10 Maxims That Helped Me Through Three Decades in Corporate America, Plus Seven More from the Ether

Illustration by the author.

I stumbled upon a web page with 70 Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries and it brought to mind my own article Nine Maxims that Carried Me Through Three Decades in Corporate America. The maxims--sayings I'd internalized over the years--are listed here, but the manner in which I applied them and thought about them are expanded on in the article via the above Friend Link (blue text).

I added a tenth to this list (#8), which is not included in the article.

1. An Idea is only as good as its execution.
2. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
3. The butler who folds his hands spills no tea.
4. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
5. Small companies don’t win by spending like big companies.
6. Listen to the quiet people.
7. A stitch in time saves nine.
8. Don't major on minors.
9. There are no silver bullets
10. Slow & steady wins the race, so keep that slow and steady pace.

You can find the amplified version here.

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You can capture the flavor of the 70 Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries by the seven I've pulled out here. I was tempted to change the name to 70 Maxims of Maximally Effective Machiavellians which also plays off the "M" alliteration without significantly altering the intent.

The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries

12. A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.

21. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.

30. A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go.
(The essence of modern Machiavellian politics in a nutshell.)

33. If you're leaving tracks, you're being followed.

42. "They'll never expect this" means "I want to try something stupid."

43. If it's stupid and it works, it's still stupid and you're lucky.

66. Necessity is the mother of deception.

68. Negotiating from a position of strength does not mean you shouldn’t also negotiate from a position near the exits.

See All 70 Here.

The book these were extracted from was originally called The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates, but in January 2011, Howard Tayler received a cease and desist letter from Franklin Covey, stating that Franklin Covey has a trademark on the phrase "7 Habits". Tayler then edited all dialog in the strip that mentioned the book's title or its rules, in what he called the Great Retcon of 2011. (I share this last anecdote in the event you were planning a book that begins with the words "7 Habits.")

PARTING SHOT
The inspiration for my original 9 Maxims article was Colin Powell's Leadership Primer. You can go to this page and download a great PowerPoint.