Deutsch
… is such an ancient piece of worldly wisdom that we cannot trace its origins. Some say that the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu first came up with it (around the 6th century B.C.), but this is by no means certain. Its obvious truthfulness is a matter of certainty though – and anyone who has ever had to take important decisions amidst hustle and bustle – and knows how different this is from being able to take them calmly and deliberately – will testify to this.
This makes it all the more astounding that hardly any consideration is given to this wisdom in the sphere of business. Instead, business is still – and it seems even increasingly – dominated by a fatal tendency to go at full throttle, with decisions being taken quickly, but nobody willing to take responsibility for them afterwards. Or with quick results that turn out to be unsustainable.
“Take it slowly if you are in a hurry” is not just a witty bon mot but a powerful driver of productivity – not only in business processes. So let us put our trust in the values of inner peace, slowness and deliberation, or – to use a more contemporary term – in the value of deceleration.