Communication And Leadership Quotes

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Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
Leadership requires two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate it.
Simon Sinek (Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action)
True confidence is not about what you take from someone to restore yourself, but what you give back to your critics because they need it more than you do.
Shannon L. Alder
The Anatomy of Conflict: If there is no communication then there is no respect. If there is no respect then there is no caring. If there is no caring then there is no understanding. If there is no understanding then there is no compassion. If there is no compassion then there is no empathy. If there is no empathy then there is no forgiveness. If there is no forgiveness then there is no kindness. If there is no kindness then there is no honesty. If there is no honesty then there is no love. If there is no love then God doesn't reside there. If God doesn't reside there then there is no peace. If there is no peace then there is no happiness. If there is no happiness ----then there IS CONFLICT BECAUSE THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION!
Shannon L. Alder
leadership is communicating others’ worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.
Stephen R. Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change)
Communication is how entrepreneurs tell their story, which, in turn, should inspire employees to work smart and encourage customers to action.
Curtis L. Jenkins (Vision to Reality: Stop Working, Start Living)
You cannot become a peacemaker without communication. Silence is a passive aggressive grenade thrown by insecure people that want war, but they don't want the accountability of starting it.
Shannon L. Alder
Don't assume, because you are intelligent, able, and well-motivated, that you are open to communication, that you know how to listen.
Robert K. Greenleaf (Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness)
Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.
L. David Marquet (Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders)
Tweet others the way you want to be tweeted.
Germany Kent (You Are What You Tweet: Harness the Power of Twitter to Create a Happier, Healthier Life)
The Tone is the Message.
Kevin Thomas McCarney (The Secrets of Successful Communication: A Simple Guide to Effective Encounters in Business (Big Brain vs. Little Brain Communication))
Freedom of Speech doesn't justify online bullying. Words have power, be careful how you use them.
Germany Kent
So many people think that they are not gifted because they don’t have an obvious talent that people can recognize because it doesn’t fall under the creative arts category—writing, dancing, music, acting, art or singing. Sadly, they let their real talents go undeveloped, while they chase after fame. I am grateful for the people with obscure unremarked talents because they make our lives easier---inventors, organizers, planners, peacemakers, communicators, activists, scientists, and so forth. However, there is one gift that trumps all other talents—being an excellent parent. If you can successfully raise a child in this day in age to have integrity then you have left a legacy that future generations will benefit from.
Shannon L. Alder
Silence is for fools. Communication is for leaders. Justice is for those brave enough to not stand another moment dealing with people that feel the solution to any problem is through cold indifference because of their lack of courage and insecurities.
Shannon L. Alder
Reach out and help others. If you have the power to make someone happy, do it. Be a vessel, be the change, be the difference, or be the inspiration. Shine your light as an example. The world needs more of that.
Germany Kent
Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.
Graham Speechley
Leadership is communicating people’s worth and potential so clearly that they are inspired to see it in themselves.” Is that not also the essence of good teaching?
Stephen R. Covey (The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child At a Time)
Communication is the sister of leadership
John Adair (Develop Your Leadership Skills (Creating Success))
A strong confident person can rule the room with knowledge, personal style, attitude and great posture.
Cindy Ann Peterson (My Style, My Way: Top Experts Reveal How to Create Yours Today)
The difference between impossible and possible is a willing heart.
Lolly Daskal (Thoughts Spoken From The Heart)
Purpose drives the process by which we become what we are capable of being.
Lolly Daskal
You need to train yourself to be comfortable with silence, particularly when dealing with cultures that respect silence more than we do in the West.
Tony Buon (The Leadership Coach (Teach Yourself: Business))
When we aren't curious in conversations we judge, tell, blame and even shame, often without even knowing it, which leads to conflict." -The Power Of Curiosity: How To Have Real Conversations That Create Collaboration, Innovation and Understanding
Kirsten Siggins (The Power of Curiosity: How to Have Real Conversations That Create Collaboration, Innovation and Understanding)
I was not a great communicator, but I communicated great things.
