|
233b7bb
|
to Alexander the Great, who wept when there were no more worlds to conquer...
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
0353f8a
|
Your goal is to reach the point where, no matter what happens in any given day, you just don't give a shit.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
e22dda8
|
Lying for a good business reason has become so prevalent that they had to invent a new, less censorious word for it. They call it positioning, and people get paid good money to do it, lucky for me.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
c9d5030
|
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. That is the principal difference between a dog and a man. MARK TWAIN
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
93bee75
|
The truth is your servant, not your master. What is the truth, anyway? Does any of us really know what's true? And is truth an absolute? Can't things be sort of true? A little bit true? True in a deeper sense? True enough for military work? True for me, not for you? All too true?
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
6e60d2c
|
Solve problems, don't create them. A huge number of very dislikable people have this aggravating habit of either creating problems they can then solve to the acclaim of the multitudes, or blowing up the size of issues and then handing them off to others. Try to not do that.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
f1700a6
|
You get the picture. The marvelous thing about the human ego is that each one is slightly different. Deep inside you, there's an enormously objectionable force yearning to leap forth and spew toxic goo all over the place. Let it flow!
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
eb05a5d
|
Today we will tackle the rudiments of getting people to buy the thing you're selling. This is the heart of all activity of any kind in the human sphere. Along with the opposable thumb, this capacity--to sell others something they perhaps did not even know they wanted--is what separates Homo sapiens from its ancestors. Cows do not sell each other hay when they are hungry. Monkeys do not sell each other bananas. Only human beings can create t..
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
55cffcc
|
Anyhow, his basic philosophy was encapsulated in his famous statement, "I have an agreement with my people. They can say what they want. I can do what I want."
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
457486c
|
TRUTH #1: Work is suffering. The ability to boss other people around destroys much of human decency.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
f2e9478
|
TRUTH #2: Desire is the root of suffering. It is the desire to achieve, to live, to make things tolerable and pleasant, and even better, that creates untold pain in the lives of men and women. Want nothing, and you shall not be disappointed.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
085d2c7
|
There are those who treat every human interaction as a military engagement that could escalate into a potential battle leading to a nice, satisfying conflict that's part of a war. There is a name for such people. They're called assholes.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
3f62043
|
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
be00456
|
That is the way of management from time immemorial, in medieval feudal states, communist dictatorships, and capitalist conference rooms alike. It is the way the powerful treat those less so, and it is the human condition.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
1e9f170
|
So this smart, overpaid, sassy dude goes into his first major meeting with our then-CEO, Mark. He spends a fair amount of time shitting on the efforts of the corporation to date, and making a lot of noises about revamping the entire landscape and not with a spade and shovel, either, no, with some very heavy machinery. In the process, he evinces almost no particular knowledge of our company, and also manages to poop on the parades of everyon..
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
54aac73
|
Soldiering, my dear madam, is the coward's art of attacking mercilessly when you are strong, and keeping out of harm's way when you are weak. That is the whole secret of successful fighting. Get your enemy at a disadvantage; and never, on any account, fight him on equal terms. George Bernard Shaw
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
a4ae1ef
|
Your enemy is presenting you with new options and challenges every day. If you respond in a wholly expected way each time, you will become predictable, and a predictable enemy is much easier to defeat than one who treats his adversaries to a surprise on a regular basis.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
7e71dc9
|
During that time, the young man met and married a beautiful young woman who had completed her law degree from Columbia University but had decided to pursue her MBA afterward because she had no desire to practice law. Who does? Still, they were happy.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
79d3684
|
While in their conference room perusing some papers, he came upon a middle manager who was being yelled at by a senior vice president of finance. The poor man's shoulders were bent with anguish, his eyes were red and runny with sadness and humiliation, his hands shook, and he could scarcely raise his voice to defend himself.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
ba60c78
|
Either I get Frank's job as president, or I'm going to leave the company. JEFFREY KATZENBERG TO DISNEY CHAIRMAN MICHAEL EISNER LESS THEN THIRTY-SIX HOURS AFTER THE DEATH OF DISNEY NUMBER TWO, FRANK WELLS
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
79f388a
|
When a general gave unwanted advice at a meeting, Saddam ordered him to stand, and shot him six times. --FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT, SADDAM HUSSEIN WEB HIT
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
7b78715
|
Don't you ever turn your back on me when I'm talking. CITIGROUP SENIOR EXECUTIVE JAMIE DIMON TO THE COMPANY'S VICE CHAIRMAN, DERYCK MAUGHAN, AT A BLACK-TIE DINNER. WHEN MAUGHAN TURNED AWAY FROM HIM, DIMON GRABBED HIM BY THE SHOULDERS AND SPUN HIM AROUND, POPPING A BUTTON FROM THE LAPEL OF HIS DINNER JACKET
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
2a4fcc7
|
Throughout our time here on earth, we all have a choice. To do things the mediocre way . . . or Machiavelli's way.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
3ede0a0
|
But if you're serious about the path to enlightenment and lucrative stock options, go quietly with us in the noise and haste as we take a look at our lives and ask the one pertinent question for those who wish to conquer the twenty-first century: "What would Machiavelli do?" Answer? He would play to win."
