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The blog is not my favorite place to get my message out.�� I prefer the weekly column I write, the facebook page I work with my team to update and the twitter notes I send out on occasion. Yet, the blog keeps going and growing for other people in my network.�� I come back to […]

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Perspective has many definitions, such as the ability to understand what is important and what isn’t.�� And the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance. Consider this excellent example of how differently people view the same subject in this ancient fable.�� Four blind men were asked to examine an elephant and […]

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When you offer criticism, be aware of whom you are criticizing and how they might receive it. Case in point:�� A number of years ago, my son David was entering his senior year at Stanford University.�� He thought it might be fun to spend his last college summer freewheeling in San Francisco, working five or […]

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A third grader had to do a book report, and he chose a Socrates biography.�� His report consisted of three succinct sentences: Socrates was a philosopher. He talked a lot. They killed him. Not much more to say about brevity.�� Maybe that’s why U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Be sincere.�� Be brief.�� Be seated.�� […]

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Quotes, aphorisms, proverbs or whatever you want to call them �� I’m a junkie. I picked up the habit from my father who was an Associated Press journalist. Readers of my nationally syndicated column will recognize them as morals.

They need to be short, snappy and to the point. A good moral or proverb must teach a lesson, and I am not offended when I hear they are their favorite part of my column. Readers tell me that my morals are displayed on their refrigerators, company bulletin boards, auto dashboards and office walls.

One of my sources is reading proverbs from around the world since we know so many of the American proverbs. Do some of these sound familiar? People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Look before you leap. Two heads are better than one. A friend in need is a friend indeed. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Don’t judge a book by its cover. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Strike while the iron is hot. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

My only problem is that I have collected so many that I will never be able to attach all of them to a column or book chapter. And I think these messages can stand alone, even though I would love to expand on them! Here are some of the best ones I’ve found from around the world. If you want to read more, a good resource is “Proverbs From Around the World,�� compiled by Norma Gleason.

A wise man changes his mind; a fool never will. �� Spanish

He is bad that will not take advice, but he is a thousand times worse who takes every advice. �� Irish

The thief is sorry that he is to be hanged, not that he is a thief. �� English

It is easy to forget a kindness, but one remembers unkindness. �� India

Fear less, hope more. Eat less, chew more. Sigh less, breathe more. Hate less, love more, and all good things are yours. Swedish

Don’t believe everything you hear nor tell all that you know. �� Italian

He who goes unpunished never learns. �� Greek

Where there is no shame, there is no honor. �� West Africa

A good conscience makes a soft pillow. �� German

If you strike mud against the wall, even though it does not stick, it will leave a mark. �� Arab

The less one thinks, the more one speaks. �� French

If you play around the beehive you must expect to be stung. �� Greek

He who has everything is content with nothing. �� French

The sky is the same color wherever you go. �� Persian

That which one cannot have one should not desire. �� Swedish

What is impossible to change is best to forget. �� Yugoslav

One cannot help many, but many can help one. �� Chinese

To make excuses before they are needed is to blame one’s self. �� Spanish

Ask the experienced rather than the learned. �� Arab

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. �� Chinese

An old broom knows the dirty corners best. �� Irish

Water and words are easy to pour, but impossible to recover. �� Chinese

Opportunities you have missed will not return. �� West Africa

Hours once lost cannot be regained. �� Yugoslav

You can hardly make a friend in a year, but you can easily offend one in an hour. �� Chinese

A man cannot become perfect in a hundred years; but he may become corrupt in less than a day. �� Chinese

One who grabs too much may lose it all. �� Swedish

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. �� French

The future belongs to him who know how to wait. �� Russian

Fall seven times, stand up the eighth time. �� Japanese

Pride leaves home on horseback, but returns on foot. �� German

If only one knows it, it is a secret; if two know it, it is public. �� India

The sword wounds the body, but words wound the soul. �� Arab

Two good talkers are not worth one good listener. �� Chinese

Whoever cares to learn will always find a teacher. �� German

The one who saves something has something. �� Swedish

Liars need good memories. �� French

Scales tell us what is light and heavy, but not what is gold and silver. �� German

