Book Recommendations
from Bret L. Simmons

From Bret's review: "Guy defines enchantment as 'the process of delighting people with a product, service, organization, or idea. The outcome of enchantment is voluntary and long-lasting support that is mutually beneficial.' I like that a lot. People that are delighted behave entirely differently than those that are simply satisfied. For me, the last seven chapters were better than the first six, but I think the entire book is worth your time and effort."

Order now from Amazon!

From Bret's review: "In this book, Nayar tells the story of how he transformed an already successful company, HCLT, into one of the fastest growing IT service partners in the world. The personal story Nayar shares is compelling, insightful, and at times funny and brutally honest. Have your highlighter handy when you read this because it is packed full of wisdom and quotable passages."

Order now from Amazon!

You Really Can Do Whatever You Want To Do

December 3, 2010 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

Just don’t pretend that your choices don’t have consequences, and please don’t whine when you are held accountable for your choices. If you don’t like the consequence, make a different choice next time.

The world I live in is not void of consequences. You are free to behave as if the world you live in is inert, but please don’t expect me to collude with your delusion because that would be a disservice to both of us.

You really can do whatever you want to do, and you really are responsible for your choices. Ignorance is not an excuse.

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Tags: assumptions, Excellence, learning, values
Posted in Leadership

4 Responses to “You Really Can Do Whatever You Want To Do”

Paul Mudgett says:

December 3, 2010 at 6:23 pm

Thanks Bret. Absolutely true. I recently talked about improving the effectiveness of information security awareness programs by clearly linking consequences to behaviors. It’s amazing to see how quickly people become engaged when they have a personal stake in the outcome.

[Reply]
Bret L. Simmons Reply:
December 3rd, 2010 at 7:37 pm
I think it is responsible management. good for you, Paul! Bret

[Reply]
Michael Johnson says:

December 3, 2010 at 10:13 pm

Bret,

Doesn’t this post assume that the “just world hypothesis” is true? Sometimes people receive bad outcomes for good acts, and vice versa, right?

[Reply]
Bret L. Simmons Reply:
December 4th, 2010 at 9:30 am
very interesting to me that you mention the “just world hypothesis,” Michael. I was reading about it just yesterday in Jeff Pfeffer’s new book on Power. I’m really not familiar enough with the hypothesis to comment on how it might apply here. My point is more in line with the self-serving bias. Thanks! Bret

[Reply]