"Where the hell were you when the page was blank?"
That's a line from one of my business mentors, Jack Crosby. Jack is a great guy and full of wisdom, distilled in ways that capture your attention and stay with you forever.
I was a young know-it-all sales guy who was just promoted to the head office. I had to prepare a plan for a new initiative that Jack wanted to implement. I worked hard on it and then one Monday I pitched the plan to Jack and his key lieutenants. I didn't get very far before everyone started commenting ... why this, why that, why not more of this and less of that, and so on. I was on my heels.
Jack stopped the session and intoned, "Where the hell were you geniuses when the page was blank?"
Creating something from nothing is hard work - sometimes very hard. While bad or incomplete work can never be excused, the person assigned to create something valuable from a blank slate deserves a certain amount of respect (especially on the first draft).
O.D.O.o.O.D.B.
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