The man who knows the price of everything knows the value of nothing. �� Irish

Intelligence consists in recognizing opportunity. �� Chinese

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. �� Greek

Mackay’s Moral: Learning is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily. �� Chinese

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Quotes, aphorisms, proverbs or whatever you want to call them �� I’m a junkie. I picked up the habit from my father who was an Associated Press journalist. Readers of my nationally syndicated column will recognize them as morals. They need to be short, snappy and to the point. A good moral or proverb must […]

The post appeared first on .

A firm needed a researcher. Applicants were a scientist, an engineer and an economist. Each was given a stone, a piece of string and a stopwatch and told to determine a certain building’s height.��The scientist went to the rooftop, tied the stone to the string and lowered it to the ground. Then he swung it, timing each swing with the watch. With this pendulum, he estimated the height at 200 feet, give or take 12 inches.

The engineer threw away the string, dropped the stone from the roof, timing its fall with the watch. Applying the laws of gravity, he estimated the height at 200 feet, give or take six inches.

The economist, ignoring the string and stone, entered the building but soon returned to report the height at exactly 200 feet. How did he know? He gave the janitor his watch in exchange for the building plans. He got the job.

Of all the skills I admire, being resourceful is among the most important. I don’t want to be surrounded by ordinary thinkers. Rather, I want to be with people who, if they don’t know an answer, know how to get it. Or if we have a problem, know how to solve it.

Resourceful people think outside the box and visualize all the possible ways to achieve things. They are scrappy, inventive and driven to find a way to get what they need and want.��As one of my very favorite authors, Napoleon Hill, said: “A resourceful person will always make the opportunity fit his or her needs.��

Here are some characteristics I look for when determining a person’s resourcefulness:

Open-minded.��Know what is and isn’t possible. Embrace different possibilities, people and views to broaden your perspective. Expand your comfort zone by trying different things.

Self-confident.��Believe that you can handle any problem you encounter or that there is a solution for any problem you encounter. Visualize yourself overcoming any obstacle.

Innovative.��Resourcefulness is about optimizing what you have to work with. A fun example is the old TV show “MacGyver�� starring Richard Dean Anderson. There wasn’t any situation that MacGyver couldn’t handle, any problem he couldn’t fix, be it with his Swiss Army knife and a roll of duct tape. Think: it’s the hardest, most valuable task any person can perform.

Adaptable.��Don’t box yourself into doing things a certain way. Experiment.

Persistent.����Try things many different ways until you succeed. Never give up. Many things can get in your way, but don’t let them until you get what you want or achieve your goal. Practice until you get it right.

Optimistic.����If you have the right attitude, the solution is easier to find. You have to believe that you can get through any issue and come out better and stronger.

Resourcefulness is crucial in anticipating problems and being prepared. ��I understand that you can’t predict everything, but I’m a big believer in asking what can go wrong in any situation.

Ernest Hemingway said, “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.

This story, shared by Vladimir Karapetoff, is a perfect illustration. When Leningrad was laid out in the early 18th century, many large rocks had to be removed. One especially large piece of granite was lying in the way of a main road. Bids for its removal submitted by contractors were exorbitantly high because there were no mechanical means for removal, no hard steel for drilling or cracking the stone, and no explosives except inferior black powder.

Lo and behold, an insignificant-looking peasant appeared and offered to remove the boulder for a fraction of the other bids. Since the government ran no risks, he was authorized to try his luck.

He assembled many other peasants with spades and timbers, and they began digging a deep hole next to the rock. The rock was propped up to prevent its rolling into the hole. When the hole was deep enough, they removed the props and the boulder dropped into the hole, where it rests to this day below the street level. The rock was covered with dirt, and the rest of the earth was carted away. Since he could not remove the rock above the ground, he put it underground.

Mackay’s Moral:����Mine your natural resources for uncommon results.