Ronald Reagan
There is no shortcut for hard work that leads to effectiveness. You must stay disciplined because most of the work is behind the scenes.
Germany Kent
It doesn’t matter which continent I am working in; I typically encounter three-employee change standpoints: Advocates, Observers and Rebels. However, to successfully implement organisational change management, we must engage, communicate and entice these three employee groups to get buy-in, change adoption and benefits realisation
Peter F Gallagher
You don’t really understand people until you hear their life story. If you know their stories, you grasp their history, their hurts, their hopes and aspirations. You put yourself in their shoes. And just by virtue of listening and remembering what’s important to them, you communicate that you care and desire to add value.
John C. Maxwell (Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership)
I’ve come to realize, however, that while technology may make it more convenient to communicate, it doesn’t improve our ability to get a point across.
John Maeda (Redesigning Leadership (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life))
Be yourself! Don’t try to fabricate your personality in the guise of impressing others.
Ashish Patela
Expression is saying what you wish to say, Impression is saying what others wish to hear.
Krishna Saagar
Choose your words meticulously and then let them rumble up from some deep furnace of conviction.
Ron Suskind (A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League)
Good communication has just a little to do with eloquence. It's character that makes it more successful. Harsh words nicely articulated are sharp enough to kill your brand!
Israelmore Ayivor (The Great Hand Book of Quotes)
You are responsible for everything you TWEET and RETWEET.
Germany Kent
Radio was theater of the mind.
Ronald Reagan
When manipulation flutters around everywhere, neither pull nor push anyone. Just do one thing - don't trust anyone!
Ashish Patel
Words alone can effect great good as well as evil. A few apt words have swept candidates into office, ended as well as started wars, paved the way for peace and carried with them both hope as well as despair. Words alone have ruined lives, but have also brought forth healing. It is well known the harm words can cause, but the good they can bring is equally impressive.
Steve Goodier
It is important for leaders to know their stories; to get them straight; to communicate them effectively, particularly to those who are in the thrall of rival stories; and, above all, to embody in their lives the stories that they tell.
Howard Gardner (Leading Minds: An Anatomy Of Leadership)
Understand your purpose and the belief-energy. Belief energy is the core of leadership and success. Design your belief energy for higher purpose and values. Belief energy can inspire and motivate you and others. Articulate, communicate and radiate your positive belief energy.
Amit Ray (Mindfulness Meditation for Corporate Leadership and Management)
When you have nothing to say, don't.
Krishna Saagar
Actions undertaken in anger, only result in pain, sorrow, and regret.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Good times don’t last and bad times don’t stay forever.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Time well-spent is life well-lived.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Conflicts are expensive.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Some problems are imaginary and not real.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
How one treats another one, determines success.
Rajen Jani
Leaders prioritize what they want.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Relationships are built on trust.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Sometimes, changing circumstances also changes relationships.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Change is constant.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Compromise makes relationships survive.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
We’ll never solve the problems we don’t talk about.
Justin Young
Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.” —STEVE JOBS
John C. Maxwell (Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently)
Design your belief for higher purpose and values. Articulate and communicate your belief energy. Belief energy is the core of leadership and success. 
Amit Ray (Mindfulness Meditation for Corporate Leadership and Management)
We have to accept that much of reality is ineffable and so to understand it we can't rely on words alone.
Oli Anderson (Dialogue / Ego - Real Communication)
Messages are more often “heard” when the communicator is honest, sincere, and succinct. In other words, say what you mean, and mean what you say.
Donald T. Phillips (Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times)
Communication without clarity is noise. Speak with purpose and you’ll propel your audience to take massive action towards a journey of self-improvement.
Farshad Asl
All the best apps, companies, and products have broken the way we live life, transformed how we communicate, and changed our day-to-day. Good products evolve us. You’re
Gary Vaynerchuk (#AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness)
Vision is integral to leadership. A good leader must have a clear vision for the group of people they lead, and they must communicate that vision to that group of people effectively.
Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth (Business Essentials)
Listen with an open mind, gather all the incoming information, both verbal and non-verbal and be careful not to ignore things you don’t wish to hear. Don’t make assumptions or jump to conclusions. The punchline usually comes at the end!
