things are real which are not, thinking that things are illusions that are in fact real.

This capacity is no more useful than when we need to distinguish between truthful and valid news and information on the one hand and fake news and misinformation on the other hand. It is for each of us our built-in BS detector. This BS detector is there for each of us but frequently ignored and even more often just turned off.

What to do? Be sure that your BS detector is turned on and working correctly. Once you have assured that your BS detector is fully operative, run everything you see and hear through your personal BS detector before ever considering anything to be true or real. This starts with being skeptical with respect to anything important that you hear or are told, no matter who tells you. Other than your close friends and family, don’t believe anything you are told until you have thoughtfully run it past your personal BS detector; and even friends and family may be misrepresenting reality or distorting the truth, so beware.

Here is the conclusion. Since much of what we hear and are told is BS, simply assume that anything you hear or are told may be BS. So, keep your BS detector in front of you at all times, scanning and assessing the flow of news and information coming your way. It is the least you should do and, when you get down to it, it is the only protection we have from lies and damn lies that seek to overwhelm us.

This episode of Audio Tidbits is no more nor no less than you might expect from an episode called Random Wisdom. If you are already wise enough, feel free to skip the episode. But if you can always use a little random wisdom, press play and enjoy.

This episode of Audio Tidbits is no more nor no less than you might expect from an episode called Random Wisdom. If you are already wise enough, feel free to skip the episode. But if you can always use a little random wisdom, press play and enjoy.

ockell, Leslie and Adrienne Avila. The 100 Greatest Leadership Principles of all Time. New York: Warner Business Books, 2007.

Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline.

A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see. - Leroy Eimes

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don' sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit ... This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. - Peter F. Drucker

A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not. - Anonymous

Nobody rises to low expectations. - Calvin Lloyd

A community is like a ship: Everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. - Henrik Ibsen.

ockell, Leslie and Adrienne Avila. The 100 Greatest Leadership Principles of all Time. New York: Warner Business Books, 2007.

Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline.

A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see. - Leroy Eimes

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don' sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit ... This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. - Peter F. Drucker

A leader leads by example, whether he intends to or not. - Anonymous

Nobody rises to low expectations. - Calvin Lloyd

A community is like a ship: Everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. - Henrik Ibsen.