“
Your beliefs affect your choices. Your choices shape your actions. Your actions determine your results. The future you create depends upon the choices you make and the actions you take today.
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”
Roy T. Bennett
“
When you realize that people treat you according to how they see themselves rather than how you really are, you are less likely to be affected by their behavior.
”
”
John C. Maxwell (Be a People Person: Effective Leadership Through Effective Relationships)
“
No matter what type of leader you are or how widespread your influence, you face personal temptations, challenges, and stresses. And only a foundation of character will sustain you and your leadership.
”
”
Myles Munroe (The Power of Character in Leadership: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders)
“
The goal shouldn’t be to make the perfect decision every time but to make less bad decisions than everyone else.
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”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Guilt and affection are far more powerful motivators than fear.
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James B. Comey (A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership)
“
Great leaders don’t lead others with bitterness or resentfulness of past mistakes, they lead with hope and knowledge of the past to inform greater decision making in the future.
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”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Your outlook affects your outcome
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John Paul Warren
“
Anytime you use your influence to affect the thoughts and actions of others, you are engaging in leadership.
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Kenneth H. Blanchard (The Heart of a Leader: Insights on the Art of Influence)
“
When efforts that are wisely executed, the situation and condition don't affect the performance.
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Ashish Patel
“
Thatcher once said that if she were a visitor from Mars required to create a constitutional system, "I would set up ... a hereditary monarchy, wonderfully trained, in duty and in leadership which understands example, which is always there, which is above politics, for which the whole nation has an affection and which is a symbol of patriotism.
”
”
Sally Bedell Smith (Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch)
“
Love me, hate me, hurt me or kill me. I keep fighting.
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”
Jonathan Harnisch (The Brutal Truth)
“
when you face disappointments and trials in life, your response dictates the character that will be created in you as a result.
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”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
These things sensibly affected Theseus, who, thinking it but just not to disregard, but rather partake of, the sufferings of his fellow citizens, offered himself for one without any lot. All else were struck with admiration for the nobleness and with love for the goodness of the act.
”
”
Plutarch (Plutarch's Lives: Volume I)
“
Effective leaders almost never need to yell. The leader will have created an environment where disappointing him causes his people to be disappointed in themselves. Guilt and affection are far more powerful motivators than fear. The great coaches of team sports are almost always people who simply need to say, in a quiet voice, “That wasn’t our best, now was it?” and his players melt. They love this man, know he loves them, and will work tirelessly not to disappoint him. People are drawn to this kind of leader, as I was drawn all those years ago to Harry Howell, the grocer. A leader who screams at his employees or belittles them will not attract and retain great talent over the long term.
”
”
James B. Comey (A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership)
“
Waiting for others to do something negatively affected the gift of leadership within me.
”
”
Clay Scroggins (How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority)
“
Anything that does or may affect a business' markets is relevant to the business and warrants significant consideration.
”
”
Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr. (GAME CHANGR6: An Executives Guide to Dominating Change, by applying the R6 Resilience Change Management Framework)
“
Our schools will not improve if we continue to focus only on reading and mathematics while ignoring the other studies that are essential elements of a good education. Schools that expect nothing more of their students than mastery of basic skills will not produce graduates who are ready for college or the modern workplace.
***
Our schools will not improve if we value only what tests measure. The tests we have now provide useful information about students' progress in reading and mathematics, but they cannot measure what matters most in education....What is tested may ultimately be less important that what is untested...
***
Our schools will not improve if we continue to close neighborhood schools in the name of reform. Neighborhood schools are often the anchors of their communities, a steady presence that helps to cement the bond of community among neighbors.
***
Our schools cannot improve if charter schools siphon away the most motivated students and their families in the poorest communities from the regular public schools.
***
Our schools will not improve if we continue to drive away experienced principals and replace them with neophytes who have taken a leadership training course but have little or no experience as teachers.
***
Our schools cannot be improved if we ignore the disadvantages associated with poverty that affect children's ability to learn. Children who have grown up in poverty need extra resources, including preschool and medical care.
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”
Diane Ravitch (The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education)
“
Research indicates that the highest performing managers and leaders are the most open and caring. The best leaders demonstrate more affection toward others and want others to be more open with them. They are more positive and passionate, more loving and compassionate, and more grateful and encouraging than their lower performing counterparts.
”
”
James M. Kouzes (The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know)
“
We often trick ourselves into thinking that we possess enough knowledge or control over any given situation to make correct choices. Maybe that is why we hold on to the decisions we make so dearly even when we know we are wrong.
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”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Long-term solutions are more attractive and cause much less controversy than short-term solutions, which will affect people who are still alive and voting.
”
”
George Friedman (The Next Decade: Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going)
“
Tunney has all the makings of a hero – he was clean living, intelligent, polite, reasonably good-looking – but, like Lou Gehrig, he lacked the chemistry that stirred affection.
”
”
Bill Bryson (One Summer: America, 1927)
“
We live in a world where people believe they have full control of
their choices and decisions, but rarely have the holistic knowledge to effectively wield such power.
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Having an understanding of the human mind and how it functions is probably the single most important thing anyone who wants to be successful can do
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
We have two choices when it comes to creating impactful change in
people’s decision-making process. We can create technology to prohibit or create rules to follow
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”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
The more that people share decisions affecting their working life, the more they are motivated to carry them out
”
”
John Adair (Develop Your Leadership Skills (Creating Success))
“
Remember that no matter how great a leader you become, you could lose everything that you've gained due to a lack of character.
”
”
Myles Munroe (The Power of Character in Leadership: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders)
“
The greatest leaders in the world fight cognitive bias by developing 'rules to live by' and carefully following predetermined routines to maximize efficiency and control of their environment
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”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Some choices are better than others and we, as mortal humans, cannot be expected to always choose the best ones. What we can control is how we evaluate past decisions. Our readiness to reflect and realize that we were wrong. Our ability to admit our wrongs and move forward. To say we are sorry or make amends for mistakes. To apply what we’ve learned from past follies and choose wiser in the present. I contend that in a random and often chaotic world of choices, that is what we can control.
