Source: 2000s, A little book of f-laws: 13 common sins of management, 2006, p. 8, bold text cited in: Gregory H. Watson (2010).
Context: The less sure managers are of their opinions, the more vigorously they defend them. Managers do not waste their time defending beliefs they hold strongly – they just assert them. Nor do they bother to refute what they strongly believe is false.
Original text: [...] si l'on y rencontre moins d'éclat qu'au sein d'une aristocratie, on y trouvera moins de misères; les jouissances y seront moins extrêmes, et le bien-être plus général; les sciences moins grandes, et l'ignorance plus rare; les sentiments moins énergiques, et les habitudes plus douces; on y remarquera plus de vices et moins de crimes.
Introduction.
Democracy in America, Volume I (1835)
“The less important an issue is, the more time managers spend discussing it.”
Source: 2000s, A little book of f-laws: 13 common sins of management, 2006, p. 16, bold text cited in: Gerald Haigh (2008) Inspirational, and Cautionary Tales for Would-be School Leaders. p. 142.
Context: The less important an issue is, the more time managers spend discussing it. More time is spent on small talk than is spent on large talk. Most talk is about what matters least. What matters least is what most of us know most about.
“We are all of us more or less the slaves of opinion.”
"On Court-Influence" (January 3/January 10, 1818)
Political Essays (1819)
Source: The Visible Hand (1977), p. 266; Cited in: Best (1990, p. 56).
Source: 2000s, A little book of f-laws: 13 common sins of management, 2006, p. 2 cited in: Gregory H. Watson (2010) "By rejecting the status quo, Russ Ackoff took systems thinking to greater heights" in: QP. vol 27, March 2010, p. 30.
“Defend your opinion only if it can be shown to be true, not because it is your opinion.”
Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, Omega (2003), Chapter 33 (p. 348)
“That human, he's a lesser waiting to happen, in my opinion--nothing less, nothing more”
Source: Lover Unleashed
