It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
- Josh Billings (or Mark Twain or Artemus Ward or...)
Much well-known business advice is sadly obsolete but can still be found in articles, business books and, not least, in daily use in the workplace. It seems that some companies are still guided by thinking that is sadly out of date - if it was ever true to begin with.
The worst of these old maxims are not only wrong, they're bad for people and bad for business. Businesses who use them are making their employees unhappy and are harming the bottom line.
Here's my pick of the top 10 business maxims in serious need of an update - with a suggested replacement for each.
Old maxim #9: Leave your personal life at home
Meaning: We come to work-to-work. Who you are in your free time does not matter.
This is just ridiculous. As if, you are one person at home and a different person at work. As if your personality, private interests and opinions were somehow going to contaminate the workplace and ruin everyone's professionalism.
Henry Ford is said to have complained, "Why do workers come with a brain, when all I need is a pair of hands? Well today, businesses cannot settle for hands. We cannot even settle for brains alone, we also need people's energy, creativity, ideas, opinions and motivation. We need the whole person to come to work every day.
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