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Imagine a world full of people who take their choices seriously, carefully weighing the options presented to them. I wonder where we would be if people put as much thought into their decision-making process as they do so many other things in their lives.
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
When spirituality becomes spiritualization, life in the body becomes carnality. When ministers and priests live their ministry mostly in their heads and relate to the Gospel as a set of valuable ideas to be announced, the body quickly takes revenge by screaming loudly for affection and intimacy. Christian leaders are called to live the Incarnation, that is, to live in the body, not only in their own bodies but also in the corporate body of the community, and to discover there the presence of the Holy Spirit.
”
”
Henri J.M. Nouwen (In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership)
“
Even in an age where the answer to almost all of life’s questions is a simple Google search away, we often don’t take the time to read the entire article for the answer. We don’t make time to actively seek out the truth, only the first or most relevant result.
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
What we value and our priorities in life make us who we are. We are unique not only because of our outward differences, but arguably more importantly, our inward differences. Our values steer our personal and professional lives and have a distinct imprint on the decisions we make.
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Once more, we must realize that when men are ignorant of their true identity, it affects not only their own callings and fulfillment, but also that of their families and of society as a whole. This is because God has given males a unique leadership influence. As the man goes, so goes the family, society, and the world.
”
”
Myles Munroe (Understanding the Purpose and Power of Men: God's Design for Male Identity)
“
We are all skyscrapers, continually adding rooms and floors to who we are. Once one floor is done, the next begins and the result is a constant work in progress. The best business leaders treat their companies like projects never to be completed, only improved and refined, so why shouldn’t we also treat ourselves as such?
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
We are always in the middle of change, and our daily
choices, work, relationships, and other aspects of our lives affect our collective future.
”
”
Dele Ola (Be a Change Agent: Leadership in a Time of Exponential Change)
“
Great leaders deliver on their promises. They do not just make empty promises because they know that such can gravely affect their credibility.
”
”
Gift Gugu Mona (The Effective Leadership Prototype for a Modern Day Leader)
“
Interestingly, one of the most important times to listen well is when you disagree with the message, especially as it relates to how we affect others.
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”
James M. Kouzes (A Coach's Guide to Developing Exemplary Leaders: Making the Most of The Leadership Challenge and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (J-B Leadership Challenge: Kouzes/Posner Book 202))
“
Anyaele Sam Chiyson Leadership Law of Affection: Successful leaders like, set a good example to other leaders and determine the course with them.
”
”
Anyaele Sam Chiyson (The Sagacity of Sage)
“
Values and ideals rooted deeply in the Love Paradigm will profoundly affect, inform and direct in the midst of any context.
”
”
Michael M. Rose (Becoming Love. Avoiding Common Forms of Christian Insanity)
“
No one should think he is too smart or too safe to avoid consequences of a lack of character.
”
”
Myles Munroe (The Power of Character in Leadership: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders)
“
He understood the code of his social class enough to affect an air of indifference about life.
”
”
H.W. Brands
“
We must be drawn by the idea of where we want to go more than we dislike the idea of all the work it is going to take to get there.
”
”
Scott Hammerle (Lessons from the Castle: My Journey From Prince Charming to Executive Level Leader and How You Can Find The Legendary Leader Within)
“
We could sum up thre entire message of this book in the following way; leaders stand for something - vision. Leaders stand on something - values.
”
”
Myles Munroe (The Power of Character in Leadership: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders)
“
averaged over many cases, leadership does tend to affect economic growth.
”
”
Jared Diamond (Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis)
“
Decisions made by political leaders, as well as heads of large corporations, affect all of us. If these are made from a place where empathy does not reside, it will not end well. When empathy isn’t present in leadership, decisions are made that hold money and power as the greatest priority instead of the people who reside here and the planet that feeds and shelters us.
”
”
Debbie Mirza (The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: Recognizing the Traits and Finding Healing After Hidden Emotional and Psychological Abuse (The Narcissism Series Book 1))
“
And when we talk about race today, with all the pain packed into that conversation, the Holy Spirit remains in the room, This doesn't mean the conversations aren't painful, aren't personal, aren't charged with emotion. But it does mean we can survive. We can survive honest discussions about slavery, about convict leasing, about stolen land, deportation, discrimination, and exclusion. We can identify the harmful politics of gerrymandering, voter suppression, criminal justice laws, and policies that disproportionately affect people of color negatively. And we can expose the actions of white flight, the real impact of all-white leadership, the racial disparity in wages, and opportunities for advancement. We can lament and mourn. We can be livid and enraged. We can be honest. We can tell the truth. We can trust that the Holy Spirit is here. We must.
For only by being truthful about how we got here can we begin to imagine another way.
”
”
Austin Channing Brown (I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness)
“
Our own output of energy can energize other people or deflate them, contribute to productivity or add to the confusion. Energy affects the course of interactions and facilitates connections.
”
”
Michelle Tillis Lederman (The 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking . . . Because People Do Business with People They Like)
“
But leadership is about making the lives of others easier, not blaming them. Leadership is about the hard work of taking responsibility for how our actions and words affect the lives of others.
”
”
L. David Marquet (Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say--and What You Don't)
“
I am a huge believer in giving back and helping out in the community and the world. Think globally, act locally I suppose. I believe that the measure of a person's life is the affect they have on others.
”
”
Steve Nash
“
Being a leader doesn’t mean you have people reporting to you on an organizational chart—leadership is about inspiring and motivating those around you. A good leader affects a team’s ability to deliver code, architect good systems, and apply Lean principles to how the team manages its work and develops products. All of these have a measurable impact on an organization’s profitability, productivity, and market share.
