TOTALLY GEEKED!

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
totallygeeked -> totallygeeked general -> History is full of irony.
Post Info TOPIC: History is full of irony.
Lady Gaga Snerd


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 25897
Date:
History is full of irony.
Permalink  
 

Be Careful of the Ironies in Your Life

History is full of irony. Consider some of theses famous statements.
Post published by Tim Elmore on Apr 02, 2015 in Artificial Maturity
 

History is full of irony. Consider some of the more famous statements leader’s have made and how’s it’s come back to haunt them later:

  • “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”
    • Decca Recording Company, declining to sign the Beatles, 1962.
  • “This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”
    • Western Union Internal Memo, 1876.
  • “Everyone acquainted with it will recognize it as a conspicuous failure.”
    • Henry Morton, Stevens Inst. of Technology, on Edison’s light bulb, 1880. 
  • “Television won’t last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”
    • Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.
  • “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad.”
    • Bank president advising Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in him, 1903.

We laugh at these quotes in hindsight, but the truth is, people have always struggled to see the big picture. We simply cannot envision what’s coming up ahead. We get tunnel vision; we become combative. Our egos are big. We stubbornly cling to our ways, and it blinds us.

Let me offer some of the most intriguing ironies in history and what we can learn from them as we lead today. Pause and ponder the following…

 

Shakespeare’s children were illiterate.

According to History.com, William Shakespeare attended Stratford’s local grammar school, where he mastered reading, writing and Latin. He went on to be one of England’s greatest writers, poets and playwrights. He is famous for Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and many others. Ironically, his wife and their two children, Susanna and Judith, are believed to have been illiterate their entire lives (though Susanna could scrawl her signature). Wouldn’t you think that a man who’s famous for his written words would have passed on his skill at home and equipped his own wife and children with the tools he possessed?

My Lesson: Be sure to pass on my gift to those closest to me before I offer it to the rest of the world. Practicing what I preach is Rule #1 in leadership.

Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were both nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

During the 1940s, the actions of these two political leaders led to over 40 million murders combined. However, Hitler was honored as Time magazine’s Man of the Year in 1938 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939… the very year he began seizing other European nations by force, while Stalin was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948. What’s up with that? When elected, these men took great aims to appear as “saviors” to outsiders, helping to organize their countries after horrible economic depressions. Unfortunately, the rest of the world had no idea just what plans they really had in store.

My Lesson: Live above pretense. I must not pose as something I’m not, knowing the truth will eventually be discovered. Authenticity lends credibility in my leadership.

Napoleon Bonaparte enlarged France’s rule… but wasn’t even from there.

This military conqueror and emperor won battle after battle, expanding France’s dominance during his day—as if his calling was to restore France’s dominance among the world’s powers. One would think his passion emerged from the fact that France was his mother country—but he was originally from the island of Corsica, a land that had belonged to Genoa for years. Wouldn’t you think that adopting another country as one’s own, for which one is willing to die, is a little strange?

My Lesson: Know who I am. I must match my identity with my calling, not merely adopt a context just so I can conquer a world. Context and competency must align.

IBM Chairman Thomas Watson didn’t think there was a future for computers.

Watson’s line is now famous. The chairman of IBM just couldn’t see the future of his own company when he said in 1943: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Little did he know that the mainframe computer would become the primary funding for his payroll and, eventually, the very future of his company.

My Lesson: See beyond my current reality. Effective leaders master today’s tasks, but work to envision where the future’s going and adjust to it. I must be willing to adapt.

Alfred Nobel was famous for his Peace Prize… but he also invented dynamite.

The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel noticed one day that the local newspaper had confused his brother’s death with his. In other words, the obituary was for him, and the main thing it mentioned was his revolutionary dynamite… a tool that enabled armies to slaughter each other. Not wanting this to be the way he’d be remembered, he created the Nobel Peace Prize… and the rest is history. Nobel had the rare chance to change his obituary halfway through his life. Sadly, we don’t always seize this opportunity. How interesting for this chemist to preview his potential legacy…and then choose to change it.

My Lesson: I must be sure my legacy is ultimately positive and redemptive. Leaders work to leave their world better when they pass through it. I must add value.

Pause and reflect on your own life and leadership for a moment. Are there any ironies? Is your self-awareness high or low? Is there anything you need to change as you embark on 2015 that will lead to greater integrity and productivity?



__________________

https://politicsandstuff.proboards.com/
Lady Gaga Snerd


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 25897
Date:
Permalink  
 


.) “The idea that cavalry will be replaced by these iron coaches is absurd. It is little short of treasonous.” — Comment of Aide-de-camp to Field Marshal Haig, at tank demonstration, 1916




 2.) “The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” — Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878 share










3.) "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." – Western Union internal memo, 1876



3
4.) "Reagan doesn't have that presidential look." – United Artists executive after rejecting Reagan as lead in the 1964 film The Best Man share










5.) "Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia." – Dr. Dionysius Lardner, 1830





 6.) "The world potential market for copying machines is 5000 at most.” — IBM, to the eventual founders of Xerox, saying the photocopier had no market large enough to justify production, 1959 share










7.) "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." – Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943



7



8.) "X-rays will prove to be a hoax." – Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883



 




9.) "The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad." – -The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903 share 







10.) “When the Paris Exhibition [of 1878] closes, electric light will close with it and no more will be heard of it.” – Oxford professor Erasmus Wilson share 





11.) A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” — New York Times, 1936 share 







12.) "No one will pay good money to get from Berlin to Potsdam in one hour when he can ride his horse there in one day for free." – King William I of Prussia, on trains, 1864 share 









13.) "There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." – Albert Einstein, 1932 share 

14.) "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home." – -Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), in a talk given to a 1977 World Future Society meeting in Boston share 




15.) "If excessive smoking actually plays a role in the production of lung cancer, it seems to be a minor one." – -W.C. Heuper, National Cancer Institute, 1954 share 


16.) "No, it will make war impossible." – -Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine gun, in response to the question "Will this gun not make war more terrible?" from Havelock Ellis, an English scientist, 1893 share 


17.) "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular?" – -Associates of David Sarnoff responding to the latter's call for investment in the radio in 1921 share 



18.) "There will never be a bigger plane built." – - A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people share 





19.) "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." – Decca Recording Company on declining to sign the Beatles, 1962 share 


 0.) "How, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense.” — Napoleon Bonaparte, when told of Robert Fulton’s steamboat, 1800s share 



21.) "Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." – -Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946 share 




22.) "I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea.” — HG Wells, British novelist, in 1901



 
23.) "It'll be gone by June." – Variety Magazine on Rock n' Roll, 1955 share 



 24.) "And for the tourist who really wants to get away from it all, safaris in Vietnam" – -Newsweek, predicting popular holidays for the late 1960s. share 


25.) "Everyone acquainted with the subject will recognize it as a conspicuous failure." – -Henry Morton, president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, on Edison's light bulb, 1880 share









(H/T List25) Not many people had faith in the advancement of technology. One thing you should be able to learn from this list of failed predictions, though, is that everything always changes. So lean into them, don't run away. Share this curious list with others by clicking the button below!



-- Edited by Lady Gaga Snerd on Thursday 2nd of April 2015 02:45:23 PM

__________________

https://politicsandstuff.proboards.com/
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
totallygeeked -> totallygeeked general -> History is full of irony.


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard