When Sound Advice is 99 Percent Sound and One Percent Advice

Every time you pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV, we are constantly reminded of the layoffs and hard times surrounding us, to be cautious and conserve our resources and to hold off on executing new ideas and wait for the “doom and gloom” to pass—but is this the right thing to do?

As posted by TAB-East Bay North:

“As I get older, I better understand what Mark Twain meant when he said, “I am an old man and I have known many troubles, but most of them never happened.” Today we are getting hit from all sides about the troubles that we will be facing in 2009. Should we be worried? Some of that doom really will happen. We can’t just put our head in the sand. However, much of it will surely not happen. The big question is how you will respond to all this input. Will you freeze in your tracks or will you be proactive. Following are a few of my favorite examples of people who had to decide on how to respond to unpleasant input from others.

• “Liquidate the business right now and recoup whatever cash you can. If you don’t, you’ll end up penniless.”
  -The attorney of cosmetic tycoon Mary Kay Ash, weeks before she opened her first store.
• “You’re foolish to try to sell sparkling water in the land of Coca-Cola drinkers.”
  –Advice given to Gustave Leven by several consulting firms’ when hearing about his plans to launch Perrier in the United States.”
  

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