I recently wrote a short article requesting feedback and input from our readers and subscribers. Well, I got it! Boy, did I get it! While the vast majority of your comments were very positive and supportive, we did receive a few brutal assaults.
After reading both of those messages, I feel compelled to share our blog philosophy in hopes of clarifying a few issues. Personally, I’m an optimist. I’d go after Moby Dick with a row boat and a jar of tartar sauce! I tend to focus on the positive!
We try to share information about individual leaders and successful organizations in an effort to assist our readers in their quest for continuous growth and success. We have a category titled “Little-known Facts about Well-known Leaders” about well-known leaders and businesses. In short, both subject areas are simply bios which provide a road map to success.
When I first thought about sharing this kind of data, I decided to write ONLY about persons or businesses that:
- were perfect in every way
- had never made a mistake
- had never made a poor decision
- had never displayed poor judgment
- had never failed in any way
I’m sure you get the drift here. It took me very little time and effort to discover that following those guidelines would leave me with absolutely no one to write about. Consider the 44 Presidents who have led the greatest country on Earth. If you were to exclude those who had flaws, made mistakes, were disliked, who stumbled, etc., who would you write about?
The same can be said for every organization in the Fortune 500. None has been or will ever be perfect. However, there is much to learn from every one of them. Discovering those keys and sharing them with our clients, readers, and subscribers is what we strive to do.
We had a choice, and we made it. I decided in these two categories, to share the thinking and actions that proved to be successful for these people and businesses in the hopes that we can learn how to enhance our efforts to succeed.
However, we’ve also examined the shortcomings in many organizations and the poor decisions of individuals across industries in our categories titled “What Were They Thinking,” “Going, Going, Gone,” “Business Briefs,” and the “University of Real Life.” We believe that as much can be learned from examining failures as from examining successes.
Along those same lines, we offer more than 200 book reviews on our web site. I consider myself a reviewer rather than a critic. I say that because I choose not to waste my time and yours writing a review about a book I suggest you don’t read. To me, that simply doesn’t make sense for either of us. If a book appears in our list of 200+ reviews, it has something to offer to our readers.
We’ve decided not to print any message in the future that isn’t signed by the sender. We continue to solicit and appreciate your feedback and input. Many of you have much to offer, and we’d love to hear it as often as possible. Thank you for your continued support.
About Harry K. Jones
Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.