If I Knew Then What I Know Now
PIC No. 112: Pails in Comparison (January 22, 2026)
• Title: If I Knew Then What I Know Now: CEOs and Other Smart Executives Share Wisdom They Wish They’d Been Told 25 Years Ago
• Author: Richard Edler
• Publisher: Putnum (1995, 242 pages)
• Management Bucket #1 of 20: The Results Bucket
Welcome to Issue No. 112 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system. Note: An abbreviated version of this book review is featured in Issue No. 671 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting, archived at John Pearson's Buckets Blog.
“Never attend a meeting unless you know when it’s going to end.”
In 1996, 30 years ago (!), I thumbed through this fascinating book and underlined my favorite insights and wisdom from seasoned CEOs. (I even used some quotes in the newsletter I wrote at the time, CMA Management Monthly.)
So I was intrigued when our church, Paradigm Community, launched a series of 10-minute segments (one per Sunday) on the topic, “Advice I Would Give Myself If I Were 20-30 Years Younger.”
Bingo! So, I searched for my book (waiting patiently for me on my bookshelf—“my library of well-read friends”) and read it again. The wisdom jumped off the page. (Too bad I didn’t appreciate this book even more 30 years ago!)
Author Richard Edler, with a background as president or managing director of three different ad agencies in Los Angeles, invited colleagues, publishers, athletes, and others to weigh in on the question, “Wisdom they wish they’d been told 25 years ago.” (He also gave a college commencement speech on that topic.)
And, oh my, what a list of friends and colleagues! I counted 159 people who contributed their wisdom and wishes including: Pat Riley, Marjorie Blanchard, Peter Ueberroth, Helen Gurley Brown, Senator Orrin Hatch, Dennis Prager, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Condoleezza Rice, and others.
Wisdom? For the last 20 years, I’ve filed and categorized wisdom, insights, and books via my 20 management buckets system—so I’ve noted the “bucket category” (17 of 20) for each of the snippets below. Enjoy!
[ ] “Have a goal. A goal is just a dream with a deadline.” (Marjorie Blanchard)
[ ] “Every night ask yourself this question: ‘Have I made a profit for my employer today?’ If the answer is ‘yes,’ you’ll still have a job tomorrow. If it’s ‘no,’ get your resume together.” (Buddy Weiss)
[ ] After reading thousands of resumes during his 55 years in business, Monty McKinney lists five insights when reading resumes.
#2. “I never look at letters of recommendation. As one of my colleagues once said, ‘I never saw a bad one.’”
#5. “Frequency and trends in job changes count. My father taught me that there are two serious mistakes a young person in business can make—changing jobs too often, and not changing jobs enough.”
“Finally, I have never hired anyone who claimed to have worked for ‘Proctor & Gamble.’ Either the applicant was lying, or was not alert enough to check the spelling of his company name. Either sin is, to me, unforgivable.” [Note: “Procter” is spelled with an “e.”]
[ ] “If a customer calls, and I consider it an interruption, I know I have to take some time off to adjust my attitude.” (Don Keough)
[ ] “Wear muddy boots.” That was the Kansas Agricultural Advertising Agency’s Business Philosophy! (Read why this ad agency kept a pair of muddy boots hidden until the opportune moment to put them on the conference table—as a metaphor for their commitment to their client. Brilliant!)
[ ] “Specialize in something. Become an expert.” Allen J. Larson adds, “Know more than anyone else around you about some topic.”
[ ] “I turn around deeply troubled or bankrupt companies for a living," writes Alfred Jay Moran, Jr. "It doesn’t matter what business they are in. I have found that the same five steps apply every time. I wish someone had told me this 25 years ago instead of having to learn it the hard way.” Note my summary:
• Step 1: Grab the cash.
• Step 2: Freeze the expenses.
• Step 3: Interview everyone you can. “All the information about what is wrong and what should be done is already in house.”
• Step 4. Formulate a strategy. “You are better off with a half-right strategy now, than a perfectly right strategy in six months. By then it will be too late.”
• Step 5: Create the “ideal” organization chart that requires “the minimum staff to implement the strategy.”
He adds, “Lay out the organization first. If people don’t fit, get rid of them. Sounds cold, but executives are paid to execute.” For more on organizational charts, read The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.
