Quotes on Leadership

Though leadership may be hard to define, the one characteristic common to all leaders is the ability to make things happen."
-Ted W. Engstrom


"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."
-Warren G. Bennis

"Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things."
-Peter Drucker

"One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency."
-Arnold H. Glasgow

"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced."
-James Baldwin

"If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek."
-Ken Blanchard

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality, the last is to say "Thank you." In between the two, the leaders must become a servant."
-Max De Pree

"They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
-Theodore Roosevelt

"The greatest management principle in the world is: the things that get rewarded and appreciated get done."
-Michael LeBoeuf

"Excellence is...caring more than others think is wise;
Risking more than others think is safe;
Dreaming more than others think is practical.
Expecting more than others think is possible."
-Winston Churchill

"You get the best efforts from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within."
-Bob Nelson

"Quality is never an accident: It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. It represents the wise choice of many alternatives."
-William A. Foster

"Values are critical guides for making decisions. When in doubt, they cut through the fog like a beacon in the night."
-Robert Townsend

"A leader's job is to look into the future and see the organization not as it is, but as it should be."
-Jack Welch

"Giving people a little more than they expect is a good way to get back a lot more than you'd expect."
-Robert Half

"The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity."
-Zig Ziglar

"To lead the people, walk behind them."
-Lao Tzu

WOMEN N MOTIVATION

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them."
-Abigail Adams
(1744 - 1818)

"The surest test of discipline is its absence."
-Clara Barton
(1821 - 1912)

"If I can stop one heart from breaking I shall not live in vain."
-Emily Dickinson
(1830 - 1886)

"The triumph can't be had without the struggle."
-Wilma Rudolph
(1940 - 1994)

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Maya Angelou
(1928 - )

"I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse."
-Florence Nightingale
(1820 - 1910)

"A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees."
-Amelia Earhart
(1898 - 1937)

An excerpt from
The 100/0 Principle
by Al Ritter
What is the most effective way to create and sustain great relationships with others? It's The 100/0 Principle: You take full responsibility (the 100) for the relationship, expecting nothing (the 0) in return.

Implementing The 100/0 Principle is not natural for most of us. It takes real commitment to the relationship and a good dose of self-discipline to think, act and give 100 percent.

The 100/0 Principle applies to those people in your life where the relationships are too important to react automatically or judgmentally. Each of us must determine the relationships to which this principle should apply. For most of us, it applies to work associates, customers, suppliers, family and friends.
• STEP 1 - Determine what you can do to make the relationship work...then do it. Demonstrate respect and kindness to the other person, whether he/she deserves it or not.
• STEP 2 - Do not expect anything in return. Zero, zip, nada.
• STEP 3 - Do not allow anything the other person says or does (no matter how annoying!) to affect you. In other words, don't take the bait.
• STEP 4 - Be persistent with your graciousness and kindness. Often we give up too soon, especially when others don't respond in kind. Remember to expect nothing in return.
At times (usually few), the relationship can remain challenging, even toxic, despite your 100 percent commitment and self-discipline. When this occurs, you need to avoid being the "Knower" and shift to being the "Learner." Avoid Knower statements/ thoughts like "that won't work," "I'm right, you are wrong," "I know it and you don't," "I'll teach you," "that's just the way it is," "I need to tell you what I know," etc.

Instead use Learner statements/thoughts like "Let me find out what is going on and try to understand the situation," "I could be wrong," "I wonder if there is anything of value here," "I wonder if..." etc. In other words, as a Learner, be curious!

Principle Paradox

This may strike you as strange, but here's the paradox: When you take authentic responsibility for a relationship, more often than not the other person quickly chooses to take responsibility as well. Consequently, the 100/0 relationship quickly transforms into something approaching 100/100. When that occurs, true breakthroughs happen for the individuals involved, their teams, their organizations and their families.

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"The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."
Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826)

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."
Henry Ford
(1863-1947)

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
Mother Teresa
(1910-1997)

"If we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail."
Winston Churchill
(1874-1965)

"As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."
Nelson Mandela
(1918 - )
"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will."
Vince Lombardi
(1913-1970)

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles have strengthened me...You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
Walt Disney
(1901-1966)

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
Eleanor Roosevelt
(1884-1962)

"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948)

"I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will eventually triumph. And there is purpose and worth to each and every life."
Ronald Reagan
(1911-2004)

"Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain."
John F. Kennedy
(1917-1963)

"Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
Ray Kroc
(1902-1984)

"The time is always right to do what is right."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1929-1968)

"There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
Booker T. Washington
(1856-1915)

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."
Benjamin Franklin
(1706-1790)

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
Theodore Roosevelt
(1858-1919)

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
Albert Schweitzer
(1875-1965)

"There is only one boss. The customer. And they can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending their money somewhere else."
Sam Walton
(1918-1992)

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
John Wooden
(1910 - 2010)

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."
Helen Keller
(1880-1968)


Genius is childhood recaptured at will." The imagination and creativity we had at five too often begins to fade at fifteen.

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An excerpt from
Stress is a Choice
by David Zerfoss
Several years ago while listening to my pastor give a Sunday sermon, he spoke about how life is made up of a series of choices. It made me realize that my hectic professional and personal life was of my choosing. Therefore, a life of stress had become my choice.

Many of us hurry through life going from one place to the next, focused on conquering the next mountain, making the next deal, running the next errand, and believing we will never have enough time to do all the things we need to get done. Yet, there is all the time in the world if we just realize that we are the creators of this life we choose to live.

That's right. Life is a series of choices and being free from stress is one of those choices.

Whether your business life is overly complicated or your personal life (or both), you have chosen this current system of chaos. The world is a tantalizing swirl of getting the next "fix," tempting us to fit more and more things, people and processes into our lives, personally and professionally. And because we are so busy being busy, it's easy to be lured into the fray, with our lengthy to-do lists. Yet, the greatest achievements have often come from the simplest of ideas and in the simplest forms.

To experience a simplified life, we first have to learn to slow down long enough to see through all the clutter. We need to realize that we are powerful magnets that attracted this life to ourselves - no matter what - good or bad.

After you read through the 10 Rules to Simplify Your Life, my wish for you is that you commit to simplify and enroll others for support. Take out a blank sheet of paper and create the life you truly want to live - with less stress and complexity - one that is anchored by a clear sense of your unique and simple purpose.

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