“Vision isn’t enough—it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.”

“anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Leaders who are good navigators are capable of taking their people just about anywhere.”

“Lazy people don’t succeed.”

“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!”

“Every time we choose action over ease we develop an increasing level of self-worth, self-respect, and self-confidence.”

“A good leader encourages followers to tell him what he needs to know, not what he wants to hear.”

“Enlightenment writer and philosopher Voltaire likened life to a game of cards. Players must accept the cards dealt to them. However, once they have those cards in hand, they alone choose how they will play them. They decide what risks and actions to take.”

“People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

“Real leaders have something to give, and they give it freely. Anthony DeMello saw a starving child shivering in the cold. Angrily he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, “God, how could you allow such suffering? Why don’t you do something?” There was a long silence and then DeMello was startled when he heard the voice of God answer him, “I certainly have done something—I made you.”

“As a leader, you should not be trying to carry everything yourself. To be successful, you must share the load. But you must have highly capable people to hand things off to.”

“El que piensa que dirige y no tiene a nadie siguiéndole, sólo está dando un paseo.”

“Good leaders ask great questions that inspire others to dream more, think more, learn more, do more, and become more.” 

“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.

“When you make a commitment, you create hope. When you keep a commitment, you create trust.”

“Success is . . . knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.”