You can start your day the way a specific Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, did. Or said he did.

Pride is just a way of rationalizing their predicament. In one case, awful conditions. In the other, inflated importance.

Doesn't it just get to you when you make a poor decision only to find out that other people had information that would have changed your mind?

Many corporate climbers forget that the higher you climb, the more visible you become to those you stand on. Sorry, I mean those below you. I mean those you manage and lead. Actually, you don’t become more visible. Your ego does.

Your job as a manager, and in life, is to judge which failures to stomp and which ones to spin. Spin? Yes, spin. Because you cannot go from failure to success without tweaking what went wrong until it goes more right than wrong.

Let me explain the mistake soccer/football teams make. It's the same mistake many executive teams make when engaged in formal strategic planning. They, players and executives, confuse goals with objectives.

Invariably your role at work morphs into something not quite what you originally applied or and interviewed for. Your job, like you, changes over time.

Wanting to be nice is only one reason we over promise. The other reason is common in the workplace, where it frustrates teamwork and undermines careers. It stems from a lack of forethought.