Graham Speechley
The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.
John C. Maxwell (Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership)
Overcommunication is as good as no communication.
Harjeet Khanduja (How Leaders Decide: Tackling Biases and Risks in Decision Making)
I discovered that night (in his college's student politics) that an audience has a feel to it, and, in the parlance of the theater, that audience and I were together.
Ronald Reagan
Conflicts need to be resolved at the earliest.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Knowledge is something that fire cannot burn, water cannot wet, air cannot dry, thieves cannot steal, and the more you spend the more it increases.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Time management is essential for a work-life balance.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
A positive change in approach improves quality.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Angry issues need settling time.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Anger management requires understanding.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Change is difficult, since it challenges the status quo.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Experience is costly knowledge.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
If the difficult tasks are completed first, then the remaining tasks seem easy.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Conflicts have small beginnings.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
The wise communicate in subtle ways.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Calmness subdues anger.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Over time, repetition brings perfection, which brings success.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
A clear mind achieves success.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Perseverance guarantees success.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Be your self at your personal best
John Paul Warren
When it comes to leadership, silence is nonverbal communication. It communicates agreement and grants permission by saying, “What you’re doing is fine.
John Bevere (Killing Kryptonite: Destroy What Steals Your Strength)
Everything interested him and everything excited him.
Barbara W. Tuchman (The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914)
A storyteller, a displaced poet, will absorb reading differently.
Richard Brookhiser (Founders' Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln)
Rapport is the link between meeting and communicating.
Nicholas Boothman (How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less)
Even if you communicate sincerely and your intentions are upright, if people don’t have trust, they speculate your every move...
Assegid Habtewold (The 9 Cardinal Building Blocks: For continued success in leadership)
One of the greatest responsibilities of an organization’s leadership is to communicate with unwavering clarity the values on which the organization has been built.
Vern Dosch
leadership that knows what it wants, communicates those intentions, positions itself correctly, and empowers its workforce.
Warren Bennis (Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge (Collins Business Essentials))
Words are catch-basins of experience, fingerprints and footprints of the past that the literary detective may scrutinize in order to sleuth out the history of human consciousness.
Philip Zaleski (The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams)
You Are At Different Levels With Different People.
Syed Sharukh
If you put yourself in the emotion that you want from others, you are more likely to receive it.
Shannon L. Alder
PMs manage products, not people, so they must achieve everything using soft influence, effective communication, leadership, and trust—not orders.
Product School (The Product Book: How to Become a Great Product Manager)
The keyword here is TRANSFORMATION, which made me be who I am and communicate these words to you.
Mwanandeke Kindembo (Destiny of Liberty)
There is no doubt that you will touch a life today. It's just the manner in which you choose to do so, and how that will leave both yourself and everyone you touched once it's over.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
Although leaders and followers are closely linked, it is the leader who often initiates the relationship, creates the communication linkages, and carries the burden for maintaining the relationship.
Peter G. Northouse
Parents and leaders must establish a culture in which honest, open, respectful communication takes place, one that involves not just speaking but also listening. Without it, tragedy is waiting in the wings.
Jonathan Sacks (Lessons in Leadership: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible (Covenant & Conversation Book 8))
You can only pretend that you're already dead and thus free yourself up to focus on three things: 1) finding and killing the enemy, 2) communicating the situation and resulting actions to adjacent units and higher headquarters, and 3) triaging and treating your wounded. If you love your men, you naturally think about number three first, but if you do you're wrong. The grim logic of combat dictates that numbers one and two take precedence.
