“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!”

“We don’t get to pick our talents or IQ. But we do choose our character. In fact, we create it every time we make choices—to cop out or dig out of a hard situation, to bend the truth or stand under the weight of it, to take the easy money or pay the price.”

“There is definitely a link between ownership and success. You don’t get the latter without the former,”

“the leader’s prayer written by Pauline H. Peters: “God, when I am wrong, make me willing to change. When I am right, make me easy to live with. So strengthen me that the power of my example will far exceed the authority of my rank.”

“Position is a poor substitute for influence.”

“Every person has a longing to be significant, to make a contribution, to be a part of something noble and purposeful.”

“John D. Rockefeller Jr. said, “I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.”

“The ability to connect with others begins with understanding the value of people.”

“Secrecy spawns isolation, not success.”

“I believed that if you have the heart to make a difference, there is always an answer, but if you have a heart of indifference, there is never an answer.”

“You lose the respect of the best when you don’t deal properly with the worst.”

“The most important personal-growth phrase you will ever hear a good leader say to you is “follow me.”

“many people are more comfortable with old problems than with new solutions.

“People tend to become what the most important people in their lives think they will become.”

“A person who has a dream knows what he is willing to give up in order to go up.”