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Learn from the mistakes of others; you can never live long enough to make them all yourself. —John Luther

A leader is not an administrator who loves to run others, but someone who carries water for his people so they can get on with their jobs. —Robert Townsend

One of the most important tasks of a manager is to eliminate his people’s excuses for failure. —Robert Townsend

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. —Albert Einstein

To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well and is as essential to all true conversation. —Chinese proverb

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.  —Albert Einstein

Let your deeds match your creeds.

You can tell when you are on the right road . . . it’s uphill.

Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things, and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things.

One of the toughest decisions is realizing that you have to make one.

Comfort comes as a guest, lingers to become a host, and stays to enslave us.

What a leader does in private does matter and will ultimately establish or undermine the credibility of his or her influence. —John Hawkins

It is far more powerful to be interested than interesting. —Suzi Pomerantz

Not to discipline is not to care. —Gene Klann

Fitting it all in is impossible – but designing a plan to do what matters most is very possible! —Tammy London

The best that’s been done before may not be the best thing to do next.

Insisting that you be in command may make you less in demand.

For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Neatness is not the same thing as being organized . . . don’t get hung up on it to the detriment of effectiveness. —Liz Franklin

You can be a victor without having victims. —Harriet Woods

Making a mistake and not admitting it is just hurting yourself twice. —David Friedman

Listening is the best preparation for speaking. —Anonymous

A thoughtful person is a remembered person. —Anonymous

People prefer to follow those who help them, not those who intimidate them. —Gene Wilkes, explorer (1798-1877)

Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions. —GK Chesterton, writer (1874-1936)

Arguments begin when listening stops.

It’s not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy.

The bee is praised; the mosquito is swatted. —Marie O’Conner

Hold a grudge and you bind yourself.

Complaining about the present gives the future a chance to sneak up on you.

The applause of a single human being is of great consequence. – Samuel Johnson

Boredom is nothing but the ineffective use of the moment.

There are no shortcuts to places worth going.

No pressure, no diamonds.

At the train station, trains stop. At the bus station, buses stop. At your work station . . .

Everything big is made of small things.

Planning takes the dead out of deadline.

Don’t deny the worst—look for the best.

Leadership is about doing the right thing, not the easy thing.

Don’t let overhead trample you underfoot.

The most difficult challenges to leadership are personal weaknesses.

“Every significant relationship in your life has your fingerprints all over it—the fingerprints of your character. And those impressions on another person’s life are true indications of what your character is really like.” —Steve Farrar

“We set young leaders up for a fall if we encourage them to envision what they can do before they consider the kind of person they should be.” —R. Ruth Barton

“To measure a leader, put a tape around his heart, not his head.” —John C. Maxwell

Great leaders are great managers—not just managers of projects or other people but mostly of themselves. —Reggie McNeal

Strategy is as much about what you will not pursue as it is about what you will pursue. —Dom Cingoranelli

Leaders who won’t listen are ear and gone.

The word manner comes from manos, the Latin word for hand. When we have good manners, that means we are handling others with care. —PM Forni

Why is it so difficult to keep things simple?

I’ve never run across a real problem that went away because people ignored it. —Charles Knight

Say you expect it and then inspect it.

People who don’t know what they don’t know are twice as hard to lead.

Even brief kindness has lasting effects.

What if you considered every interaction with the people in your life as if it were the last?

Well begun is half done.

Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.