”
”
Nicole Forsgren (Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations)
“
If you have a million fans and no talent,
you’re still not a success.
a million students and no lesson,
you’re still not a teacher.
a million sermons and no compassion,
you’re still not a priest.
a million children and no affection,
you’re still not a father.
a million anniversaries and no devotion,
you’re still not a husband.
If you have a million sheep and no courage,
you’re still not a shepherd.
a million seeds and no harvest,
you’re still not a farmer.
a million titles and no integrity,
you’re still not a champion.
a million thoughts and no insights,
you’re still not a philosopher.
a million predictions and no prophecy,
you’re still not a prophet.
If you have a million soldiers and no unity,
you’re still not an army.
a million monks and no camaraderie,
you’re still not a monastery.
a million cities and no borders,
you’re still not a country.
a million musicians and no harmony,
you’re still not an orchestra.
a million armies and no strategy,
you’re still not a general.
If you have a million titles, and no influence,
you’re still not a leader;
a million ideas and no creations,
you’re still not an artist.
a million theories, and no facts,
you’re still not a scholar;
a million books, and no wisdom,
you’re still not a sage;
a million virtues, and no love,
you’re still not a saint.
”
”
Matshona Dhliwayo
“
If the people merely have the right to vote, but no right of extensive participation, in other words, if they are awakened only at election time but go into hibernation afterwards, this is token democracy. Reviewing our experience with people's democracy since the founding of the PRC, we have made it clear that in such a vast and populous socialist country, extensive deliberation under the leadership of the CPC on major issues affecting the economy and the people's quality of life embodies the unity of democracy and centralism. Chinese socialist democracy takes two important forms: in one the people exercise their right to vote in elections, and in the other, people from all sectors of society undertake extensive deliberations before major decisions are made. In China, these two forms do not cancel one another out, nor are they contradictory; they are complimentary. They constitute institutional features and strengths of Chinese socialist democracy.
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”
Xi Jinping (The Governance of China: Volume 2)
“
Leadership: How does this problem affect our people? [Your Response Here] Personnel: Do we have the right people to help us with this problem? [Your Response Here] Timing: Is this the right time for a solution, and do we have enough time for it?
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”
John C. Maxwell (Developing the Leader Within You 2.0 Workbook (Developing the Leader Series))
“
We live in an age where people pride themselves on individualism and the concept of living authentically. The human race strives towards self-help and desires nothing if not constant self-improvement both inward and outward. So, I ask you, what can be more authentic than learning the truth? How can one form their unique self without first knowing more possibilities? How can a person truly strive for such grandiose dreams of self-improvement without the ability to listen to the advice and knowledge of others?
”
”
Spencer Fraseur (The Irrational Mind: How To Fight Back Against The Hidden Forces That Affect Our Decision Making)
“
Elite performers win in their minds first. The mind is a battleground where the greatest struggle takes place. The thoughts that win the battle for your mind will direct your life. Mental state affects physical performance. The mind constantly sends messages to the body, and the body listens and responds. Therefore, elite warriors train their minds to focus and think in a way that maximizes how they practice and how they perform in competition. Getting your mind right means managing two things: A) What you focus on. B) How you talk to yourself. If you focus on negative things and talk to yourself in negative ways, that will put you into a negative mindset. Your performance will suffer. If you focus on productive things and talk to yourself in productive ways, that will put you into a productive mindset. Your performance will be enhanced. We teach our players to replace low-performance self-talk with high-performance self-talk. We tell our players, “The voice in your mind is a powerful force. Take ownership of that force.
”
”
Urban Meyer (Above the Line: Lessons in Leadership and Life from a Championship Program)
“
Most of all I discovered that my change of mind was closely connected with a change of heart. As a young man, I was comfortable with teachings that supported my leadership role. The role of women was a great topic for debate because it really didn't affect me and my identity. However, as I have been able to better receive God's calling to leadership as a call to humility rather than supremacy, I have been more able to receive women in leadership as well. It is here where I believe that my mind and heart and the Scriptures are most connected.
”
”
Robert Fryling
“
Here’s my full list of guidelines for how to apply the principles of this chapter to email communication. 1. Emails should contain as few words as possible. 2. Make it easy to see your central point at a glance, in one screen. 3. Never send an email that could emotionally affect another person unless it’s pure positive feedback. 4. Emotional issues must be discussed by phone; email should be used only to book a time for a call. 5. If you accidentally break rule number four, phone the person immediately, apologize, and discuss the issue by phone.
”
”
David Rock (Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work)
“
Blind barthimus used his mouth and his feet to affect what wasn't working in his life? What do you use to affect what's not working in your life? God is not interested in your perfection, He is interested in your participation. It is your participation that attracts the presence of God.
”
”
Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
“
The only way you can motivate people is to communicate with them.” Effective communication also shapes values for people by “not only bringing company philosophy to life . . . ,” as Peters and Austin put it, but also “helps newcomers understand how shared values affect individual performance.
”
”
Donald T. Phillips (Lincoln On Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times)
“
Effective leaders almost never need to yell. The leader will have created an environment where disappointing him causes his people to be disappointed in themselves. Guilt and affection are far more powerful motivators than fear. The great coaches of team sports are almost always people who simply need to say, in a quiet voice, “That wasn’t our best, now was it?” and his players melt. They love this man, know he loves them, and will work tirelessly not to disappoint him. People are drawn to this kind of leader, as I was drawn all those years ago to Harry Howell, the grocer. A leader who screams
”
”
James B. Comey (A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership)
“
Trust, honesty, and integrity are exceedingly important qualities because they so strongly affect followers. Most individuals need to trust others, especially their boss. Subordinates must perceive their leader as a consistently fair person if they’re to engage in the kind of innovative risk-taking that brings a company rewards.
”
”
Donald T. Phillips (Lincoln On Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times)
“
We had better want the consequences of what we believe or disbelieve, because the consequences will come! . . .
But how can a society set priorities if there are no basic standards? Are we to make our calculations using only the arithmetic of appetite? . . .