[ ] “I wish someone had told me when I came out of law school, all set to practice, that I need immediately to find somebody to practice on.” (Mort Janklow)
Note: In “The Drucker Bucket” chapter of Mastering the Management Buckets, I note Peter Drucker’s wisdom that you must “practice, practice and practice the art of management. He said it was like any other discipline. World-class musicians hone their gifts up to eight hours a day. Athletes practice, practice and practice. Professional golfers finish 18 holds and head to the driving range. Tiger Woods has a coach.”
[ ] “During my 20s I would occasionally break the rules, and it would pay off. For instance, when I entered a contest to ‘write about your goals for the future’ I decided it might be more attention-getting to write ‘Why I have no goals.’ I won.” (Kate White)
[ ] “On hindsight, it would have been helpful if someone told me that validation, or a ‘second opinion’ from a trusted friend, could often help clarify my judgment. Nothing is as important as the accurate evaluation of our perceptions.” (Bert Newman)
Note: This reminded me of my 2013 book-of-the-year, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith. See his wisdom on “blind spots.”
[ ] “Never follow a John Wooden.” Jim Helin adds, “This kind of situation is not healthy for your career. These kinds of opportunities can only lead to unrealistic expectations, little credit for a job well done, and absolutely no fun on the job.” (Read my review of Coach Wooden One-on-One.)
[ ] Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Pat Riley wrote “Twenty-five years ago I wish someone had given me the Serenity Prayer.” (Read it here and consider this for your office or home.)
[ ] “Twenty-five years ago I wish someone had told me about the exponential factor of time: that every year over 40 years of age goes twice as fast, and every year over 50 goes ten times as fast.” (Harold Evans)
[ ] “Make lots of mistakes. Mistakes are the fuel for fast career development. Learn how to make brilliant recoveries. And then never make the same mistake twice.” (J. Melvin Muse)
Note: Since writing Mastering Mistake-Making in 2021, I’ve become a zealot for spotting great mistake quotes. (In book margins, I draw an “M” with a circle around it—to point out insightful mistake-making principles.) See my list of 16 mistake-making books.
[ ] Contrarian! Ellen Levine, editor-in-chief of Good Housekeeping, writes, “I’m actually pleased that what I know now I didn’t know 25 years ago. If I had, I would have worried about whether I would find a job, succeed, and have a satisfying career.” She adds, “I am grateful I never heard the term ‘career path’ when I was 22.”
[ ] “Twenty-five years ago I wish someone had told me that the enduring meaning in my life would be found in shaping my children’s values, not in my professional success.” (Rabbi Harold S. Kushner)
[ ] “Don’t be afraid or ashamed of believing in God, and of maturing spiritually.” (Bill Bean) – Note: Need more reasons to believe? Read this.
[ ] “Go get international experience.” (Peter Sealey, former senior VP, Global Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company)
[ ] “Give serendipity a chance. You don’t have to plan or try to focus every step in your life. I wish I had taken advantage of the opportunity to just learn about as many things as possible when I was younger. I wish I had just listened to all the World History and World Culture courses, instead of just trying to get an ‘A’ on the exam. Stay loose early. You spend the rest of your life narrowing your focus.” (Condoleezza Rice)
[ ] “Never burn your bridges. Don’t even spray graffiti on them. You never know when the boss you resign from today may be hiring you again at another company, promoting you to another job in the same company, or acting as a future reference. So when you exit, always do so with grace and appreciation.” (Tony Hoyt)
[ ] “Your boss’s secretary can be one of your best career friends—or one of your worst enemies,” writes Joe E. Davis. He adds, “I passed this hindsight on to my own son as he began his business career, and he later told me that it was the single most useful advice he received.”
[ ] “Hire slowly. Fire quickly. It’s not the people you fire that hurt you. It’s the people you don’t fire." (Marcio Moreira)
[ ] “When your children are born, and every year thereafter, write them a letter on their birthday. Save them up, but don’t tell anyone. Then give your children their letters on their twenty-first birthdays.” (Rich Gold)
[ ] “Never have a closed mind,” writes Jerry Gibbons, senior VP of the Western Region of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. “Be inquisitive about everything. Study. Ask questions. Be curious.”
