“Leaders see everything with a leadership bias. Their focus is on mobilizing people and leveraging resources to achieve their goals rather than on using their own individual efforts. Leaders who want to succeed maximize every asset and resource they have for the benefit of their organization. For that reason, they are continually aware of what they have at their disposal.”

“The best way to develop rational, well-balanced confidence is to go after a few victories immediately following a failure.”

“Las personas no quieren ser manejadas. Quieren ser dirigidas. ¿Alguien ha oído de un administrador mundial? De un líder mundial, sí. De un líder educativo, sí. De un líder político, religioso, explorador, comunitario, laboral, empresarial. Sí, ellos dirigen, no administran. La zanahoria siempre logra más que el látigo. Pregúntele a su caballo. Usted puede dirigir su caballo hacia donde hay agua, pero no puede obligarlo a beberla. Si usted quiere manejar a alguien, manéjese a usted mismo. Haga eso bien y estará listo para dejar de manejar y comenzar a dirigir.”

“Asking and hearing people’s opinions has a greater effect on them than telling them, ‘Good job.’ ”

“Elbert Hubbard said that the greatest mistake a person can make is to be afraid of making one.

“It is easier to move from failure to success in from excuses to success.”

“An unintentional life accepts everything and does nothing. An intentional life embraces only the things that will add to the mission of significance.”

“communication comes from the Latin word communis, meaning “common.” 

“People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.”

“As long as you are hanging around amateurs, you will think like an amateur, and you will not improve your skills.”

“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.”

“I have to live with myself, and so I want to be fit for myself to know, I want to be able, as days go by, Always to look myself straight in the eye; I don’t want to stand, with the setting sun, And hate myself for things I have done. I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf A lot of secrets about myself, And fool myself, as I come and go, Into thinking that nobody else will know The kind of man I really am; I don’t want to dress up myself in sham. I want to go out with my head erect, I want to deserve all men’s respect; But here in the struggle for fame and pelf I want to be able to like myself. I don’t want to look at myself and know That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show. I can never hide myself from me; I see what others may never see; I know what others may never know, I never can fool myself, and so, Whatever happens, I want to be Self-respecting and conscience free.”

“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!”

“Successful people are good in four areas: relationships, equipping, attitude, and leadership

“Know the reasons you and your listener want to communicate and build a bridge between those reasons.”