The basic strands which have bound us together socially have begun to fray, and some of them have snapped. Even more pressure is then placed upon the remaining strands. The fact that the giving way is gradual will not prevent it from becoming total. . . .
Given the tremendous asset that the family is, we must do all we can within constitutional constraints to protect it from predatory things like homosexuality and pornography. . . .
Our whole republic rests upon the notion of “obedience to the unenforceable,” upon a tremendous emphasis on inner controls through self-discipline. . . .
Different beliefs do make for different behaviors; what we think does affect our actions; concepts do have consequences. . . .
Once society loses its capacity to declare that some things are wrong per se, then it finds itself forever building temporary defenses, revising rationales, drawing new lines—but forever falling back and losing its nerve. A society which permits anything will eventually lose everything!
Take away a consciousness of eternity and see how differently time is spent.
Take away an acknowledgement of divine design in the structure of life and then watch the mindless scurrying to redesign human systems to make life pain-free and pleasure-filled.
Take away regard for the divinity in one’s neighbor, and watch the drop in our regard for his property.
Take away basic moral standards and observe how quickly tolerance changes into permissiveness.
Take away the sacred sense of belonging to a family or community, and observe how quickly citizens cease to care for big cities.
Those of us who are business-oriented are quick to look for the bottom line in our endeavors. In the case of a value-free society, the bottom line is clear—the costs are prohibitive!
A value-free society eventually imprisons its inhabitants. It also ends up doing indirectly what most of its inhabitants would never have agreed to do directly—at least initially.
Can we turn such trends around? There is still a wealth of wisdom in the people of this good land, even though such wisdom is often mute and in search of leadership. People can often feel in their bones the wrongness of things, long before pollsters pick up such attitudes or before such attitudes are expressed in the ballot box. But it will take leadership and articulate assertion of basic values in all places and in personal behavior to back up such assertions.
Even then, time and the tides are against us, so that courage will be a key ingredient. It will take the same kind of spunk the Spartans displayed at Thermopylae when they tenaciously held a small mountain pass against overwhelming numbers of Persians. The Persians could not dislodge the Spartans and sent emissaries forward to threaten what would happen if the Spartans did not surrender. The Spartans were told that if they did not give up, the Persians had so many archers in their army that they would darken the skies with their arrows. The Spartans said simply: “So much the better, we will fight in the shade!
”
”
Neal A. Maxwell
“
Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?’
Amos 3:3
‘Does This Person Belong in your Life?’
A toxic relationship is like a limb with gangrene: unless you amputate it the infection can spread and kill you. Without the courage to cut off what refuses to heal, you’ll end up losing a lot more. Your personal growth - and in some cases your healing - will only be expedited by establishing relationships with the right people. Maybe you’ve heard the story about the scorpion who asked the frog to carry him across the river because he couldn’t swim. ‘I’m afraid you’ll sting me,’ replied the frog. The scorpion smiled reassuringly and said, ‘Of course I won’t. If I did that we’d both drown!’ So the frog agreed, and the scorpion hopped on his back. Wouldn’t you know it: halfway across the river the scorpion stung him! As they began to sink the frog lamented, ‘You promised you wouldn’t sting me. Why’d you do it?’ The scorpion replied, ‘I can’t help it. It’s my nature!’ Until God changes the other person’s nature, they have the power to affect and infect you. For example, when you feel passionately about something but others don’t, it’s like trying to dance a foxtrot with someone who only knows how to waltz. You picked the wrong dance partner! Don’t get tied up with someone who doesn’t share your values and God-given goals. Some issues can be corrected through counselling, prayer, teaching, and leadership. But you can’t teach someone to care; if they don’t care they’ll pollute your environment, kill your productivity, and break your rhythm with constant complaints. That’s why it’s important to pray and ask God, ‘Does this person belong in my life?
”
”
Patience Johnson
“
When you realize that people treat you according to how they see themselves rather than how you really are, you are less likely to be affected by their behavior. Your self-image will reflect who you are, not how you’re treated by others. You will not be riding an emotional roller roaster. This type of stability will have a tremendous effect on how you feel toward and deal with others. The key to successful relationships really gets down to responsibility. I am responsible for how I treat others. I may not be responsible for how they treat me, but I am responsible for my reaction to those who are difficult. I can’t choose how you’ll treat me, but I can choose how I will respond to you.
”
”
John C. Maxwell (Be a People Person: Effective Leadership Through Effective Relationships)
“
What distinguishes love-driven leaders from tyrants? "Great affection" coupled with the passion to see others "run at full speed towards perfection." Love-driven leadership is not urging others forward without concern for their aspirations, well-being, or personal needs. Nor is it being the nice-guy manager who overlooks underperformance that could damage a subordinate's long-term prospects. Instead, love-driven leaders hunger to see latent potential blossom and to help it happen. In more prosaic terms, when do children, students, athletes, or employees achieve their full potential? When they're parented, taught, coached, or managed by those who engender trust, provide support and encouragement, uncover potential, and set high standards.
”
”
Chris Lowney (Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World)
“
Are leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Do the times make the leader or does the leader shape the times? How can a leader infuse a sense of purpose and meaning into people’s lives? What is the difference between power, title, and leadership? Is leadership possible without a purpose larger than personal ambition?
”
”
Doris Kearns Goodwin (Leadership: In Turbulent Times)
“
I often hear that it’s hard to know the right thing to do. No, it’s not! You always know what’s right, but sometimes it’s just very hard to do it. It’s hard because you may have to admit failure. It’s hard because the right decision may affect your friends and colleagues. It’s hard because you may not personally benefit from doing what’s right. Yeah, it’s hard. That’s called leadership.
”
”
William H. McRaven (The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy))
“
What he meant was that for over forty years, the leaders of our government had understood that a president and an FBI director must be at arm’s length. The FBI is often called upon to investigate cases that touch on the president’s senior aides and affect the course of his presidency. To be credible—both in reality and in perception—the FBI and its director cannot be close with the president.
