The unsuccessful person is burdened by learning, and prefers to walk down familiar paths. Their distaste for learning stunts their growth and limits their influence.
If you want to reach the top, don't run over others. Likely, the only way you'll reach the top is to be carried there by others.
Exceptionally hard decisions can deplete your energy to the point at which you finally cave in. If you mentally crumble and degenerate into negative thinking, you'll magnify the problem to the point where it can haunt you.
The most talented do not always end up as celebrities, and those with less talent often do. Upsets are written into our history and occur around us every day.
If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it - young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous - is changed by it.
Ranking among the greatest Christmas movie classics, 'It's a Wonderful Life' tells a beautiful story about the priceless value of relationships.
Most people don't like change. They revolt against it unless they can clearly see the advantage it brings. For that reason, when good leaders prepare to take action or make changes, they take people through a process to get them ready for it.
Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn't come alive until the leader models it.
Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.
All of the people in my life whom I consider to be close friends or colleagues are good thinkers.
Educators take something simple and make it complicated. Communicators take something complicated and make it simple.
All good leaders are connectors. They relate well and make people feel confident about themselves and their leader.
The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.
Success comes to those who have an entire mountain of gold that they continually mine, not those who find one nugget and try to live on it for fifty years.
Every person has a longing to be significant; to make a contribution; to be a part of something noble and purposeful.
I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even know you were supposed to have one.
A lack of realism in the vision today costs credibility tomorrow.
When you are full of pride on the inside, it makes you stiff, stubborn, and creates strife with others.
To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.
