Posts Tagged ‘friedrich nietzsche’

Scapegoat Wanted.

June 19th, 2009

Truth in advertising, especially employment adversiting,  is rare enough that I think it should always be rewarded; and yet despite today’s still too weak  economy, there are several jobs in the Seattle area which aren’t getting any takers:

Program Manager Non Tech Position – Level 3 SharePoint, PowerPoint, MS Project and Excel Skills

A Global team is currently in reactive mode, trying to prepare for the launch of this program, so things are very fast paced with quick turnaround. It is a high stress environment, but the team does it’s best job to be friendly and flexible.  This program will involve 10 small projects under one major project.

Beyond the obvious spelling and gramatical errors, the ultimate punchline is not included in the fine print – which is the hourly rate to take on an obviously failing  and potentially career ending project comes out to about $70,000 a year, and without compelling health or vacation benefits.

Another company in this area has struggled for months to fill several full time employee corporate recruiter roles in a market where many really good senior recruiters are desperate for work.  I no longer work in staffing, but still am aware of 3 candidates who declined offers for those jobs; several friends still in recruiting think the actual number is two to three times higher.

If a job opportunity or work environment is such that even in today’s economy multiple candidates decline offers for those jobs – the only time and mental bandwidth I’ll spend pondering on those is being thankful those problems aren’t mine.

At the same time, I realize the end result is truth in employment advertising will become even more rare than now.

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”  - Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

Related content:

Ego, Redux

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right. – …

Help Wanted: Zookeeper with a Good Attitude.

Most job postings are dry.  Really dry.  And – they usually include “must haves” which require skills and/or experience with everything but being able to both plumb AND re-enamel a kitchen sink.  As one hiring manager/Art Director I spoke with last week said – if any candidate ever met his team’s expectations, there …

The Job Posting I Wish I’d Written…. or, We’re All Mad Here, Part 2

There’s a truly brilliant job posting which is making the rounds on some of the developer email lists here in Seattle. I’d love to meet the programmer who wrote this job posting – it’s engaging while still full disclosure; I can already visualize the blog entries about meeting the client and actually interviewing …

Life on Mars

I’m a fan of the US version of the TV show “Life on Mars,” and look forward this weekend to watching the original British production. In the meantime, I’m still laughing over two lines from tonight’s show – “One Brady short of a Bunch;” and ”Maybe you spend enough time with a crazy …

The Revolving Door Out…

There’s something about this time of year that heralds change for me –  I’m in the midst of preparing to take the PMP certification exam, with the end result being I don’t have any extra time – or the mental energy –  to blog; but I’ll be back blogging starting …


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Niels Bohr’s Profound Truths

June 17th, 2009
“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.” – Niels Bohr
“Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.” – Niels Bohr
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” – Niels Bohr
“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” – Niels Bohr
“Your theory is crazy, but it’s not crazy enough to be true.” – Niels Bohr, to a young physicist
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” – Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962)

“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.” – Niels Bohr

“Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.” – Niels Bohr

“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” – Niels Bohr

“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” – Niels Bohr

“Your theory is crazy, but it’s not crazy enough to be true.” – Niels Bohr, to a young physicist

“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” – Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962)

Related Content:

Ego, Redux

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right. – …

Ergo, Ego

My friend Sherry is Buddhist.  While she and I share many beliefs, she works hard to live her beliefs, and to move towards enlightenment while I will often stumble over the truth, then hurry off as if nothing happened.  Lately we’ve been discussing whether  it is possible for people to fully control …

Follow These Footsteps…

Most of us are aware of the adage “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”  I like to include “Add value or stay out of the way.” The world would be a better, more effective, and much happier place if “Lead, follow, add value, or get out of the way” was reality …

If you lead your life the right way… the dreams will come to you.

I’m a big fan of Randy Pausch, and rewatch his Last Lecture about once a week.  I had hoped he would outlive us all, but he died early this morning. I believe in wakes and not in funerals, and appreciate the world is a better place because Randy was here: The Academy is… …

In the end, here it is.

Well, it’s the New Year.  My hope for all of us is the economy will only improve from here. Yeah, right.  Good luck with that. Lately I’ve become a fan of Winston Churchill quotes:   “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down …

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The Revolving Door Out…

May 15th, 2009

There’s something about this time of year that heralds change for me –  I’m in the midst of preparing to take the PMP certification exam, with the end result being I don’t have any extra time – or the mental energy –  to blog; but I’ll be back blogging starting June 9.

Perhaps it’s a good thing karma is not instant – eventual karma is ok, too, and deserves to be celebrated when it occurs; and some happened this week. 

“It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end.” – Douglas Adams

Related Content:

“We’re all mad here.”  

