things are not moving along at my desired pace or to my desired outcome. I also keep a quote in my office, which serves as a mnemonic device and daily self-management trigger for me to be more patient. This quote happens to be a favorite of mine, as it encompasses the essence of patience and articulates clearly the positive outcomes of its presence and, on the contrary, the potential ruins in life when there is a departure from patience perfectly. The quote on my desk says, “‘One Years ago, I was working on a critical business project that I assigned to one of my team members who reported to me. The task I assigned to them was focused on creating a new business strategy that would eventually set us apart from our competitors in the industry we competed in. What excited me about this new execution was the project would provide extensive project management and market research experience to my colleague, essential goals, defined success, and gained alignment on the task expectations. In addition, we agreed that the assignment would be self-directed and, if problems arose or were encountered, my team member would come to me for direction, advice, and counsel to ensure the project would stay on track. As time passed, the project moved forward without any issues and challenges, as we were on budget and meeting the timeline goals and deliverables. There was “‘One moment of patienc disaster. One moment of whole life.’ —Chinese Pro moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.’ —Chinese Proverb.” So, let me share a short story with you that illustrates my continuous bouts with patience, the hard lessons I have learned, and am still learning. to their career and personal development. This highprofile assignment would also provide them exposure to our leadership team and visibility in managing a key organizational strategic initiative. In our project planning meeting, we outlined the goals clearly with specificity, set time-sensitive just one problem, and that was I wanted the project to move along at a faster pace. Why? Well, because my good friend impatience happened to take over against my better judgment. Now, fueled by a high dose of eagerness, I began watching my colleague’s performance
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