Possibilities to Ponder

I opened an old notebook over the weekend, one of my "seed-books" - full of ideas for articles, quotes, and a miscellany I can't quite label. One page I liked, and left open on my desk. They were notes I wrote as a leader I admired was enthralling his team while speaking about some of his organizing principles. Given I could not capture everything as he spoke, and he was not speaking from a script, we later wrote up what we each thought was said - adding and amplifying at the same time.

Later that evening I was reading segments from America's Constitution: A Biography which had me think of my seed-book page and how appropriate they would be for a personal bill of responsibilities - it has puzzled me that the US Founding Fathers did add one to the Bill of Rights - now I thought, that's a possibility. Here it is:

• Don’t waste time worrying about things you can’t do anything about - include and accept them, and move on
  

• Don’t let moods and emotions cloud your decisions – chose the harder right over the easy wrong

• Listen to both sides of every story - the best decision will come from appreciating others' perspectives
  

• Know your job and the people you depend on to fulfill and your accountabilities
  

• Praise in public coach or reprimand in private - always build people up don't tear them down
  

• Set priorities – then do the hard jobs first

• Don’t ask someone to do something you would not do yourself - unless of course they are more competent
  

• Set high standards - and live them - be your word
  

• Identify problems and solve them
  

• Do it now – don’t procrastinate

• Take care of details - perfection is in the details
  

• Be in communication - no withholding complaints, upsets, problems, or praise
  

• Be visible - let people know who you are and what you stand for

• Surface and deal with conflict - conflict is not bad or wrong; just evidence of lots of commitments and finite resources
  

• Never punish the entire group for the acts of an unknown few. Find the culprits and punish them

• It is more important to be respected than liked

• Praise, acknowledge, appreciate and reward good performance