”
”
James B. Comey (A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership)
“
Show vulnerability when assessing a difficult situation, but present a clear path forward. Become a student of the people you manage: avoid telling people what to feel, listen carefully, and manage individually. Prioritize yourself and seek support from other leaders to avoid emotional leaks that negatively affect your reports. Understand the challenges you and others may face in leadership positions and take steps to reduce them.
”
”
Liz Fosslien (No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work)
“
Think of the greatest minds in your opinion, were they not young and foolish one day? Were they not on the wrong side of your definition of truth and had a change of heart at some point? Or maybe their ideas weren’t perfected until a later stage of their lives. That’s how humans operate; I know the greatest minds were not so great at some point, and I certainly wouldn’t have wanted them interfering in important issues that affect me.
”
”
Omar Digna (Governance & Human Nature: The Crippling Incompatibility Hidden In Plain Sight)
“
At its core, the WHY is an origin story. Who we are is the sum total of all the experiences we’ve had growing up—the lessons we learned, the teachers we had and the things we did. In order to help your companion discover their WHY, you’ll need to listen to stories from their past. Their WHY represents who they are at their natural best and will be revealed through specific stories and experiences that affected their life and shaped who they are.
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Simon Sinek (Find Your Why: A practical leadership book to bring purpose to your team)
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I’m done being polite about this bullshit. My list of professional insecurities entirely stems from being a young woman. Big plot twist there! As much as I like to execute equality instead of discussing the blaring inequality, the latter is still necessary. Everything, everywhere, is still necessary. The more women who take on leadership positions, the more representation of women in power will affect and shift the deep-rooted misogyny of our culture—perhaps erasing a lot of these inherent and inward concerns. But whether a woman is a boss or not isn’t even what I’m talking about—I’m talking about when she is, because even when she manages to climb up to the top, there’s much more to do, much more to change. When a woman is in charge, there are still unspoken ideas, presumptions, and judgments being thrown up into the invisible, terribly lit air in any office or workplace. And I’m a white woman in a leadership position—I can only speak from my point of view. The challenges that women of color face in the workforce are even greater, the hurdles even higher, the pay gap even wider. The ingrained, unconscious bias is even stronger against them. It’s overwhelming to think about the amount of restructuring and realigning we have to do, mentally and physically, to create equality, but it starts with acknowledging the difference, the problem, over and over.
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Abbi Jacobson (I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff)
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In abdicating responsibility throughout God's kingdom at large, Christians have created a cultural vacuum of labor, influence, and leadership which the ungodly have come in to fill. The fact of the matter is, someone is going to exercise rulership in the earth. If not the godly, then the ungodly. If the righteous retreat completely, they have no reason to be surprised when they wake up one day to find their inheritance usurped by those who do not know God.
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Christian Overman (Assumptions that Affect Our Lives)
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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER In your organization, are people rewarded for what happens after they transfer? Are they rewarded for the success of their people? Do people want to be “missed” after they leave? When an organization does worse immediately after the departure of a leader, what does this say about that person’s leadership? How does the organization view this situation? How does the perspective of time horizon affect our leadership actions? What can we do to incentivize long-term thinking?
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L. David Marquet (Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders)
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The Nant'ans were crucial to the well-being of this open system, but decentralization affect more than just leadership. Because there was not capital and no central command post, Apache decisions were made all over the place. A raid on a Spanish settlement, for example, could be conceived in one place, organized in another, and carried out in yet another. You never knew where the Apaches would be coming from. In one sense, there was no place where important decisions were made, and in another sense, decisions were made by everybody everywhere.
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Ori Brafman (The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations)
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Although I differ—and differ vigorously—with President Johnson on this so-called civil rights question,” Russell said, “I expect to support the President just as strongly when I think he is right as I intend to oppose him when I think he is wrong.” For his part, Johnson had approached Russell from the beginning with affection and sensitivity and without a trace of vindictiveness. Clearly, both men loved the South, but Russell clung to its past while Johnson nurtured a different economic and social vision for its future, a vision stillborn without the changes this bill promised to deliver.
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Doris Kearns Goodwin (Leadership: In Turbulent Times)
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The president opened the conversation by explaining, “Once you are director, we won’t be able to talk like this.” What he meant was that for over forty years, the leaders of our government had understood that a president and an FBI director must be at arm’s length. The FBI is often called upon to investigate cases that touch on the president’s senior aides and affect the course of his presidency. To be credible—both in reality and in perception—the FBI and its director cannot be close with the president. So one final time, President Obama and I had the kind of conversation two college classmates might. We discussed and debated hard issues that were not under the FBI director’s purview, like using drones to kill
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James B. Comey (A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership)
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You’ve already said that,” Alex says. “Why should I go?”
“You’re the only person I have,” I say. “And I want us all to be together. It will be good for us.”
“Oh, so now I’m back in the picture again.”
“Alex. Something bigger than you is occurring right now. I’m sorry about your unhappy childhood.”
She glares at me in that special way of hers and Joanie’s that makes me feel worthless and foul-smelling.
“So we’ll tell Scottie we’re going on a vacation while Mom is in the hospital?”
“It’s for a day or two,” I say. “Scottie’s been in the hospital every day for almost a month now. She needs a break. It’s not good for her. I’d like you to be in charge of answering any questions she may have. She looks up to you. She’ll hang on whatever you say.”
I’m hoping a leadership role, a specific chore, will make Alex act like an adult and treat Scottie well.
“Can you do that?”
She shrugs.
“If you can’t handle things, let me know. I’ll help. I’m here for you.”
Alex laughs. I wonder if there are parents who can say things to their kids like “I love you” or “I’m here for you” without being laughed at. I have to admit it’s a bit uncomfortable. Affection, in general, is unpleasant to me.
“What if Mom doesn’t make it for two days?”
“She will,” I say. “I’ll tell her what we’re doing.”
