Reading through a recent article on the death of Tim Russert, a sage commentator on politics regardless of party affiliation, I was struck by a quotation given to Russert by a longtime friend and aide to John F. Kennedy. Inscribed on a silver mug given to Powers on his birthday, Kennedy wrote the following:
"There are three things which are real: God, Human Folly, and Laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension, so we must do what we can with the third."
Being a deeply religious man, Russert loved it. So do I. We get so caught up in everything we do and the stresses of the day, we all need to laugh more, at the right things, of course. We're not doing brain surgery or saving babies in the work we do. It is not life and death, and we need to keep it all in perspective while continuing to keep our eye on all the balls we have in the air.
I have often said that the most important contribution anyone can make to their company is to do the job right the first time. What I also continue to know is that we all learn something new every day, and sometimes it is that what we learned yesterday was wrong. And, sometimes, we need to laugh about that.
