“leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.”

“V. Gilbert Beers says, “A person of integrity is one who has established a system of values against which all of life is judged.” Integrity is not what we do so much as who we are. And who we are, in turn, determines what we do.

“We are all failures—at least, all the best of us are.

“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!”

“THE LAW OF COUNTABILITY Teammates Must Be Able to Count on Each Other When It Counts”

“Most people who don’t feel content with their lives don’t know the reason why. Often they suspect that circumstances or other people are to blame. Even honest and self-aware individuals who know the problem lies inside of them still may have trouble getting to the root of the issue. They ask themselves, “Why am I this way?” They desire to change, but they don’t do anything differently so that they can change. They merely hope things will turn out all right—and they become frustrated when they don’t. Recognize that only when you make the right changes to your thinking do other things begin to turn out right in your life.”

“Your mind will give back to you exactly what you put into it.”

“The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.”

“To achieve your dreams, you must embrace adversity and make failure a regular part of your life. If you're not failing, you're probably not really moving forward.”

“People who think they’re leading but have no one following them are only taking a walk.”

“EXAMPLES OF THE PARETO PRINCIPLE: TIME 20 percent of our time produces 80 percent of the results. COUNSELING 20 percent of the people take up 80 percent of our time. PRODUCTS 20 percent of the products bring in 80 percent of the profit. READING 20 percent of the book contains 80 percent of the content. JOB 20 percent of our work gives us 80 percent of our satisfaction. SPEECH 20 percent of the presentation produces 80 percent of the impact. DONATIONS 20 percent of the people will give 80 percent of the money. LEADERSHIP 20 percent of the people will make 80 percent of the decisions. PICNIC 20 percent of the people will eat 80 percent of the food!” 

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

“The true leader serves. Serves people. Serves their best interests, and in so doing will not always be popular, may not always impress. But because true leaders are motivated by loving concern, rather than a desire for personal glory, they are willing to pay the price

“People can perceive a lot in seven seconds. They can decide that they do not want to hear anything a speaker has to say,”

“Don’t look—you might see. Don’t listen—you might hear. Don’t think—you might learn. Don’t make a decision—you might be wrong. Don’t walk—you might stumble. Don’t run—you might fall. Don’t live—you might die. I would like to add one more thought to this depressing list: Don’t change—you might grow.”