The Business Haiku Blog
I have been encouraged by some very questionable characters to offer you some business haikus.Haikus are three-line poems in which the first and third lines contain five syllables, and the middle line contains seven. But haikus aren’t just rigid poetry forms — they are exercises in using minimal resources to maximum effect — a useful skill for any leader. Given Shakespeare’s reminder that “brevity is the soul of wit,” writing haikus offers lessons in creativity — another useful leadership skill. So here are my humble efforts at brevity, with the hopes that some wit will surface as well:There are leaders who,When acting arrogantly,Try to change others.There are leaders who,acting with genuine care,Work on themselves first.Where is my leader?She has dissolved into tweetsAnd forgotten me. Managers are bestWhen they speak out from the heart,Without too much skill.How about a plan?It’s inside the boss’s head?Not very helpful……I once had a bossWho told me I was perfect.What a stupid jerk.Have you read this book?It contains all the secrets!What? There aren’t any?Writing a haikuIs wasting my time you say?That’s for me to judge.
YOUR PATH FORWARD:
- Justify doing something wastefully creative today, by reading this brief Harvard Business Review article about “Rule #6.”
- Do something wastefully creative today. The world may need your poems more than anything else you can produce today!