A Lesson in Latin

January 26th, 2009

Why DO Chooses to Make Choices

We explored the power of words in Dialogue Determines Direction where we consciously altered our speech to increase the accuracy of our communication. Today we take it one step further and look more deeply into the inherited meaning that some words carry with them.

At Digital Onion, we don’t make decisions, we make choices, and we do this very purposefully.

Decisions carry a finality with them. How final? Take the suffix of the word: –cide. In Latin, it literally means “to kill.” Suicide. Pesticide. Genocide. So, when you decide to go one way or another, what you’re really doing is killing off all other opportunities.

It doesn’t mean Digital Onion believes in keeping all doors open at once either. That’s where the beauty of choosing comes in. When we make a choice, we give it our entire focus, but it’s not permanent. We follow the choice for only as long as it’s useful. When the choice is no longer useful, we change it.

By choosing and not deciding, you give yourself the focus to follow one path with dedication, without killing off the possibility of other choices down the line.

So, what will it be – chocolate or vanilla?

Entry Filed under: PM Leadership