"Speak only if you can improve upon the silence."

In a world in which we're all attacked by an ever-growing cacophony of sights, sounds, smells, beeps, creeps and sleep-depriving tweets, silence is increasingly golden.  (Of course, this is from a guy who's writing a blog post every day.  So take it with a grain of salt.) 

It's not clear where this quote originates.  I heard it last week from Bill Hoogterp at Paula Weiner's event.  He suggested it's Quaker.  Others suggest it's Buddhist, Chinese, or Spanish.  Either way, there's a generally applicable idea here that is worth keeping in mind. 

 

We are applying this to our work on the 3rd edition of The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan.  No, that does not mean we're going to distill it down to 288 blank pages.  It does mean we're changing things only if we can improve upon what was already there.  We are adding some new ideas and adapting some of our old ideas so they work for today's new leaders.

Probably not a bad way of thinking about things for a new leader as well.  Change things only if you can improve upon the way they are currently done.

What do you think?

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