My #2 favorite motivational quote

The first one is No one knows anything. I wrote here. That story was somewhat humorous in that the quote has no author. It was serious in its spirit. I think most advice is overrated! Our life journeys and challenges are too unique to be governed or resolved by anyone’s advice.

There is however one other genuine quote that I really love.

I only discovered it recently.

Over the span of my career —almost two decades — I had dozens of bosses. Good ones, and bad ones. Micromanagers and delegators. Jerks and role models.

In the last couple of years, I’ve been doing consulting work and working with a handful of bosses. Some are no longer my bosses (I failed or they were jerks — not sure which interpretation is truer). Some are like partners. Some are bosses and partners. There are a couple who are awesome. I’d die for them. Ok, maybe not die, but I love them and go an extra mile for them.

The jerk type does this: “Why didn’t you CC me?”

The awesome one said this, a few months ago: “Better ask for forgiveness than permission”. I forget now the exact situation. I could go through my emails and remember exactly what happened. I think I had an idea of an entrepreneurial kind and ran it by one of the board members of the client we’re advising. I really don’t remember what the idea was (maybe it was shit) and whether it worked out. I went ahead with testing it and notified my boss post factum. He said, “Excellent. Better ask for…