Donovan Campbell (Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood)
Don’t strive to be a well-rounded leader. Instead, discover your zone and stay there. Then delegate everything else. Admitting a weakness is a sign of strength. Acknowledging weakness doesn’t make a leader less effective. Everybody in your organization benefits when you delegate responsibilities that fall outside your core competency. Thoughtful delegation will allow someone else in your organization to shine. Your weakness is someone’s opportunity. Leadership is not always about getting things done “right.” Leadership is about getting things done through other people. The people who follow us are exactly where we have led them. If there is no one to whom we can delegate, it is our own fault. As a leader, gifted by God to do a few things well, it is not right for you to attempt to do everything. Upgrade your performance by playing to your strengths and delegating your weaknesses. There are many things I can do, but I have to narrow it down to the one thing I must do. The secret of concentration is elimination. Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing. My competence in these areas defines my success as a pastor. A sixty-hour workweek will not compensate for a poorly delivered sermon. People don’t show up on Sunday morning because I am a good pastor (leader, shepherd, counselor). In my world, it is my communication skills that make the difference. So that is where I focus my time. To develop a competent team, help the leaders in your organization discover their leadership competencies and delegate accordingly. Once you step outside your zone, don’t attempt to lead. Follow. The less you do, the more you will accomplish. Only those leaders who act boldly in times of crisis and change are willingly followed. Accepting the status quo is the equivalent of accepting a death sentence. Where there’s no progress, there’s no growth. If there’s no growth, there’s no life. Environments void of change are eventually void of life. So leaders find themselves in the precarious and often career-jeopardizing position of being the one to draw attention to the need for change. Consequently, courage is a nonnegotiable quality for the next generation leader. The leader is the one who has the courage to act on what he sees. A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent. Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside. The first person to step out in a new direction is viewed as the leader. And being the first to step out requires courage. In this way, courage establishes leadership. Leadership requires the courage to walk in the dark. The darkness is the uncertainty that always accompanies change. The mystery of whether or not a new enterprise will pan out. The reservation everyone initially feels when a new idea is introduced. The risk of being wrong. Many who lack the courage to forge ahead alone yearn for someone to take the first step, to go first, to show the way. It could be argued that the dark provides the optimal context for leadership. After all, if the pathway to the future were well lit, it would be crowded. Fear has kept many would-be leaders on the sidelines, while good opportunities paraded by. They didn’t lack insight. They lacked courage. Leaders are not always the first to see the need for change, but they are the first to act. Leadership is about moving boldly into the future in spite of uncertainty and risk. You can’t lead without taking risk. You won’t take risk without courage. Courage is essential to leadership.
Andy Stanley (Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future)
To change a culture, the leaders have to change the messages people receive about what they must do to fit in. When people understand that there are new requirements for belonging, they adjust their behavior accordingly. Cultural change starts with a new set of messages. Culture-changing communication is nonverbal—the “doing” rather than the “saying”—and comes most vividly from leadership behaviors. The behavior of leaders exemplifies what people with power—and those who aspire to have it—are supposed to do. A small change in a senior manager’s behavior can send a big message.
Fred Kofman (Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values)
Gutsy leadership is not only having the self-awareness to know when you are opting in but also being fully aware of when you are quietly opting out. In silence, you speak volumes.
Marisa Santoro (Own Your Authority: Follow Your Instincts, Radiate Confidence, and Communicate as a Leader People Trust)
Communication is the true foundation of leadership.
Mwanandeke Kindembo
Your opinion should be an opinion and not an attempt to change someone's opinion.
Sukant Ratnakar (Quantraz)
How does one build bridges of trust with another? By paying attention to communication, commitment, competence, and character. Pay
Lolly Daskal (The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness)
A satisfied customer brings more customers.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Sometimes a problem itself offers its own solution.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Mutual respect is an integral part of communication.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Assessment precedes improvement.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Only time can reveal the future.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Workers can offer guidance for improving the work.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Entrepreneurs utilize even a negative change positively.
Rajen Jani
Change is possible only if the top management agrees.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
With a common ground, solution of problems is easy.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Words motivate.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Make sure a conflict exists before working to resolve it.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Problems kept unresolved invite more problems.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Improvement combines effectiveness with simplicity.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
In relationships, the cheater is unable to trust anyone, including the cheated.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Strategy is influenced by circumstances.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
A team is more than the sum of the individuals.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
The clearer the objective, the better the performance.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Quality is all about taking care of the details.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
The quality of the product is inseparable from the quality of its parts.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Recognition motivates.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Employees are usually motivated to stay or leave due to their managers.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Adverse situations used advantageously can offer solutions to problems.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Improvements enable adapting to new situations.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Leaders groom leaders.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Leaders rule hearts, not people.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Some leaders lead from the front.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Intelligent efforts are successful.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
Strategy can turn a losing battle into a winning battle.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
The winning strategy is the one that successfully adapts to the changing circumstances of time, place, and person.
