> People in organizations don’t change until their fear of survival exceeds their fear of learning – Organizational theorist [Edgar Schein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Schein), [via](http://fora.tv/2010/10/16/Long_Conversation_with_Stuart_Candy_and_Katherine_Fulton) [Katherine Fulton](http://www.monitorinstitute.com/about_team.html#fulton)
Are you trying to *find* the answer, or are you trying to *have* the answer? Similar statements; vastly different philosophies.
> Leaders are not what many people think–people with huge crowds following them. Leaders are people who go their own way without caring, or even looking to see whether anyone is following them. – [John Holt](http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/177781)
[According to Daniel Gilbert and others in the Journal of Consumer Psychology](http://dunn.psych.ubc.ca/files/2011/04/Journal-of-consumer-psychology.pdf):
1. Buy more experiences and fewer material goods
2. Use your money to benefit others rather than yourself
3. Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones
4. Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance
5. Delay consumption
6. Consider how peripheral features of your purchases may affect your day-to-day life
7. Beware of comparison shopping
8. Pay close attention to the happiness of others
The paper goes into more detail and gives good examples…interesting stuff.
> Let my house not be walled on four sides. Let the windows be open. Let all the cultures blow in. But let no culture blow me off my feet – [Mahatma Gandhi](http://thomasdrissen.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/a-word-of-wisdom/)
> Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. – [Voltaire](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire)
> A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books.
– [Andrei Tarkovsky](http://quotevadis.com/post/8689211578/a-thousand-different-books), director of Solaris.
I still remember the exact moment I realized that I didn’t have to believe everything I read in books; that some things that are printed are not actually true (it was embarrassingly late, I’m afraid).
Apparently [some people have yet to make that leap](http://literallyunbelievable.tumblr.com/).
[Tony Schwartz shares some realistic tips for getting important things done](http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2011/05/the-only-way-to-get-important.html).
I like the idea to plan your first activity the night before, and spending 90 minutes on it before thinking too much about it.
His philosophy of limiting your conscious decisions also rings true; [as Flaubert said](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=225):
> Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.
Some powerful words by [John Jay, a real-life Don Draper](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpfYPVzJohc):
How does a consultant help a company?
> Understand the truth of who they are, understand their soul, and then make that soul relevant to a greater number of people.
How do you stay fresh?
> One of the great challenges for all of us…is to put yourself into unusual cultures, where you don’t belong…out of your comfort zone…
> The longer you work, the more people want to put you in a silo…so they can define you by their terms. Our job is to never let people define you by their terms.
Important for individuals and companies.