Alex looks uncomfortable with this idea, that what I’ll say will make her mother want to live. “I’m bringing Sid,” she says. “If he doesn’t come, then I’m not going.”
I’m about to protest, but I see the look in her eyes and know this is yet another battle that I’m bound to lose. Something about this guy is helping her. And Scottie seems to like him. He can keep her distracted. He can work for me.
“Okay,” I say. “Deal.
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Kaui Hart Hemmings (The Descendants)
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Don’t be defensive. People will be reluctant to share feedback if they are afraid of hurting your feelings or having to justify their perceptions. Listen carefully. Relax and actively listen to understand what the other person is trying to tell you; be sensitive to how your nonverbal communication is affecting the other person’s willingness to share with you. Suspend judgment. Listen, don’t judge. Don’t worry about what you’re going to say, but rather work to understand what the other person is trying to tell you. Be welcoming and assume that the information is intended to help you be better rather than anything otherwise. Ask questions and ask for examples. Make sure you understand what is being said and learn about the context as well as the content. Say thank you. Let the other person know that you appreciate his or her feedback and that you can’t get any better without knowing more about yourself and how your actions affect others.
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James M. Kouzes (The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations)
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My friend Brad Feld and I sat on his back porch while his golden retrievers vied for our affection. We spoke of big and small things. We reminisced. We recalled stories from two decades of friendship. We caught up on recent stories, present-day stories, of lives unfolding, hearts breaking, and the gravity that comes from becoming more and more ourselves. “I’m working harder than I’d like,” he tells me as we both nod, recognizing the tendency in each of us to do that. We know that neither of us will ever really stop working; for us, working means thinking, talking, connecting, and creating. “The difference now,” he says, referring to his fifty-something self, “the difference from earlier in my life is simple: I’m no longer striving.” Seat taken, he no longer needs to define himself by what he’s doing. Seat taken, he can allow the sadness of everyday heartbreak—his and that of those he loves—to wash over and through him. Seat taken, the gentle, openhearted warrior emerges, and we laugh and speak of our approaching elder-hood. Taking your seat leads to equanimity. Taking your seat means defining your life.
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Jerry Colonna (Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up)
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The disaster was the first major crisis to occur under the fledgling leadership of the USSR’s most recent General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. He chose not to address the public for three weeks after the accident, presumably to allow his experts time to gain a proper grasp of the situation. On May 14th, in addition to expressing his anger at Western Chernobyl propaganda, he announced to the world that all information relating to the incident would be made available, and that an unprecedented conference would be held with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in August at Vienna. Decades of information control proved difficult to cast off in such a short time, however, and while the report was made available in the West, it was classified in the Soviet Union. This meant those most affected by the disaster knew less than everyone else. In addition, although the Soviet delegation’s report was highly detailed and accurate in most regards, it was also misleading. It had been written in line with the official cause of the accident - that the operators were responsible - and, as such, it deliberately obfuscated vital details about the reactor.
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Andrew Leatherbarrow (Chernobyl 01:23:40: The Incredible True Story of the World's Worst Nuclear Disaster)
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This book festival...grew to attract thousands of visitors every year. Now they felt like they needed a new purpose. The festival’s continuing existence felt assured. What was it for? What could it do? How could it make itself count?
The festival’s leadership reached out to me for advice on these questions. What kind of purpose could be their next great animating force? Someone had the idea that the festival’s purpose could be about stitching together the community. Books were, of course, the medium. But couldn’t an ambitious festival set itself the challenge of making the city more connected? Couldn’t it help turn strong readers into good citizens? That seemed to me a promising direction—a specific, unique, disputable lodestar for a book festival that could guide its construction...We began to brainstorm.
I proposed an idea: Instead of starting each session with the books and authors themselves, why not kick things off with a two-minute exercise in which audience members can meaningfully, if briefly, connect with one another? The host could ask three city- or book-related questions, and then ask each member of the audience to turn to a stranger to discuss one of them. What brought you to this city—whether birth or circumstance?
What is a book that really affected you as a child? What do you think would make us a better city? Starting a session with these questions would help the audience become aware of one another. It would also break the norm of not speaking to a stranger, and perhaps encourage this kind of behavior to continue as people left the session. And it would activate a group identity—the city’s book lovers—that, in the absence of such questions, tends to stay dormant.
As soon as this idea was mentioned, someone in the group sounded a worry. “But I wouldn’t want to take away time from the authors,” the person said. There it was—the real, if unspoken, purpose rousing from its slumber and insisting on its continued primacy. Everyone liked the idea of “book festival as community glue” in theory. But at the first sign of needing to compromise on another thing in order to honor this new something, alarm bells rang. The group wasn’t ready to make the purpose of the book festival the stitching of community if it meant changing the structure of the sessions, or taking time away from something else. Their purpose, whether or not they admitted it, was the promotion of books and reading and the honoring of authors. It bothered them to make an author wait two minutes for citizens to bond. The book festival was doing what many of us do: shaping a gathering according to various unstated motivations, and making half-hearted gestures toward loftier goals.
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Priya Parker (The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters)
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It's evident that with Beethoven the Romantic Revolution had already begun, bringing with it the new Artist, the artist as Priest and Prophet. This new creator had a new self-image: he felt himself possessed of divine rights, of almost Napoleonic powers and liberties — especially the liberty to break rules and make new ones, to invent new forms and concepts, all in the name of greater expressivity. His mission was to lead the way to a new aesthetic world, confident that history would follow his inspirational leadership. And so there exploded onto the scene Byron, Jean Paul, Delacroix, Victor Hugo, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz — all proclaiming new freedoms.
Where music was concerned, the new freedoms affected formal structures, harmonic procedures, instrumental color, melody, rhythm — all of these were part of a new expanding universe, at the center of which lay the artist's personal passions. From the purely phonological point of view, the most striking of these freedoms was the new chromaticism, now employing a vastly enriched palette, and bringing with it the concomitant enrichment of ambiguity. The air was now filled with volcanic, chromatic sparks. More and more the upper partials of the harmonic series were taking on an independence of their own, playing hide-and-seek with their sober diatonic elders, like defiant youngsters in the heyday of revolt.