Rajen Jani (Once Upon A Time: 100 Management Stories)
good piece of written communication is the most effective means of broadcasting ideas and scaling yourself.
Will Larson (Staff Engineer: Leadership Beyond the Management Track)
Love, compassion, care, listening, communicating—these aren’t secondary skills. They’re of primary importance.
Victoria Montgomery Brown (Digital Goddess: The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur)
All power lies in free expression.
Krishna Sagar (Summit Your Everest: Your Coach For Obstacle & Failure Management)
No one has something original or important to say will willing we run the risk of being misunderstood; people who write obscurely are either unskilled in writing or up to mischief
William Zinsser
how you act (gravitas), how you speak (communication), and how you look (appearance) count for a lot in determining your leadership presence.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett (Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor: The New Way to Fast-Track Your Career)
John W. Gardner observed, “If I had to name a single all-purpose instrument of leadership, it would be communication.
John C. Maxwell (The Maxwell Daily Reader: 365 Days of Insight to Develop the Leader Within You and Influence Those Around You)
Reputation is an outcome; but it is also a valuable, strategic asset.
Andrew Griffin (Crisis, Issues and Reputation Management: A Handbook for PR and Communications Professionals)
For individuals and organizations alike, a reputation is far easier to destroy than it is to build.
Andrew Griffin (Crisis, Issues and Reputation Management: A Handbook for PR and Communications Professionals)
What doesn’t work in the box 1. Trying to change others 2. Doing my best to “cope” with others 3. Leaving 4. Communicating 5. Implementing new skills or techniques
The Arbinger Institute (Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box)
If we don’t communicate, we certainly can’t get much done and if we don’t communicate authentically, what we get done is less effective.
Runa Heilung (CHARGE! The Patchwork Rhino)
Great CIOs are great storytellers, envision and communicate a full-fledged, people-centric digital transformation.
Pearl Zhu (12 CIO Personas: The Digital CIO's Situational Leadership Practices)
A High Performance team requires people with High Performance Mindsets, with relevant competence, committed and balanced communication, to a meaningful and challenging goal.
Tony Dovale
A Culture of clear consistent communication and connection is the foundation of a high performance team that thrives and flourishes.
Tony Dovale
High Performance Teams create cultures of caring, connection, commitment, collaboration and clear consistent communication
Tony Dovale
The art of communication is the language of leadership.
James Humes
Effective leadership begins with effective communication.
Asa Don Brown (Interpersonal Skills in the Workplace, Finding Solutions that Work)
Clarity leads to attention and attention leads to results.
Henry Cloud (Boundaries for Leaders: Results, Relationships, and Being Ridiculously in Charge)
Flattening the walls of your school entails eliminating the communication barriers so everyone feels like they are part of the school community.
Joe Sanfelippo (Hacking Leadership: 10 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Learning That Teachers, Students, and Parents Love (Hack Learning Series))
Leaders don't assume. Assumptions are the termites of leadership. Communicate, communicate, and communicate, until you connect.
Farshad Asl
Leadership is the day to day communications about the real issues.
Chris Argyris
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.
Michelle Tillis Lederman (The 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking . . . Because People Do Business with People They Like)
When you need to fake it, make it real.
Michelle Tillis Lederman (The 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking . . . Because People Do Business with People They Like)
the words printed on paper. God uses His Word as a means, as an instrument to communicate Himself to us. “I am laid low
LeRoy Eims (Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be: Lessons On Leadership from the Bible)
Print, it transpired, was not just an instrument of agitation and change: now it was equally necessary to win the peace.
