Nina Simosko reminds us all that it’s usually better to be respected and not liked than to be liked and not respected. Delivering criticism honestly can be hard, yet the alternative is worse: the creeping sense that a boss needs to be liked so much that he or she will sacrifice performance and integrity rather than risk being called a bad name.

To become reactive means to act without thinking, to respond instinctively and emotionally—even towards inanimate objects. Peter Vajda reminds us that objects don’t cause problems deliberately, nor can emotional responses cause them pain or lead them to repent. Those are human attributes. In the end, it’s all about you.

Is the pursuit of happiness the main cause of your problems and misery? We have no right to be happy, any more than we have a right to be rich, good looking, healthy or popular. If you are any of these, be grateful. If you aren’t, do what you can and accept the rest. Don’t add to your unhappiness by obsessing about it.

In the workplace, writes new author Martin Hodges, raising your head above the parapet in the interest of your team, or the corporation as a whole, takes nerve. People in power don’t like to be questioned or put on the spot. But being ‘the grit in the oyster’ is still the only way to produce a pearl.

Like the Wall Street giants forced into bankruptcy or fire-sales, all too many bosses act on the basis that “everything will turnout alright . . . somehow” and so fail to take the necessary action to deal with looming problems in time. They refuse to face up to reality, preferring their personal fantasies and comfortable evasions to the harsh truth about themselves and their business models. The first and most essential step towards wisdom is acknowledging reality, however painful or embarrassing that may be.

Peter Vajda thinks many of today’s workplaces are deficient in the kind of development that addresses issues of self-discovery and promote conscious and healthy relationships. Truly knowing yourself, he says, is both essential to a healthy sense of self-esteem and forms the only sound basis for successful working relationships.

King Midas was a dream CEO. Thanks to the gift he requested from the god Dionysus, everything he touched turned to gold. That’s why ‘having the Midas touch’ has become a shorthand for anyone with exceptional money-making ability. Yet getting what you think you want often comes with a heavy—and unexpected—price.

If Hitler is the sick, demonic parody of a success-at-any-price modern executive, Stalin is the control-freak, gray accountant who turns up from nowhere and institutes a reign of terror in the organization. He’s the godfather of the new boss who tells you you’ll have to do more with a smaller budget and fewer staff—and if you can’t succeed you’ll be replaced.

With the global economy still working its way through a seemingly interminable series of financial crises and yo-yoing oil prices, companies are struggling to manage all the repercussions. Nina Simosko looks at the underlying causes of our on-going management malaise.

This Monday’s haiku-based thoughts are about whether working flat-out to get what you think you want are worth what it will cost you in other parts of your life.