Years ago in my intemperate youth, I offered an injudicious comment to a WSJ reporter regarding my employer, a large money center bank. The term, "Stink Eye," hadn't yet been invented, but, following publication of said quote, a precursor of that look was leveled at me by most of the bank's senior management. Shortly thereafter, I received a one-line letter from a consultant pal of mine. It read, "I often regret my speech -- rarely my silence."
The consultant was quoting Publilius (sometimes Publius) Syrus (85 BC - 43 BC) who Wikipedia describes as a Syrian slave who gained both fame and his freedom through his wit. Not a bad deal! Possibly someone to emulate.
Over the succeeding years, despite my efforts to adhere to similar counsel suggesting, "A closed mouth gathers no feet," my success has been, at best, marginal. Sadly, this effort has been both physically and emotionally taxing and, I am sure, cause for some not-insignificant premature aging.
However, today I cast off the governor of silence by formally opening the Edisonet blog. I invite all Friends of Edisonet to continue graciously offering suggestions and advice and following our progress through this blog. By gathering and organizing your thoughts and suggestions, we will be better prepared to implement Edisonet's mission.
Sparks of wisdom come from a broad range of experience and reside in a distributed population. Our mission is extracting wisdom from those who don't realize they have it and exchanging it with those who could use it but don't know where to find it. This blog is our first step in that effort of gathering, organizing and distributing working wisdom.
For many Friends of Edisonet who are unfamiliar with blogs, our goal is to make you comfortable. Following the tenets of Edisonet, we want to gather and distribute your suggestions and wisdom regarding development of our vision. Not only can you follow our development, you can put in your two-cents and comment on other suggestions.
Won't you please join us in breaking with Syrus by actively sharing your wisdom and commenting on our posts?
And don't forget the E2MQ's! From now on the Edisonet Monday Morning Quiz will be posted on this blog site. This venue will provide opportunity for you to respond and make witty comments for which, like Publilius, you might gain both fame and freedom!
Welcome to the Edisonet blog!
Have you emailed this post out to the friends of Edisonet email list? I'll bet they'd appreciate it a lot, especially the part about the E2QM :) I can't wait to participate in the first one! Welcome to the blogosphere Seth!!
ReplyDeleteThe FoE has been duly informed of its existence. Thanks for your welcome, Gabe!
ReplyDeleteI once got a job offer because I stopped talking. When it comes to talking, less is more. Because less = listening.
ReplyDeleteAnother piece of advice in this area comes from an attorney friend of mine. He told me that when having an important discussion, as soon as he hears "Yes" he leaves the room. Another way of not mucking things up when you got what you came for.