Commonsense Updates:

New Update:
85. It is not transparency or honesty simply because one is able to persuade someone else to believe, or believe in, what is not true. 

Past Updates Below:

84. That which intimidates to force compliance is often too severe to inspire true and enduring commitment.

83. Paths that lead to the greatest contributions for the well-being of multitudes are often travelled by lone rangers.

82. If all you do is to simply follow, you'll get no further than behind others.

81. Cultivating a desired culture is like cultivating a tree. Whether the desired culture is a "food safety" or a broader-scope culture, the seed selected is the tree that ends up being cultivated.

80. When we do not engage in the conversation and action that liberate us, we aid and propagate what enslaves us.

79. Blindness prevails where commonsense is ignored or abandoned.

78. The truth may tilt and rock the boat but falsehood sinks it.

77. Where institutionalized narrow-mindedness and frivolity are allowed to run rampant, reality can be obscured even to the most brilliant of minds.

76. The longest journey is that which is not started.

75. The path of difference is often lonely but greatly rewarding.

74. The law never catches up with the one who is led by moral integrity in all actions.

73. Death occurs wherever the pocketbook takes the place of the heart - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2016/01/true-success.html

72. Among the dictators ruling our societies and causing enormous stress and death are money and the clock but a person can choose not to be their slave.

71. Thinking wisely is a duty and neglecting this duty can be fatal in many situations.

70. Indifference or inaction makes a "negative" difference and does not preclude the one who is inactive or indifferent from the negative consequences - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2013/02/fatal-indifference.html

69. According to a common analogy (origin unknown): Alone, the stick is easily broken; but in a bundle with others it gains strength.

68. Those who ignore wisdom often trip on it and experience terrible falls.

67. A food business that sells a consumer's last meal has very likely committed its last mistake - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2015/12/good-news-for-all-ssqa-implementation.html

66. In the absence of true friendly collaboration, peace treaty kinds of business contracts are often devoid of honest dealings - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2013/12/distrust-critical-industry-consideration.html

65. The divided are often and easily conquered - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2013/02/friends-or-foes-what-is-true-of-food.html

64. Extra-ordinary people are not driven by the anticipation of wealth, fame or power as ordinary people.

63. When the truth is indisputable, shunning it is fool-hardy and disputing what is true is greater folly.

62. Keep consumers alive to keep them coming back to keep your business alive.

61. Wisdom eludes only those who ignore it.

60. The fortunate are few because too many people pay no attention to great opportunities.

59. If you mean to do what is right, the right ideas spring to life - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2015/12/taking-stand-versus-fence-sitting.html

58. Experience is multiplied many times over when it is shared with many people many times - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-question-from-aspiring-food.html

57. Always seek wise counsel. Wisdom never expires and it is mocked only by fools.

56. Don’t sleep certified! Regulatory inspectors may respect your third party certification programs but they will not simply accept your “pass” grades without a challenge.

55. Paper-thin assurance produces only paper-thin customer loyalty - http://gcse-food-health-protection.blogspot.com/2015/09/reversible-reality.html

54. This claim made by anyone of himself or herself is always false: "I am a humble person."

53. When opportunities arise to help others:

Pride wants to be asked

Laziness avoids engagement

Opportunism wishes to be rewarded

Self-centeredness demands to be appreciated

Love does none of the above and simply helps

52. The mind is most intriguing of human endowments. At the peak of its performance it realizes that it has much to learn and in its darkest valley trail it assumes to know it all. 

51. Some of the most painful regrets in life come from valuable things known but ignored.

50. Money power is pleasurable, brain power is respectable, political or social power is admirable but wisdom overpowers all. 

49. A person may accumulate great monetary wealth by selling his or her soul but what is actually lost in the process is immeasurably greater than the monetary wealth accumulated.

48. Only those who know they are enslaved seek ways to be free. 

47. Keeping your fingers crossed effectively prevents you from using your hands in achieving what you hope for or averting what you fear.

 46. If “they” are wrong but you can't fight “them”, don't simply join “them” because you would be wrong. Stand your grounds instead with an openness to learn more of what is right.

45. The only insignificant voice is the one that says others are insignificant. 

44. Don't just go ahead and "like" before you have given serious thought to what you are "liking".

43. The use of technology is good but commonsense can be applied to solve many problems where highly convoluted and expensive technological gadgets fail.

42. Crooked ways do not lead as quickly to desirable destinations as straightforward ways.

41. Pride gives people much less than it takes away form them.

40. Worrying about problems or avoiding them does not make them go away; taking small meaningful steps towards solutions is always advisable. Avoided problems always persist to torment those who avoid them.

39. Don’t keep walking if you can’t see where you are going. You could be heading to the edge of a cliff.

38. Those who are too proud to listen and learn are often left behind while those who are willing to learn new things will keep on soaring to new heights.

37. The notion of "keeping things simple" is logical but it must not serve as an escape and a high-sounding rationalization for mental apathy.