Andrew Pettegree (Brand Luther: How an Unheralded Monk Turned His Small Town into a Center of Publishing, Made Himself the Most Famous Man in Europe—and Started the Protestant Reformation)
When we aren't curious in conversations we judge, tell, blame and even shame, often without even knowing it, which leads to conflict.
Kirsten Siggins (The Power of Curiosity: How to Have Real Conversations That Create Collaboration, Innovation and Understanding)
What matters about creating alignment around a strategy is not the volume of communication, but its quality and precision.
Stephen Bungay (The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions, and Results)
Lets forget about the things you haven't done, and talk about what you have done.
Michelle Lederman, 11 Laws of Likability
Curiosity creates connections.
Michelle Tillis Lederman (The 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking . . . Because People Do Business with People They Like)
A true leader should have the power to begin, the eloquence to communicate, the patience to execute and the wisdom to evaluate. Without one, he remains a slave to he who possesses it.
Charbel Tadros
Our imagination tells us that being as connected as we are—the ease of travel, technological advances and pooled intelligence—should have produced better results for more people than we’re now seeing.
Anaik Alcasas (Sending Signals: Amplify the Reach, Resonance and Results of Your Ideas)
Frame your problem statements into actionable tasks and goals that lead to a solution. Problem statements incite procrastination and resistance whereas solution statements inspire hope and motivation.
Salil Jha
Solitude helps the soul remember that life and work have two completely different meanings. It reminds us that we were created for greatness in relationship with others, not task lists and spreadsheets.
Angela L Craig
It’s ironic that the only way to kill a zombie is to destroy its brain, because, as a group, they have no collective brain to speak of. There was no leadership, no chain of command, no communication or cooperation on any level. There was no president to assassinate, no HQ bunker to surgically strike. Each zombie is its own, self-contained, automated unit, and this last advantage is what truly encapsulates the entire conflict.
Max Brooks (World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War)
With families, I stopped creating encyclopedias of data about all their issues and began to search instead for the member with the greatest capacity to be a leader as I have defined it. That person generally turned out to be the one who could express himself or herself with the least amount of blaming and the one who had the greatest capacity to take responsibility for his or her own emotional being and destiny. I began to coach the “leader” alone, letting the rest of the family drop out and stay home. I stopped trying to get people to “communicate” or find better ways of managing their issues. Instead, I began to concentrate on helping the leader to become better defined and to learn how to deal adroitly with the sabotage that almost invariably followed any success in this endeavor. Soon I found that the rest of the family was “in therapy” whether or not they came into my office.
Edwin H. Friedman (A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix)
Leaders instill courage in the hearts of those who follow. This rarely happens through words alone. It generally requires action. It goes back to what we said earlier: Somebody has to go first. By going first, the leader furnishes confidence to those who follow. As a next generation leader, you will be called upon to go first. That will require courage. But in stepping out you will give the gift of courage to those who are watching. What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business? What has been done is safe. But to attempt a solution to a problem that plagues an entire industry - in my case, the local church - requires courage. Unsolved problems are gateways to the future. To those who have the courage to ask the question and the tenacity to hang on until they discover or create an answer belongs the future. Don’t allow the many good opportunities to divert your attention from the one opportunity that has the greatest potential. Learn to say no. There will always be more opportunities than there is time to pursue them. Leaders worth following are willing to face and embrace current reality regardless of how discouraging or embarrassing it might be. It is impossible to generate sustained growth or progress if your plan for the future is not rooted in reality. Be willing to face the truth regardless of how painful it might be. If fear causes you to retreat from your dreams, you will never give the world anything new. it is impossible to lead without a dream. When leaders are no longer willing to dream, it is only a short time before followers are unwilling to follow. Will I allow my fear to bind me to mediocrity? Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away. Where there is no uncertainty, there is no longer the need for leadership. The greater the uncertainty, the greater the need for leadership. Your capacity as a leader will be determined by how well you learn to deal with uncertainty. My enemy is not uncertainty. It is not even my responsibility to remove the uncertainty. It is my responsibility to bring clarity into the midst of the uncertainty. As leaders we can afford to be uncertain, but we cannot afford to be unclear. People will follow you in spite of a few bad decisions. People will not follow you if you are unclear in your instruction. As a leader you must develop the elusive skill of leading confidently and purposefully onto uncertain terrain. Next generation leaders must fear a lack of clarity more than a lack of accuracy. The individual in your organization who communicates the clearest vision will often be perceived as the leader. Clarity is perceived as leadership. Uncertainty exposes a lack of knowledge. Pretending exposes a lack of character. Express your uncertainty with confidence. You will never maximize your potential in any area without coaching. It is impossible. Self-evaluation is helpful, but evaluation from someone else is essential. You need a leadership coach. Great leaders are great learners. God, in His wisdom, has placed men and women around us with the experience and discernment we often lack. Experience alone doesn’t make you better at anything. Evaluated experience is what enables you to improve your performance. As a leader, what you don’t know can hurt you. What you don’t know about yourself can put a lid on your leadership. You owe it to yourself and to those who have chosen to follow you to open the doors to evaluation. Engage a coach. Success doesn’t make anything of consequence easier. Success just raises the stakes. Success brings with it the unanticipated pressure of maintaining success. The more successful you are as a leader, the more difficult this becomes. There is far more pressure at the top of an organization than you might imagine.
