self-assessment
'Last month,' wrote Brian Van Bower to open his Aqua Culture column in the February 2004 issue of WaterShapes, 'I jumped into the New Year with a discussion of how the trends we face these days are influencing our recent experiences in business, society and life in general. 'All that was intended to set up this column's discussion of where we, as the watershaping industry, might be going in the months and years to come. . . . Rather than get into the aimless game of offering predictions, I'll delve instead into
‘Believe it or not,’ wrote Brian Van Bower in his Aqua Culture column for November/December 2002, ‘goals can guide almost everything we do, from how we schedule our time to how we establish our business and personal relationships or determine the things we
Anyone who runs a good business knows that day-to-day operations are so all-consuming that it's difficult to step back and scope out where you fit within your corner of the industry let alone within the context of national and international business conditions and trends. We can't give those daily details short shrift or step away from balancing the needs of our clients, our projects and our employees and/or subcontractors. We invest in the here and now and in our futures with blood, sweat and tears. Still, it occurs to me that, like all major investments, our daily endeavors need to be protected by an understanding of the entire range of factors that influence
"Without goals, you become what you were. With goals, you become what you wish." -- James Fadiman As I've grown in my personal life and as a businessperson, I've come to recognize a powerful relationship between basic axioms (such as the one just above from James Fadiman) and the setting of my own goals. To paraphrase Mr. Webster, an axiom is a self-evident truth or proposition. Many are quite familiar, so much so that phrases including "Honesty is the best policy" or "Nothing











