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The problems we cause ourselves - Issac Azimov - Being too Blunt

I know you do.  Specifically, though, you lack the ability to handle ordinary people-shall we say, stupid people.  You lack a certain deviousness, a certain ability to sidestep, and if you are dealing with someone who is both powerful in government and somewhat stupid, you can easily endanger the Project and, for that matter, your own life, simply because you are too frank.

from: Hari Seldon, talking to Tamwile Elar   Issac Azimov,  Forward the Foundation 

I have a problem.  Well, I have many problems, but for today I am focusing on bluntness.  I definitely have a lack of political facility as I speak my mind before I think about how it'll affect things.  I definitely afflict myself with my attitude of not suffering fools gladly.  Oh yes, and I don't think about the people aspect enough when making "suggestions" for changes in things.  "You should" and "we should" absolutely flow from my mouth too much, both in speed and frequency.

 People in organizations generally don't put the organization first.  They put themselves first.  Self preservation is the a basic driving force and I forget about it too much.  Especially when dealing with bosses.  I have the bad habit of providing input for improvements.  This bit me in the ass with a particularly incompetent department head.  First he tried to get me fired.  But I survived that onslaught.  Later, in a moment of openness, he confessed that I should be the department head as I have much better ideas than he does.

 I remember hearing in the "Learning How to Learn" MOOC that Barbara Oakley said that some people will do evil to you and good people need to be careful about dealing with them.  I assume that her thoughts are in her book: "Evil Genes," which is on my reading list.

 Anyway, the adage "Think before you speak" is absolutely on my todo list as well!  When I feel the immediate urge to respond with someone in a parallel or superior position, I try REALLY HARD to remember that.  And sometimes I fail.   [DELETE DELETE DELETE - There was a story here about someone, but I think it is too close to the truth and it wouldn't do me any good if I put it out there to the cloud.  AHA, I once again thought before I spoke published.]

 So, I have mentioned before my need to have context for the quotes I use.  The context for today's quote reminded me of another quote/context.  The context for today's quote is that Hari Seldon is speaking to his second-in-charge and explaining about why the underling, at the present time, wouldn't be good at running the Project. (The Project is about Psychohistory, or predicting the future mathematically.)  It ends up that Elar was quite devious and successfully plotted to kill Hari's robot wife and protector in a plan to take over the Project.

 This twist reminded me of the context of the quote, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."  I remembered hearing that it was said by an Arab prince who was later decapitated.  Ah yes, the twist.  So this "truth" ended up killing a ruler!  Brilliant side note to put in my blog!  But then again, researching this I found out that is was (incorrectly) said by Spock.  Actually, it is commonly attributed to the Arabs but researchers claim that it was actually said by the Machiavellian-like Indian royal adviser Chanakya.  Another interesting side note ruined by the truth.

 Gratitudes:  Wikipedia, flex-time, donuts.

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