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Leonard Bernstein (The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard)
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Questions and Topics for Discussion This book is written in an oral history format. Why do you think the author chose to structure the book this way? How does this approach affect your reading experience? At one point Daisy says, “I was just supposed to be the inspiration for some man’s great idea….I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else’s muse.” How does her experience of being used by others contribute to the decisions she makes when she joins The Six? Why do you think Billy has such a strong need to control the group, both early on when they are simply the Dunne Brothers and later when they become Daisy Jones & The Six? There are two sets of brothers in The Six: Eddie and Pete Loving, and Billy and Graham Dunne. How do these sibling relationships affect the band? Daisy, Camila, Simone, and Karen are each very different embodiments of female strength and creativity. Who are you most drawn to and why? Billy and Daisy become polarizing figures for the band. Who in the book gravitates more toward Billy’s leadership, and who is more inclined to follow Daisy’s way of doing things? How do these alliances change over time, and how does this dynamic upset the group’s balance? Why do you think Billy and Daisy clash so strongly? What misunderstandings between them are revealed through the “author’s” investigation? What do you think of Camila’s decision to stand by Billy, despite the ways that he has hurt her through his trouble with addiction and wavering faithfulness?
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Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & The Six)
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each other and build a life together, I say more power to them. Let’s encourage solid, loving households with open-minded policy, and perhaps we’ll foster a new era of tolerance in which we can turn our attention to actual issues that need our attention, like, I don’t know, killing/bullying the citizens of other nations to maintain control of their oil? What exactly was Jesus’ take on violent capitalism? I also have some big ideas for changing the way we think about literary morals as they pertain to legislation. Rather than suffer another attempt by the religious right to base our legalese upon the Bible, I would vote that we found it squarely upon the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. The citizens of Middle Earth had much more tolerant policies in their governing bodies. For example, Elrond was chosen to lead the elves at Rivendell not only despite his androgynous nature but most likely because of the magical leadership inherent in a well-appointed bisexual elf wizard. That’s the person you want picking shit out for your community. That’s the guy you want in charge. David Bowie or a Mormon? Not a difficult equation. Was Elrond in a gay marriage? We don’t know, because it’s none of our goddamn business. Whatever the nature of his elvish lovemaking, it didn’t affect his ability to lead his community to prosperity and provide travelers with great directions. We should be encouraging love in the home place, because that makes for happier, stronger citizens. Supporting domestic solidity can only create more satisfied, invested patriots. No matter what flavor that love takes. I like blueberry myself.
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Nick Offerman (Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Principles for Delicious Living)
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The eldership must clarify direction and beliefs for the flock. It must set goals, make decisions, give direction, correct failures, affect change, and motivate people. It must evaluate, plan, and govern. Elders, then, must be problem solvers, managers of people, planners, and thinkers.
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Alexander Strauch (Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership)
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A bland technocrat straight out of the consensus playbook, Jimmy Carter represented a new kind of Democrat—a post–New Deal centrist who campaigned with vague populist niceness but whose true affection was reserved for ultra-competent policy experts. This understanding of liberal leadership would far outlast Carter’s political career: we would see it again in the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, two more true believers in meritocracy who also thought to present themselves as kindly reformers on the side of ordinary people.
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Thomas Frank (The People, No: The War on Populism and the Fight for Democracy)
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● Developing your first-ever leadership strategy and don't know where to start?
● Are you stuck with a particular phase of leadership strategy?
● Having a tough time achieving corporational milestones with your robust strategy?
If you're facing these questions and confused regarding canvassing a robust leadership strategy, this article can help you solve these queries. Several factors affect the development of a leadership strategy, such as the influence of decision-making processes for leadership/management, the personnel brought on board for strategy development and the resources involved.
There are specific "keys" to effective leadership that help in efficient development and deployment of strategies. Professionals who want to develop robust strategies and move up in their leadership career can opt for online strategy courses. These courses aim to build concepts from the grass-root level, such as what defines a strategy leadership and others.
What is a Leadership Strategy?
Leadership is required for leading organisational growth by optimising the resources and making the company's procedures more efficient.
A leadership strategy explicitly enlists the number of leaders required, the tasks they need to perform, the number of employees, team members and other stakeholders required, and the deadlines for achieving each task.
Young leaders who have recently joined the work-force can take help of programs offered by reputable institutes for deepening their knowledge about leadership and convocating successful strategies. Various XLRI leadership and management courses aim to equip new leaders with a guided step-by-step pedagogy to canvass robust leadership strategies.
What it Takes to Build a Robust Leadership Strategy: Guided Step-By-Step Pedagogy
The following steps go into developing an effective and thriving leadership strategy:-
● Step 1 = Identify Key Business Drivers
The first step involves meeting with the senior leaders and executives and identifying the business's critical drivers. Determining business carriers is essential for influencing the outcome of strategies.
● Step 2 = Identifying the Different Leadership Phases Required
This step revolves around determining the various leadership processes and phases. Choosing the right techniques from hiring and selection, succession planning, training patterns and others is key for putting together a robust strategy.
● Step 3 = Perform Analysis and Research
Researching about the company's different leadership strategies and analysing them with the past and present plans is vital for implementing future strategies.
● Step 4 = Reviewing and Updating Leadership Strategic Plan
Fourth step includes reviewing and updating the strategic plan in accordance with recent developments and requirements. Furthermore, performing an environmental scan to analyse the practices that can make strategies long-lasting and render a competitive advantage.
All it Takes for Building a Robust Leadership Strategy
The above-mentioned step by step approach helps in auguring a leadership strategy model that is sustainable and helps businesses maximise their profits. Therefore, upcoming leaders need to understand the core concepts of strategic leadership through online strategy courses. Moreover, receiving sound knowledge about developing strategies from XLRI leadership and management courses can help aspiring leaders in their careers.
