“Focus on what’s important to them and you will be one of the most interesting people they’ve ever met.”

“The measure of a great teacher isn’t what he or she knows; it’s what the students know.”

“How do you identify someone who needs encouragement? That person is breathing.

“Somos los amos o las víctimas de nuestras actitudes. Es un asunto de decisión personal. Lo que ahora somos es el resultado de las decisiones tomadas ayer. Mañana seremos lo que decidamos ahora.”

“Cemetery communication: lots of people are out there, but nobody is listening.”

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: The ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” If you want to lead on the highest level, be willing to serve on the lowest.”

“Life is pretty much a selling job. Whether we succeed or fail is largely a matter of how well we motivate the human beings with whom we deal to buy us and what we have to offer. Success”

“Clearly, if leaders have a strong set of ethical values and live them out, then people will respect them, not just their position. Immature leaders try to use their position to drive high performance.”

“Several years ago Dr. Maxwell Maltz’s book, Psycho-Cybernetics, was one of the most popular books on the market. Dr. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who often took disfigured faces and made them more attractive. He observed that in every case, the patient’s self-image rose with his and her physical improvement. In addition to being a successful surgeon, Dr. Maltz was a great psychologist who understood human nature. A wealthy woman was greatly concerned about her son, and she came to Dr. Maltz for advice. She had hoped that the son would assume the family business following her husband’s death, but when the son came of age, he refused to assume that responsibility and chose to enter an entirely different field. She thought Dr. Maltz could help convince the boy that he was making a grave error. The doctor agreed to see him, and he probed into the reasons for the young man’s decision. The son explained, “I would have loved to take over the family business, but you don’t understand the relationship I had with my father. He was a driven man who came up the hard way. His objective was to teach me self-reliance, but he made a drastic mistake. He tried to teach me that principle in a negative way. He thought the best way to teach me self-reliance was to never encourage or praise me. He wanted me to be tough and independent. Every day we played catch in the yard. The object was for me to catch the ball ten straight times. I would catch that ball eight or nine times, but always on that tenth throw he would do everything possible to make me miss it. He would throw it on the ground or over my head but always so I had no chance of catching it.” The young man paused for a moment and then said, “He never let me catch the tenth ball—never! And I guess that’s why I have to get away from his business; I want to catch that tenth ball!”

“If you do not connect with others, influence is out of the question.”

“President Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

“The only way to change how you view life is to change who you are on the inside.”

“Followers tell you what you want to hear. Leaders tell you what you need to hear.”

“When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.” 

“The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer.”