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
18b192a
|
To live true to the vision of the master, we must be as selfish, narcissistic, manipulative, driven, and creative in getting what we want as we can be, not just in our important business actions, but where it really counts: in our hearts.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
100a23a
|
It was like being a fly on the wall at a meeting. JACK WELCH ON HIS JOB AT AGE TWELVE AS A CADDY FOR LOCAL BUSINESSMEN AT A SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, COUNTRY CLUB
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
c3f555f
|
Even now, and you can look at me: Am I a savage person? My conscience is clear. --POL POT The eradication of conscience is one of the toughest things you're going to have to learn. Not everyone can do it.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
5af15ae
|
When lightning is obviously about to strike a certain tree, one must consider sitting under another.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
86698a2
|
The real Machiavellian, like the infant, believes there is nothing bigger or more important than him or herself. To succeed, you will need to achieve that view, to return to the liberating egocentrism of the selfish, amoral child who wants what he wants and permits nothing to get in its way.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
8740b37
|
It is believed that Revson is the author of the oft-quoted statement, uttered during one long working weekend to his subordinates, "If you don't come in on Saturday, don't bother to come in on Sunday."
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
24f836c
|
The executives that ran Lehman Bros. into the ground several years ago had a macho culture that abhorred personal time. One executive was pressured to go to the office while his wife was actually delivering a baby.[18] Whether such assiduity resulted in a better work product has now been pretty definitively ascertained.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
8d75cd3
|
The beauty part of business warfare, unless your business is importing cocaine from Colombia or covering up a nuclear fuel spill in the Midwest, is that there is rarely any actual blood involved. Maybe that's why we can forgive Sun Tzu now and then for being such a careful sissy-boy. His guys were playing with live ammo, not cell phones and BlackBerrys.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
43a9b10
|
In terms of their power over other adults, the sheer force of their monomaniacal self-interest and their utter lack of shame, they may be compared to only one other group of humans on the planet: babies.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
0f0d262
|
WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. The Three Slogans of the Party George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
d09d32c
|
He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it." The quotation is from The Great Gatsby,"
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
b5267bf
|
Clear spirits destroy karma. Brown spirits build karma.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
301cb34
|
The ways to find one's way to Enlightenment are many. There is prayer and fasting, and some try that to great effect, but that road is severe, particularly to people with electronic scheduling software and a lot of business lunches as part of the general requirements of their jobs, not to mention drinks after work, and pretty soon fasting, if not prayer, is out the window.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
e61c6ec
|
Fear is like fire. If you don't know how to handle it, it can kill you. But if you use it correctly, it can warm your house.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
9f84295
|
Elephants are therefore left only the option of being afraid of little things that sneak up and surprise them. Such things include mice, loud noises, spreadsheet surprises and sudden disappointments, food that is on the menu but unavailable, unannounced visitors, word of the displeasure of a higher executive, bad news about the effect of NutraSweet on the human kidney.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
9aea723
|
I believe the principles of structural revolution are the same," Lou Gerstner pointed out in the middle of his positive transformation of IBM. "First, it takes personal commitment on the part of the CEO. This is not a job you can delegate. Second, it takes a willingness to confront and expel the people and the organizations that are throwing up roadblocks to the changes you consider critical." --
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
7f717d8
|
It's damned hard to fire another human being face-to-face, which is why you sort of have to congratulate Ted Turner, who took it upon himself to fire his own son from the family business--over dinner.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
fb82018
|
Do you mind if I sit back a little? Because your breath is bad--it really is. --DONALD TRUMP, TO LARRY KING, ON CNN'S "LARRY KING"
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
5576a6b
|
There is no such thing as a merger. There are only buyers and sellers. Those who are bought are in danger when they have to bend over to pick up the soap. That's good to know.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |
|
c27b582
|
Bill Clinton has perhaps been the most amazing practitioner of truth management in public life. He's had to be. Beset by enemies willing to use any tool to do him in, he let the truth out like a fly fisherman plays out a line, delicately, artfully, with infinite finesse, never emitting more truth than necessary, struggling mightily to tell us what he could without admitting defeat.
|
|
|
Stanley Bing |