36. The worst kind of self deception is to know the truth but deliberately ignore it.

35. While a storm is already raging, taking gentle steps to avoid rocking the boat is meaningless.

34. For any company anywhere, and for any group of people, the best and most effective policies are cultivated; not enforced.

33. A company should not need to promote its image if customers are already seeing the real thing (not the image) in the products and services delivered.

32. Two ways of being market-driven:

a.) Driven by what a company gets from the market

b.) Driven by what a company gives to the market.

Many companies want to give very little and get very much. In reality, how much a company gives determines how much it gets. Ultimately, the market cannot be cheated.

31. Unless you keep the products of your business strictly to yourself and sell none to anyone else, it is not strictly your business.

30. The majority is right sometimes but not always - http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/majority

29. Ignorance is not always bliss; it can be deadly.

28. Behaviour is formed and informed through knowledge and practice, but it is compelled by belief.

27. The moment we feel invincible and become complacent is the moment we become most vulnerable.

26. Any compliance management system that causes people to deliberately hide things that should be identified for correction is a self-defeating system.

25.  Learn quickly from encountered small mistakes - a lesson learned too late can cause as much devastation as a lesson not learned.

24. Until it is in the right direction, moving forward is not progress.

23. Knowing what is truly necessary prevents the wasting of valuable resources in the pursuit of pseudo-necessities.

22. The urge to provide promotional content (perhaps unintended but ends up as misleading information) on product labels in order to sell more products to more consumers often overpowers the determination to protect them.

21. People who are only forced into compliance through punitive measures often revert to their original state of non-compliance wherever they sense any weakness or loophole in the enforcement measures.

20 - Wherever reason is abandoned in favor of greediness, catastrophic consequences may be delayed but they are inevitable.

19 - Making sense of product safety and consumer protection:

If the industry is sufficiently self-motivated to protect the safety of consumers and therefore can be relied upon to do so, it does not require outside enforcement.

If the entire industry must be enforced by regulatory agencies or other outside parties to comply with consumer protection requirements, it is not sufficiently self-motivated to comply and it cannot be relied upon to consistently protect the safety of consumers; neither can any outside enforcement (that will inevitably be inconsistent and incomplete) be relied upon for the protection of consumer safety. Under such circumstances, enforcement of any kind is a lost cause. Something else needs to be done.

If only some members of the industry deliberately ignore doing the right things to protect consumers, these are the only ones that should be targeted and held accountable for their negligence. It is wasteful to spend resources that are already limited in a blanket approach that includes the enforcement of those who are self-motivated to do the right things and, therefore, do not require enforcement. A targeted approach makes most economic sense in ensuring sufficiency of funding and enforcement personnel for the required enforcement. This is the most realistic, feasible and sensible approach in today’s market.

If the industry and members thereof are self-motivated but lack the knowledge or expertise to assure consumer protection, deserving members do not need enforcement; they need education and training in consumer protection. It is crucial and it makes good sense for such education and training to be well funded, staffed, and provided.

18 - If it is a problem, it has a solution; if it has no solution, it is not a problem; it is a fact of life that must be accepted; if it is problem and there is inability to find the solution, it is no longer a matter of the problem or the solution; it is the inadequacy of acquired and applied knowledge that needs to be addressed. Thereafter, a feasible solution will be found.

17 - Prudence is always timely and it is never wasted.

16 - Instead of arguing with a blind-folded person who insists that it is dark, simply help them take off the blindfold.

15 - You must deliver what you explicitly or implicitly promise. Else don’t promise or even imply that you can.

14 - If you wish to prevent dishonesty, do not provide any incentive, intimidation or opportunity that leads to its practice.

13 - Only the brave and forward-looking can move forward.

12 - Passion without positive action is only a hyperactive form of indifference.

11 - Experience gained only in an environment of wrong practices does more harm than good.

10 - The one who waits too long to get on board runs the risk of missing the boat altogether.

9 - The greatest challenge facing the food and health product industry is not the absence of technical expertise, reliable tools and techniques, or the unwillingness to produce good products. It is a failure to consistently exercise social responsibility and moral discipline.

8 - Often times, making a difference takes people who are willing to do things that are different from what others are doing.

7 - In any endeavour, the secret to success is hidden only from those who are not willing to learn.

6 - A good business strategy is to provide products that do not harm consumers and you will keep them healthy and alive to come back for more.

5 - We are all affected by ill wind even when we do not all feel its effect at the same time. This is not different for the harmful effects of unsafe products.

4 - While your enemies are hovering over you, it is futile to spend all of your energy in attacking their shadows on the ground.

3 - If you belittle or treat those who are holding you up with contempt, they may let go.

2 - If something does not make sense, do not continue to embrace it simply because many people are embracing it; conversely, do not reject what makes sense simply because a lot of people have not caught on to it.

1 - Good resource prioritization sense is of life-saving importance in any operation - while travelling through the desert, never use all of the water you have to wash the dust off your feet.