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A firm needed a researcher. Applicants were a scientist, an engineer and an economist. Each was given a stone, a piece of string and a stopwatch and told to determine a certain building’s height.��The scientist went to the rooftop, tied the stone to the string and lowered it to the ground. Then he swung it, […]

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Anytime you feel like quitting throughout your career, perhaps you’ll remember this story of one of our people:

When he was born he was given the nickname “Sparky.�� School was very difficult for Sparky, and he failed eighth grade. He also flunked several subjects in high school, the same high school that I attended a few years later.

He wasn’t very good in sports either. He did make the school’s golf team, but he lost the most important match of the season and the consolation match too. Throughout his youth, Sparky was awkward. He felt he was a loser and other kids avoided him.

One thing that was important to him, however, was his artwork.�� He spent most of his free time drawing. He offered sketches to the high school yearbook, but they were rejected. Later on he submitted his cartoons to many publications and studios, including Disney, and he was turned down by every single one.

Sparky was drafted into World War II, later stating, “The Army taught me all I needed to know about loneliness.”�� After the war he dated a woman who rejected his marriage proposal and then she married another man the following year.

He decided to tell his life story in cartoons and was picked up by United Features Artists in 1950, but they forced him to rename his comic strip from “Li’l Folks�� to “Peanuts.”�� Charles Schulz did not like the idea, but he was ecstatic that his comics were finally getting published.

Peanuts would go on to become a cultural phenomenon because people could relate to the lovable loser main character, Charlie Brown, who reminded people of embarrassing and painful moments. But he never gave up. Nor did Charles Schulz.

We all face discouragement and rejection in our lives, but we have a choice in how we handle it. You can’t avoid rejection. The sooner you find out that rejection is a part of life, the better off you will be. It’s how you deal with it that sets you apart.

A prime example comes from Charlie Brown himself. In the first cartoon panel, he tells his buddy, “I learned something in school today. I signed up for folk guitar, computer programming, stained glass, art,��shoe making��and a natural foods workshop.

“Instead, I got spelling, history, arithmetic, and two study periods.”��

The next panel shows Charlie’s pal asking, “So, what did you learn?��

In his infinite wisdom, Charlie replies, “I learned that what you sign up for in life, and what you get, are two different things.”��

In my book, “We Got Fired! . . . And It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us,�� I featured businesswoman and author Deborah Rosado Shaw who rose from poverty to create a multi-million-dollar umbrella-making business, Umbrellas Plus.��

The secret of her success? As she described in an��Atlanta Journal-Constitution��article some years ago, she learned to play beyond the rules.��

Refused admission to law school 11 times, she went into sales, which led to the creation of her company. ��She offers the following advice on getting ahead:

Be willing to sacrifice.
Get used to fear.
Know where you’re going.
Enlist the help of a business coach or mentor.
Be creative about what you want.
Make noise.
Trade what’s predictable for what’s possible.

I’ve dealt with plenty of rejection over the course of my career, and I always offer the same advice. I usually focus on sales rejection, which constitutes most of my dealings.��

First, don’t take it personally. You have to remember that the person isn’t rejecting you; they’re rejecting what you’re selling. Always leave the door open. I always thank the person I’m calling on because they took valuable time out of their day to meet or talk with me. I’m grateful because we never know if our paths might cross again.����

My absolute biggest rule on rejection is to never say no for the other person. Don’t anticipate rejection because then you won’t even try, let alone give your best effort. If you don’t believe in what you are selling, how can you expect a prospect to buy it?��

I’m careful to analyze every rejection. I always want to know why people say no, and I’m not afraid to ask.

It’s helpful to remember past achievements. Look back to your past successes. Never pass up an opportunity to hone your skills and be ready for better times.

��

Mackay’s Moral: ����As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I was being rejected from something good, I was being re-directed to something better.

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Anytime you feel like quitting throughout your career, perhaps you’ll remember this story of one of our people: When he was born he was given the nickname “Sparky.�� School was very difficult for Sparky, and he failed eighth grade. He also flunked several subjects in high school, the same high school that I attended a […]

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