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Talentedge
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if there are negative benefits, there must be full transparency. What is hidden is always revealed in the end, affecting future credibility. There can be no secrets any longer. As one being presented with information, the bottom line becomes who's benefitting, and sustainability. A lack of transparency should immediately move you to request full disclosure. Transparency is lightness.
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Christine Horner (Awakening Leadership: Embracing Mindfulness, Your Life’s Purpose, and the Leader You Were Born to Be)
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Negativity can flow out of our spirits during these times of testing. The goal, however, is that in the midst of trials we open our spirits with affection, trusting His leadership without beginning to guard our hearts in fear of more hurt. When this happens, our woundedness affects our relationship with God, and our intimacy with Jesus can be hindered. Harboring offense in our hearts toward God wounds our love for Him, and the devil knows this very well.
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Mike Bickle (The Pleasure of Loving God: A Call to Accept God's All-Encompassing Love for You)
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Money and power magnifies our temptations. It allows us to do the things that we already wanted to do mentally. It allows us to be who we already wanted to be. In position, people will show you who they really are. Sometimes a financial burden is saving you from yourself. We seem to only have emotion for the things that have affected us. Some leaders had to be put through a struggle in order to genuinely lead. Some are placed in the mud before they find their purpose. A real leader, leads in the mud too. They can’t help but lead wherever they
are.
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Dushawn Banks (True Blue)
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our personal behavior often has consequences for others.
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Myles Munroe (The Power of Character in Leadership: How Values, Morals, Ethics, and Principles Affect Leaders)
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As a Leader, your decisions affect others even when you decide to do nothing
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Millycent Mashele
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such as between affective polarization, the tendency of members of oppositional groups to feel negatively about the opposing group members and positively about members of their own group, and ideological polarization, the divergence of attitudes on substantive issues.10 Recall that the Boston leadership dialogue group was able to slowly disentangle these two forms, and their feelings and ideological beliefs eventually diverged. Political polarization is somewhat different from both affective and ideological polarity, referring instead to cases in which an individual’s stance on a given issue, policy, or person is more likely to be influenced by identification with a particular political party or ideology (e.g., progressive or conservative) than with understanding the issue or the person
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Peter T Coleman (The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization)
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I believe that traditional circle dances provide a context for women to affirm and transmit pre-patriarchal values, such as the importance of community, mutual support, and shared leadership, within a circular, not a hierarchical structure.
The dances can help us both receive and give the gifts of protection and healing. Bessel van der Kolk affirms that ‘our capacity to destroy one another is matched by our capacity to heal one another,’ and this experience of mutual healing is essential to healing from trauma.
The dances also show the importance of connecting with other women in shared rhythmic and joyful movement, and connecting with each other as allies instead of enemies. Ultimately we can learn to have compassion for ourselves, for each other, and for all those affected by the trauma of patriarchy, including the perpetrators.
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Laura Shannon (Re-visioning Medusa: from Monster to Divine Wisdom)
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I believe comic books and superheroes affect our culture so much because they serve to remind us of this powerful and deeply ingrained fact: we matter.
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Sébastien Richard (Lead Like a Superhero: What Pop Culture Icons Can Teach Us About Impactful Leadership)
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The difference between politicians and us voters . To politicians its all fun and games. Flexing power and chess moves.
To us it is our lives and reality. No matter which decision they take. That won’t affect their salary, job, or lifestyle.
But every decision they make it affects our lives, jobs, and lifestyle. Until we are all in the same boat and share the same problems with them. They won’t understand our suffering and won’t solve our problems. They will make decisions that doesn’t favor us. They won’t have our best interests at heart.
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D.J. Kyos
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Leaders, whether owners or not, need clarity about the path forward. Leadership alignment with ownership—in purpose, priorities, mission, and direction—is essential to a healthy organization and certainly to an impactful one. Ownership directly affects leadership; ownership directly affects purpose; ownership directly affects impact.
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Greg Harmeyer (Impact with Love: Building Business for a Better World)
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The retarded development of Indian generalship after independence cannot be entirely explained away by the lack of experience of senior Indian officers. There have been other breakaway armies in history, but in none has there been such a marked reluctance either to evolve an empirical, indigenous philosophy of warfare or to introduce orthodox precepts of military science. No zeal or momentum appears to have impelled the officers left over from the Raj. Clearly the seniors among them preferred to perpetuate British affectations of amateurism; their criteria for generalship were confined to a flair for leadership and battlefield panache. Nor did they encourage their juniors to acquire professional knowledge. On the contrary, officers who studied or wrote about professional subjects were dubbed ‘theoretical’ – as though theory were something that must be avoided in the pursuit of practice.
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D.K. Palit (War in High Himalaya: The Indian Army in Crisis, 1962)
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Our only chance at dismantling racial injustice is being more curious about its origins than we are worried about our comfort. It’s not a comfortable conversation for any of us. It is risky and messy. It is haunting work to recall the sins of our past. But is this not the work we have been called to anyway? Is this not the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth and inspire transformation? It’s haunting. But it’s also holy. And when we talk about race today, with all the pain packed into that conversation, the Holy Spirit remains in the room. This doesn’t mean the conversations aren’t painful, aren’t personal, aren’t charged with emotion. But it does mean we can survive. We can survive honest discussions about slavery, about convict leasing, about stolen land, deportation, discrimination, and exclusion. We can identify the harmful politics of gerrymandering, voter suppression, criminal justice laws, and policies that disproportionately affect people of color negatively. And we can expose the actions of white institutions—the history of segregation and white flight, the real impact of all-white leadership, the racial disparity in wages, and opportunities for advancement. We can lament and mourn. We can be livid and enraged. We can be honest. We can tell the truth. We can trust that the Holy Spirit is here. We must. For only by being truthful about how we got here can we begin to imagine another way.
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Austin Channing Brown (I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness)