Tuesday, August 2, 2011

They act like a bunch of kindergarteners...we could only hope!

Robert Fulghum's book, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten", is a masterpiece in oversimplification of life and life lessons. Being an eternal pragmatist, I find extreme comfort in anyone who can aid my search to boil down an explanation to simple parts.

I have always been intrigued by what I can only describe as a complete disregard for practical interpretation on the part of entrepreneurs. Granted, if every entrepreneur were highly pragmatic and looked at life and business from the perspective of yes/no, right/wrong, success/failure, etc, we probably would not have very many new ventures. Even when presented with extreme facts, there is an ability, on the part of almost every entrepreneur, to disregard and evaluate under their own terms.

The problem is that they do not always follow the rules, the simple inalienable truths that Fulghum so brilliantly captured in his book:


  • Share everything.
  • Play fair.
  • Don't hit people.
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • Clean up your own mess.
  • Don't take things that aren't yours.
  • Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat.
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
  • Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
  • Take a nap every afternoon.
  • When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
  • Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
  • Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
  • And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
For those of you who have worked for Entrepreneurs, there are few bullets from this list that we can point to as consistently followed by them. I do wonder if it is this string of omissions could perhaps be the common points of interest in an uncommon group of people? If that is true, then perhaps these individuals just did not pay attention in kindergarten and actually prove Fulghum's points even further?

A lot more study is required to determine the cause of this, but one thing is for sure, we are all better number 2's if we can adhere to these principles and bring them to light for our little kindergarteners...

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