Share Your Advice, Win a $65 Shave Experience!

Oscar Wilde (seen to the right sporting fantastic hair, a pinky ring, a cane, a fur coat, plus a gentleman’s handkerchief) had some top-notch advice regarding advice:

“The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.”Oscar Wilde Men's Advice and Grooming

Canes and fur-lined collars might not be for everyone, but Wilde’s advice decidedly is—so why not honor it by sharing some of our own, either insights we’ve discovered ourselves or those bestowed upon us by fathers, brothers, bartenders, etc.?

Leave your favorite words of wisdom in the comments below for a chance to win a straight razor shave service valued at $65. In the interim, founders first:

On Fundraising
Dollars might be equal, but the hands holding them are not. Weigh the character of a potential investor as much as you weigh his or her currency. A backer is as much a part of your business as is your CFO, so think carefully about what they bring to the table—the good and the bad. Your match should feel like a partner and a prize—and they should feel the same way about you.

On Negotiation
Certainty always wins. If you live, breathe, and embody your position with absolute certainty and authority, the other side has no choice but to be won over (often, gratefully).

On Promotions
If you ask for a raise out of “need,” you’re negotiating from a point of weakness and are going to get a weak reception. If you ask based on the added value you can contribute (or already have contributed), you’re setting yourself up to receive not just added compensation but added value in terms of respect and perception.

On Leadership
The best leaders are not those who look at what’s been done and make improvements, but rather those who look into the future at what hasn’t been done to manifest a new reality.

Your turn. Leave your advice, big or small, in the comments and we’ll reward one lucky advisor with 50 minutes of straight razors, shaving cream, and heavenly relaxation!

9230cookie-checkShare Your Advice, Win a $65 Shave Experience!

Join the Conversation

43 Comments

    1. On Wealth
      I consider those are rich who are doing something they feel worthwhile and which they enjoy doing.

    2. On how to dress when you are unsure of the expected attire:

      You never have to apologize for being overdressed.

    3. Relationships are the new currency. The adage of who you know being more important than what you know is more true now than ever. Seek to build relationships. When building relationships, help others identify what THEY need, and off how you can help them with that need. Relationships are not about you, relationships are about others. Keep this in mind and everyone you have a relationship will grow.

    4. “I’d rather be shot out of a cannon than squeezed out of a tube” ~ Hunter S. Thompson. Advice I live by daily.

    5. In a world of “I know, I know…”, to ‘know’ and not to do is not to know…

    6. It’s a dog eat dog world out there and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear!–Norm Peterson

  1. Born into poverty, he could have quit many times – but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest persons in the history of our country.

    Abraham Lincoln was a champion and he never gave up. Here is a sketch of Lincoln’s road to the White House:

    1816: His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support them.
    1818: His mother died.
    1831: Failed in business.
    1832: Ran for state legislature – lost.
    1832: Also lost his job – wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.
    1833: Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.
    1834: Ran for state legislature again – won.
    1835: Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.
    1836: Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.
    1838: Sought to become speaker of the state legislature – defeated.
    1840: Sought to become elector – defeated.
    1843: Ran for Congress – lost.
    1846: Ran for Congress again – this time he won – went to Washington and did a good job.
    1848: Ran for re-election to Congress – lost.
    1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state – rejected.
    1854: Ran for Senate of the United States – lost.
    1856: Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention – got less than 100 votes.
    1858: Ran for U.S. Senate again – again he lost.
    1860: Elected president of the United States.

    “That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln

  2. We spend the first half of our lives buying everything we want, and the second half getting rid of all the things we don’t need….which ironically, are the things we bought in the first half.

  3. Relationships can be defined by unexpressed expectations, talk together and change the definition of your relationship.

  4. Expertise in Sales or Advice-
    People don’t care about how much you know, until they know how much you care.

  5. In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not.”
    ~Albert Einstein

    A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects
    ~Robert A. Heinlein

  6. Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

    Eleanor Roosevelt

  7. On Being on Top of Your Game

    Confidence is what separates the great from the good. Swagger when you feel and look your best can magnify results. Keep grounded but believe you are the best!

    Jim

  8. While it’s good to be friends with your business partner it is usually bad to go into business with friends.

  9. In the game of Go, there is an adage that goes like this…”Lose your first 50 games quickly”. This one goes hand in hand with another adage “when you lose, don’t lose the lesson”. Remember these two things and nothing will feel like failure, it will all feel like learning.

  10. Drive fast on empty streets, with nothing in mind
    except falling in love and not getting arrested.

  11. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on those accounts. Broad, wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
    ~ Mark Twain

  12. I tell my son this regularly, read through the entire instructions before beginning.

    …This also applies to email responses and listening to one’s wife. 🙂

  13. As a new officer in the Air Force I asked my old commander how to deal with various people, especially difficult people when they outrank you.

    He told me this, words I live by now, when I meet numerous clients annually and network.
    “If you don’t what to do, act professional.”

  14. I’ll share two of my favorites by a little known philosopher.

    “Fortunate people often have very favorable beginnings and very tragic endings. What matters isn’t being applauded when you arrive – for that is common – but being missed when you leave.” – Baltasar Gracian

    “Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.” – Baltasar Gracian

  15. Based on my general feeling of our current situation (which I am very concerned about) from the US government, to the economy, to challenges from abroad – to increasing faster innovation in technology, science and medicine, a Chinese Proverb comes to mind….

    “When the winds of change are blowing, some build shelters and some build windmills”

    Personally, I’m in the windmill building business. What about you?

  16. A wet goose flies better at night.

    “Said as code, by the man doing stand up in the Flamigo Hilton lounge” just before the skim of cash headed back to Kansas City / Teamsters

  17. Words to live by if you are 5 or 95:
    “Measure yourself only against your previous self.”

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *