Friday, December 20, 2013

45: Appearing Foolish

The Project
I’m onto chapter nine (Managing a Portfolio) and it is quite hard work making it non repetitive and interesting but I continue to slog away at it. I’m trying to make it as simple as possible at the risk of appearing foolish!

Some project managers like to be seen as experts on everything and they are always ready to give their views on the right way to do something, regardless of how little they actually know about it.  

The Way  
The wise project manager tries to keep things simple and when he speaks it is often to say something obvious and it can sound simple.  Because what he says is also honest it may seem perplexing.  The project manager’s stillness may even appear to be foolishness.  But the project manager’s stillness overcomes the team’s agitation.  The project manager’s consciousness is his primary tool and this is what gets things done.  

Great perfection seems defective,  
Yet its function is not spoiled.
Great abundance seems agitated,  
Yet it cannot be exhausted.  

Great straightness seems crooked.  
Great dexterity seems clumsy.  
Great eloquence seems awkward.  
Purity and stillness set things in order in the universe.  

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