Blog: Good advice is never bad

Advice can be easy to ignore. Often, it’s too general to be very helpful, or offered by folks who haven’t shared your experience or circumstances. Plus, in the age of Facebook, it’s everywhere.

But sometimes it can be quite valuable.

This week, our editorial staff sent to press our Dynamic Dozen special section honoring some of the area’s fastest-growing companies.

As part of a different approach to write-ups, we asked a series of questions to executives of the firms gaining ground. Examples include: “What has been key to your recent growth?” And, “Have your goals changed as business has taken off?” One that stuck out to me as different was: “What is the worst business advice you’ve received?”

While it is a perfectly valid question, it prompted in me the flip-side query: What’s the best advice you’ve received?  

This lingering thought prompted me to share a few nuggets with editorial assistant Barrett Young, who has helped write Newsmakers announcements over the past several months, as a sign of gratitude. He’s a sharp young man near my sons’ ages who probably doesn’t need my advice. But he’s graduating high school this weekend and he got it.

Below is what I shared. It represents some of the best advice I’ve come across.

• Put a piece of yourself into whatever you do. This will allow you to be genuine all the time, and it really doesn’t matter what it is. Check out the people you admire. I bet they do this.

• The richest people in life are the ones who need the least. I’m not making a political statement. Wealthy people can be incredibly needy. And we all can be at times, but exercising your personal resourcefulness is satisfying. Also, everyone has their own problems.  

• “Discipline equals freedom.” I stole this from a story I read about a Navy SEAL, and now it rings true with everything. Discipline in thought and discipline in action unlock the keys to the kingdom.