A vision is not just a picture of what could be; it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Confidence isn't optimism or pessimism, and it's not a character attribute. It's the expectation of a positive outcome.
I've found that small wins, small projects, small differences often make huge differences.
To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings.
Leaders must pick causes they won't abandon easily, remain committed despite setbacks, and communicate their big ideas over and over again in every encounter.
Leaders must wake people out of inertia. They must get people excited about something they've never seen before, something that does not yet exist.
Mindless habitual behavior is the enemy of innovation.
Throughout human history, people have developed strong loyalties to traditions, rituals, and symbols. In the most effective organizations, they are not only respected but celebrated. It is no coincidence that the most highly admired corporations are also among the most profitable.
Friendly people are caring people, eager to provide encouragement and support when needed most.
My creative process involves that old saying: It's 90% perspiration and only 10% inspiration.
Power is the ability to get things done.
Organizational structures that allow divisions and departments to own their turf and people with long tenure to take root creates the same hardened group distinctions as Congressional redistricting to produce homogeneous voting blocs - all of which makes it easier to resist compromise, let alone collaboration.
Tribalism reflects strong ethnic or cultural identities that separate members of one group from another, making them loyal to people like them and suspicious of outsiders, which undermines efforts to forge common cause across groups.
Ambivalence about family responsibilities has a long history in the corporate world.
Confidence is contagious, but so is failure. Even the Yankees will lose if you persuade them that they will.
Business requires understanding financial matters, but management is different from running the financial aspects of the business - it requires understanding complex systems, how they operate, the nature of organisations, what happens when people interact in groups and how to motivate and guide people.
Some social scientists say that in-group/out-group biases are hard-wired into the human brain. Even without overt prejudice, it is cognitively convenient for people to sort items into categories and respond based on what is usually associated with those categories: a form of statistical discrimination, playing the odds.
It's almost impossible to break a losing streak on your own.
When you fail at something, the best thing to do is think back to your successes, and try to replicate whatever you did to make them happen.
Companies used to be able to function with autocratic bosses. We don't live in that world anymore.
'No' is always an easier stand than 'Yes.'
One of the symptoms of a losing streak is a turnover of top executives. It's a revolving door.
Too many people let others stand in their way and don't go back for one more try.
The creative process for me doesn't work as well without an image of an audience in mind.
The commune movement is part of a reawakening of belief in the possibilities for utopia that existed in the nineteenth century and exist again today, a belief that by creating the right social institution, human satisfaction and growth can be achieved.
The goal of winning is not losing two times in a row.
A great idea is not enough.
Cheap labor is not going to be the way we compete in the United States. It's going to be brain power.
I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons taught us we were entitled to, no matter what the sacrifice.
The boomers' biggest impact will be on eliminating the term 'retirement' and inventing a new stage of life... the new career arc.
I've been looking at companies that are on a positive path vs. a negative path and I've come to use the language of sports, winning streaks and losing streaks.
The Martha Stewart trial makes clear how far women have risen in the business world. America can be proud of our equal-opportunity prosecution and conviction.
We have a large pool of talented and educated women, and yet workplaces haven't necessarily changed to accommodate the reality of their lives.
Nations need to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, and India's tradition of dissent and democratic debate is a positive aspect.
I see the level of sophistication and knowledge about business growing dramatically. Several decades ago, only a few companies thought about international business.
