The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Stephen Covey
Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.
Every human has four endowments - self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change.
The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.
There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles.
Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you.
Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
Accountability breeds response-ability.
Listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.
Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting.
When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems.
Synergy is better than my way or your way. It's our way.
Begin with the end in mind.
Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.
Stop setting goals. Goals are pure fantasy unless you have a specific plan to achieve them.
You can't talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into.
Synergy is what happens when one plus one equals ten or a hundred or even a thousand! It's the profound result when two or more respectful human beings determine to go beyond their preconceived ideas to meet a great challenge.
Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.
We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.
Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect.
If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm.
Life is not accumulation, it is about contribution.
Every time you think the problem is 'out there,' that very thought is the problem.
The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.
If there's one thing that's certain in business, it's uncertainty.
Leadership is a choice, not a position.
We see the world not as it is, but as we are.
A mission statement is not something you write overnight... But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.
The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it.
Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
What is common sense isn't common practice.
In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.
An empowered organisation is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organisational success.
A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.
When you really listen to another person from their point of view, and reflect back to them that understanding, it's like giving them emotional oxygen.
Listen with your eyes for feelings.
I believe in this concept that you learn by teaching.
If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.
Instead, I have an abundance mentality: When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger.
The key is taking responsibility and initiative, deciding what your life is about and prioritizing your life around the most important things.
We become what we repeatedly do.
You can retire from a job, but don't ever retire from making extremely meaningful contributions in life.
The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged.
The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant struggles faced by modern man.