Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The Moon

September always has been a transitional month—at least for me. No matter what part of the world you are in, whether you have been in summer or winter, on vacation or not, in four months or so, a new year will begin; and that means, the old one ends.

September also signifies the beginning of the final push.  The pressure is on to continue delivering; to fill in the holes; to focus one last time; to leave no stone un-turned; to use every last cliché……….you get the point…..

But here’s the rub: we must never lose our long term vision in pursuit of shorter term goals.  We have to deliver, full stop.  Yet, we have to deliver next year and the year after as well.  Our clients count on us to do so, as do our peers and colleagues.

We have clients who use data to measure yesterday’s performance.  We have others who target business outcomes and look to the future.  We have some clients in the middle.  Each is important and instructive.  There is a great deal to learn from the past, present and future—so long as we keep our vision.

It seems to me this is true in our personal relationships as well.  It is easy to get sidetracked – annoyed or enamored by events, It is much harder to stay the course and suck-up any shorter term disappointments or false expectations and balance them against future value.

All of which leads me, of course, to a quote:

“When a finger points to the moon the imbecile looks at the finger”
Chinese proverb

Think on that one a while, but keep your eyes on the moon……..

Posted by David on 09/05 at 09:31 AM
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