“Years ago I was quoted in the press about a campaign my agency had done for a client. An acquaintance wrote a letter to the editor challenging my comment.” Read why Gibbons called that person and then why “that phone call turned into a conversation. That conversation turned into a meeting. That meeting turned into a relationship, and that relationship turned into my joining Doyle Dane Bernbach as president of their San Francisco office. All because I just wondered…”
[ ] “Learn to distinguish between a mishap, a setback, and a tragedy.” (YPO Wisdom)
[ ] “Expect to fail miserably 30 percent of the time.” (Bill Lupien)
[ ] “English novelist John Creasey got 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs.” (Excerpt from the United Technologies Corporation message in the Wall Street Journal in 1981, “Don’t Be Afraid to Fail.”)
[ ] “Always take the job working on the product or the office in trouble. Never take over a business doing well.” (Tom O’Sullivan)
Note: This reminded me of the four kinds of organizational situations you might inherit in your next job. Read my review of The First 90 Days and learn more about the acronym, “STARS.”
[ ] “If you start saving a fixed amount at age 20 and your twin brother saves the same amount beginning at age 30, by the time you are both 65 you will have twice as much money as he does. The same is true for loving and investing in your children. It’s never too soon to start.” (Larry Higby)
[ ] “Every good business will have its best years followed by lean years. Budget for the lean years.” (Mike McCormick)
[ ] “If you select one key individual when you start out, make it your controller. I thought I could get away with a lightweight, and I was wrong. Finally, your most important asset is money itself. You will need more than you expect. I was told this and didn’t believe it.” (Michael Drake)
Bonus! Read my review of The Five Money Personalities.
[ ] Learn why Dennis Pope recommends you approach decision-making without emotions. “To decide anything, first write down the pros and cons, and then photocopy your list. Then throw the original away and look at only the copy. Also type it instead of using your own handwriting.”
Reminder! This book was first published in 1995, so some of the references may prompt an out-dated chuckle (LOL!), but the wisdom can still be relevant. Example:
[ ] “Open your mail at 4:30 in the afternoon.” (Charlie Ferguson) – The author adds, “By holding your mail until 4:30, you come in each morning and have the day you planned to have. You accomplish the important things you set out for today instead of letting the mail or the latest phone call run your day for you.”
THE PRINTING BUCKET (aka THE COMMUNICATIONS BUCKET)
[ ] Tips for writing the perfect business memo (from unwritten and unofficial guidelines at Procter & Gamble Company):
• “For the rest of your life begin every memo with the word ‘This.’ It allows you to get started, and to tell the reader in the first sentence what the purpose of the memo is.”
• “There are three reasons for everything. Never two or four. If you have two, make another one up. If you have four, cut one out.”
[ ] “In finance, the smaller the type and the cheaper the paper it is printed on, the more important the information.” (Investor’s Rule)
[ ] “Try to take a two-minute break between each meeting or phone call. This will prevent the tone of one event from infecting the next. You’ll find that your analysis will be more accurate, your decisions much wiser, and your actions more appropriate.” (Susan J. Petersen)
[ ] “Never attend a meeting unless you know when it’s going to end.” (Peter Brown)
[ ] Richard Edler, the author of this fantastic book, adds his commentary to Lynn Upshaw’s wisdom on listening—with this: “Even today when I go into a meeting, I put a big ‘L’ in the upper right hand corner of my note pad. It is a reminder to myself to ‘Listen first, dummy. Just shut up and listen.’ Sometimes I even visualize the person across the table from me sitting and swinging on that big ‘L.’”
Note: I’ve recently reviewed two books on “listening”—maybe I need to work on this? You’ll love Dean Curry’s book, In the Right Seat, which also features a memorable “L” story. Plus, read my review of Radical Listening, and the warning: “Don’t Steal the Podium!”
[ ] Paul Foley shares 10 “Adages for Ad Agencies,” including these:
• “Beware of management by total surprise.”
• “Large meetings are often used to share the blame.”
• “It is possible to make excellent television commercials within 100 miles of home.”
• “It is difficult to build a backlog of good will; ill will, yes—but good will starts from scratch at 9:00 every morning.”
[ ] Crafting a Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way, by Stephen A. Macchia (Read my review about St. Benedict's rules of life. See also this 2022 book-of-the-year.)
MORE RESOURCES:
• John Pearson’s Buckets Blog
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• John Pearson’s book reviews on Amazon
• Management Buckets website
• Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Blog
NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.
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