Andy Stanley
Those who are resonating the most with your work, who recognize themselves in your vision, will naturally crave language that speaks to that you-and-me kind of 'we.' They’ll want to identify with your ideas personally and keep talking about them.
Anaik Alcasas (Sending Signals: Amplify the Reach, Resonance and Results of Your Ideas)
Communicating on the surface can be easy. But when you want to dig deeper and connect with more profound impact, you’ll need to achieve greater understanding, especially when others have personalities, experiences, needs, and preferences different from your own.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Connection: 8 Ways to Enrich Rapport & Kinship for Positive Impact (The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #6))
No matter how great you are at what you do, as long as you remain known only within your own family circles, then you and your talent will die in obscurity and irrelevance. Position yourself to influence the masses by having a media, marketing and communication strategy.
Archibald Marwizi (Making Success Deliberate)
Afrikaans was the language of the white minority in South Africa, and the forced learning of it created resentment among blacks. Even so, Nelson Mandela made it a point to learn this language in prison in anticipation that it would help him lead the whole of South Africa.
Robert Lane Greene (You Are What You Speak: Grammar Grouches, Language Laws, and the Politics of Identity)
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)
I will choose and display the right attitudes. I will determine and act upon important priorities. I will know and follow healthy guidelines. I will communicate with and care for my family. I will practice and develop good thinking. I will make and keep proper commitments. I will earn and properly manage finances. I will deepen and live out my faith. I will accept and show responsibility. I will initiate and invest in solid relationships. I will plan for and model generosity. I will embrace and practice good values. I will seek and experience improvements.
John C. Maxwell (Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership)
While leadership is important, just as important is how leadership is communicated. On the one hand, you can command good performance from someone in exchange for not firing them. On the other hand, you might be able to ignite the desire in a person to perform well by tuning in to their state of mind.
Alan Alda (If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating)
Ebonics is not a separate language. It is ghetto speech and substandard English. To claim that ebonics is a positive way of communicating for blacks is to condemn blacks to menial jobs and economic inferiority. A person who fails to learn correct language skills is forever handicapped in seeking employment.
