Trust A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other. (Mike Linch, baseball coach) We’ve been reminded again and again that there is no “I” in “team.” Yes, it’s a group, but as Linch points out, it’s a group made up...
Assumptions We reveal our character in the assumptions we make about others. (Adam Grant, psychologist) Grant continues, “If you think people are dishonest and selfish, you might be dishonest and selfish. Those beliefs are self-fulfilling prophecies: expect the worst...
Your Name Here's what's cool: Learning and using people's names. (Warren Buffett, wealthy philanthropist) This is no. 2 in Buffett’s list of cool things. You might wonder how this business magnate accumulated his great wealth; maybe this is one of the factors in his...
Love vs. Hate I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) King also said, “Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” What a terrible burden it is to carry hate in your heart. It affects your...
Confrontation Life without confrontation is directionless, aimless, passive. When unchallenged, human beings tend to drift, to wander, or to stagnate. Confrontation is a gift. (David Augsburger, author) Do you like confrontation? Many people try to avoid it at almost...
Persistence Failure is the path of least persistence. (Church sign board) This simple maxim is not difficult to understand, but it could have a profound effect in helping a lazy person learn to achieve. If the lack of determination is the reason for failure, then...
Influences There’s always something you can’t see controlling what you can see. (Priscilla Shirer, motivational speaker and author) Anyone who has worked at a computer has discovered Shirer’s words to be true. It’s aggravating when what you intended to happen doesn’t...
Community Community is not something you find; it’s something you build. Community is not something discovered; it is something forged. (James Emerson White, religious commentator) White concludes: “My point is that all relationships of worth are products of labor.”...
Greener Grass If the grass looks greener on the other side... Stop staring. Stop comparing. Stop complaining. And start watering the grass you're standing on. (Eugene Cho, non-profit leader) It’s an old cliché, but it’s also true to life, isn’t it? Things on the other...
Action A plan without action is just a plan. (Rebekah Radice, business consultant) Having a brilliant idea or conceiving a great plan is a good beginning, but that’s all it is. The next steps are equally important. How do you get that idea out of your mind and into...
Misunderstood To be great is to be misunderstood. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th century essayist) If you’ve been misunderstood, you’re not alone. Emerson lists some misunderstood influential people: Pythagoras, Socrates, Jesus, Luther, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. He...
Attitude Good leaders are never complainers. They're doers. (John Maxwell, leadership author) Has there ever been a time where there has been so much complaining? People groan about the weather, their bosses’ unfairness, their children’s coaches who don’t let them...