This is not about Hell For Certain, Kentucky, or the short story “On Hell-Fer-Sartain Creek” by John Fox, Jr. (Although someone should do that some time.) This week’s collection is inspired by one of the stories herein, about the intersection of certainty and complacency. By Morgan Housel, the essay gives us a reason to explore the power and the impact of decisiveness. — Established beyond doubt is one of the dictionary’s definitions of certain. Giving safe harbor to doubt does little more than nurture complacency, the bain of leadership and a barrier to certainty. Always good to use doubt as a spur to act — not as an excuse for stasis. Because it’s hell for certain if we become complacent out of fear, greed or comfort.

It feels as if everyone is shouting and as if that’s what we have to do to be seen, heard and taken seriously. There are moments when the situation may warrant an increase in volume, yet most of the time it’s possible to be loud sottovoce. If you have ever seen an episode of Leave It to Beaver in which the sons worry about their father yelling at them, you realize that “yelling” was the sons’ code for being told “no” or exposed for a bad decision. Demonizing the so-called yeller is an age-old diversionary tactic, in families and in organizations. Mature entities deliver to their values, above-board, when they permit the “no”, making it unnecessary to add volume to be heard or to enact one’s authority in dealing with everything from missteps to malfeasance.

The best course of action — personal or corporate — emanates from the right thing: defining it and doing it. In the end, we have to live with ourselves. Whatever the triumphs or the disappointments. Useful power and a respected image derive from a robust mission enacted ethically. — 50 Historic Tiaras Go On Display at Sotheby’s | The Adventurine — theadventurine.com In celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, Sotheby’s has organized a historic exhibition titled Power & Image: Royal and Aristocratic Tiaras.

More than a question of financial compensation, work is a form of personal expression and contribution. — The joy of work is accessible to everyone — as long as there is access to jobs. Job creation begins with the belief that work — with the focus upon delivering a product or service — is the common ground for a strong economy. An emphasis on production enables us to bat away distractions and disagreements that have no business in the workplace.

Words get thrown around a lot, especially when we all have access to an unfiltered bully pulpit. Sound bites inflame instead of explain. For the professionals who are called to tell true stories and who choose their words carefully in telling them, this presents an opportunity. We must not only speak the truth, we must enact it. Here’s the thing. If you’re part of a system presenting a false narrative, and you cannot redirect it, you must decide what to do. A false narrative — and the character of those shaping and delivering it — always get outed over the long term. One way or the other. So we must make a choice in what roles we play. Are we truth tellers or flying monkeys?

It is the title of a book by Tom Wolfe, in which he explored the drive of — at that time — men who were bound and determined to explore space. It is ethical. It is intellectual. It is physical. It is spiritual. And the right stuff is currently up for interpretation, a fact that can be distressing as many of us arise each day looking for the innocent sense of balance that seemed to be a birthright. Instead of thinking it was all so good, perhaps we should be waking up to the real story: many of us have the right stuff and this is precisely what threatens and even invites the wrath of the status quo. Recognizing and nurturing the right stuff in others is the true human birthright. In the hands of actual leaders, daylighting the right stuff in others makes for progress and leaving the world better than we found it.

Every single day brings the potential of reinvention, and it is a good time to think about its connection with luck. — I listen to the Stoics podcast by Ryan Holiday. This past Monday night, I caught up with his April 19 show, where he explored what Marcus Aurelius asserted about the actual power over circumstance. Simple, really. Good fortune is not luck or the decisions of others, what others do to you or for you, or your perception that you’ve vanquished an enemy or done better than your neighbors. True good fortune is the result of a personal commitment to do our best for and with others, made every day, in every moment. It is taking care with our assumptions about outcomes and containing wild leaps of logic. It is recognizing what is within our sphere of control. [Very important to strategy, by the way.] When I listened to this show, I was staying at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. The very next morning, I discovered something remarkable in my room. Carved into the frame of the mirror were these words: “Be not simply good, be good for something.” (Henry David Thoreau)

Niceness is up for interpretation. In some companies, niceness is the equivalent of giving in to something that might be ineffective, or even wrong, just so you’ll be perceived as a team player or to rack up IOUs for something you’ll want farther down the line. Companies that nurture this definition of niceness send a signal that mediocrity is just fine. It can get worse. Under the cover of niceness, satisfaction with mediocrity creates the perfect condition for treachery. Better to blend candor with compassion, encouraging everyone to learn to take no for an answer. That’s nice.

Artificial intelligence and virtual reality have entered the mainstream, even though it is safe to say we haven’t figured out how to deal with regular reality yet. Good to know: our time is just one chapter in history with its own set of technologies and change to manage. Perspective remains invaluable. — In 1980, an Earthquake Destroyed an Italian Town — and Revealed Another — Atlas Obscura — www.atlasobscura.com On a hill overlooking the modern town are the ruins of the original Conza. It is a unique place, even by Italian standards, where every development project turns up centuries of history…