I’ve often wondered how companies succeed when so much inside seems to be broken.  If we’re lucky, work only consumes 10 or so hours a day, 5 days a week – but if you work in technology, frequently it consumes a lot more time, even if it’s only mental bandwidth and …

Ego, Redux 

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right. – …

Help Wanted: Zookeeper with a Good Attitude. 

Most job postings are dry.  Really dry.  And – they usually include “must haves” which require skills and/or experience with everything but being able to both plumb AND re-enamel a kitchen sink.  As one hiring manager/Art Director I spoke with last week said – if any candidate ever met his team’s expectations, there …

Life on Mars 

I’m a fan of the US version of the TV show “Life on Mars,” and look forward this weekend to watching the original British production. In the meantime, I’m still laughing over two lines from tonight’s show – “One Brady short of a Bunch;” and ”Maybe you spend enough time with a crazy …

Often I Learn the Most from People Who are Clueless. 

Yesterday, my friend Sherry and I were “out and about,” enjoying a relatively warm, dry, and sunny late November day in Seattle. Sherry is a woman of many talents; in a past life was a Specialized Ed teacher.  Eventually our day included a discussion of how those students who most needed help to learn were often …

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Ego, Redux

March 4th, 2009

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche

No men are oftener wrong than those that can least bear to be so. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right. – Terence

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power. – George Bernard Shaw

Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

I only have ‘yes’ men around me. Who needs ‘no’ men? – Mae West

Men in general are quick to believe that which they wish to be true. – Julius Caesar

There is no better proof of a man’s being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Death is not the worst that can happen to men. – Plato

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. – Edmund Burke

The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. – William Shakespeare

Society is the union of men and not the men themselves. – Charles de Secondat

Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them. – Dion Boucicault

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times. – Voltaire

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. – Will Rogers

Related content:

Ergo, Ego  

My friend Sherry is Buddhist.  While she and I share many beliefs, she works hard to live her beliefs, and to move towards enlightenment while I will often stumble over the truth, then hurry off as if nothing happened.  Lately we’ve been discussing whether  it is possible for people to fully control …

The Job Posting I Wish I’d Written…. or, We’re All Mad Here, Part 2

There’s a truly brilliant job posting which is making the rounds on some of the developer email lists here in Seattle. I’d love to meet the programmer who wrote this job posting – it’s engaging while still full disclosure; I can already visualize the blog entries about meeting the client and actually interviewing …

Newton’s Law of Reciprocal Actions will get you every time…

Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion is often paraphrased as “For every force there is an equal, but opposite, force.” Wow. Newton’s third law of motion is also a paraphrase for life and death; and for good versus evil. Somehow this past year has acquired a Wizard of Oz theme in an attempt …

Work is a Four Letter Word, Part 2  

Maybe four weeks ago, a beloved member of what was our team gave our now former manager (now known as Splat) notice she was leaving the company to work for a manager who was willing to talk with her, among other reasons. The next day, Splat called her and said “Since I have to replace you, what exactly …

Often I Learn the Most from People Who are Clueless.  

Yesterday, my friend Sherry and I were “out and about,” enjoying a relatively warm, dry, and sunny late November day in Seattle. Sherry is a woman of many talents; in a past life was a Specialized Ed teacher.  Eventually our day included a discussion of how those students who most needed help to learn were often …

Splat! 

There are many reasons I really like the company I work for; but this week what I most appreciate is while things sometimes move more slowly than I would like, things here tend to move slightly faster than at other companies – or, a little closer to internet time. For the …

Follow These Footsteps…  

Most of us are aware of the adage “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”  I like to include “Add value or stay out of the way.” The world would be a better, more effective, and much happier place if “Lead, follow, add value, or get out of the way” was reality …

“We’re all mad here.”  

I’ve often wondered how companies succeed when so much inside seems to be broken.  If we’re lucky, work only consumes 10 or so hours a day, 5 days a week – but if you work in technology, frequently it consumes a lot more time, even if it’s only mental bandwidth and …

Guy Kawaski’s Corollary on Hiring; or, How Work Teams Go Bad  

In July, I blogged about my theory “great managers hire great talent; similarly, bad managers hire themselves.” The more I re-examine the hires I helped managers identify, and then make during almost 14 years of recruiting, approximately 9 years as an independent head hunter, and 5 years as a corporate recruiter who primarily …

And One More Thing…  

Steven Jobs, cofounder of Apple, has been labeled many things, from visionary to egomaniac. Often I think he is inspirational too: We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here? Innovation is the distinction between a leader and a follower. The system is that there is no system. That doesn’t …

If you lead your life the right way… the dreams will come to you. 

I’m a big fan of Randy Pausch, and rewatch his Last Lecture about once a week.  I had hoped he would outlive us all, but he died early this morning. I believe in wakes and not in funerals, and appreciate the world is a better place because Randy was here: The Academy is… …

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From the Other Side of the Looking Glass…

December 21st, 2008
“Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”  – Friedrich Nietzsche
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