Jesse Lee Peterson (Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America)
We are committed to involving as many people as possible, as young as possible, as soon as possible. Sometimes too young and too soon! But we intentionally err on the side of too fast rather than too slow. We don’t wait until people feel “prepared” or “fully equipped.” Seriously, when is anyone ever completely prepared for ministry? Ministry makes people’s faith bigger. If you want to increase someone’s confidence in God, put him in a ministry position before he feels fully equipped. The messages your environments communicate have the potential to trump your primary message. If you don’t see a mess, if you aren’t bothered by clutter, you need to make sure there is someone around you who does see it and is bothered by it. An uncomfortable or distracting setting can derail ministry before it begins. The sermon begins in the parking lot. Assign responsibility, not tasks. At the end of the day, it’s application that makes all the difference. Truth isn’t helpful if no one understands or remembers it. If you want a church full of biblically educated believers, just teach what the Bible says. If you want to make a difference in your community and possibly the world, give people handles, next steps, and specific applications. Challenge them to do something. As we’ve all seen, it’s not safe to assume that people automatically know what to do with what they’ve been taught. They need specific direction. This is hard. This requires an extra step in preparation. But this is how you grow people. Your current template is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently getting. We must remove every possible obstacle from the path of the disinterested, suspicious, here-against-my-will, would-rather-be-somewhere-else, unchurched guests. The parking lot, hallways, auditorium, and stage must be obstacle-free zones. As a preacher, it’s my responsibility to offend people with the gospel. That’s one reason we work so hard not to offend them in the parking lot, the hallway, at check-in, or in the early portions of our service. We want people to come back the following week for another round of offending! Present the gospel in uncompromising terms, preach hard against sin, and tackle the most emotionally charged topics in culture, while providing an environment where unchurched people feel comfortable. The approach a church chooses trumps its purpose every time. Nothing says hypocrite faster than Christians expecting non-Christians to behave like Christians when half the Christians don’t act like it half the time. When you give non-Christians an out, they respond by leaning in. Especially if you invite them rather than expect them. There’s a big difference between being expected to do something and being invited to try something. There is an inexorable link between an organization’s vision and its appetite for improvement. Vision exposes what has yet to be accomplished. In this way, vision has the power to create a healthy sense of organizational discontent. A leader who continually keeps the vision out in front of his or her staff creates a thirst for improvement. Vision-centric churches expect change. Change is a means to an end. Change is critical to making what could and should be a reality. Write your vision in ink; everything else should be penciled in. Plans change. Vision remains the same. It is natural to assume that what worked in the past will always work. But, of course, that way of thinking is lethal. And the longer it goes unchallenged, the more difficult it is to identify and eradicate. Every innovation has an expiration date. The primary reason churches cling to outdated models and programs is that they lack leadership.
Andy Stanley (Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend)
In this model, the change agent attempts to bring to light all values, working through conflicts embedded in the larger collective. The emphasis is on communication and cooperation with the change target. The technique is to involve the change target in an honest dialogue, while mutually learning the way to win-win solutions.
Robert E. Quinn (Change the World: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Things (Jossey-Bass Leadership Series Book 348))
Ambiverts typically . . . • Can process information both internally and externally. They need time to contemplate on their own, but consider the opinions and wisdom from people whom they trust when making a decision. • Love to engage and interact enthusiastically with others, however, they also enjoy calm and profound communication. • Seek to balance between their personal time and social time, they value each greatly. • Are able to move from one situation to the next with confidence, flexibility, and anticipation. “Not everyone is going to like us or understand us. And that is okay. It may have nothing to do with us personally; but rather more about who they are and how they relate to the world.
Susan C. Young (The Art of Communication: 8 Ways to Confirm Clarity & Understanding for Positive Impact(The Art of First Impressions for Positive Impact, #5))
One of the greatest tools you cannot do without is the media. These various means for mass communication and those involved in them must be your partners and not your enemies; you must not be afraid of them but befriend and love them. If you are going to be significant and relevant then you are going to need someone to help broadcast your voice and channel your substance to the world.
Archibald Marwizi (Making Success Deliberate)
After working with that gelding, I made a much bigger effort to look for and find the tries that my horses offered during training or any other time, for that matter. In doing so, I quickly found just how much I had been missing in the simple communication between my horses and myself. For instance, I noticed that my horses often tried to respond to my cues much sooner than I’d ever imagined. Often times they would respond even before I had actually applied the cue, a pretty scary thought in and of itself. The other thing I noticed was that very often the try was so subtle that, had I not been paying attention, I would have missed it altogether. As a result, I was forced to become much more aware of what my horses were doing at all times, not just when I was asking something from them.
Mark Rashid (Horses Never Lie: The Heart of Passive Leadership)
My Standard of Performance—the values and beliefs within it—guided everything I did in my work at San Francisco and are defined as follows: Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement; demonstrate respect for each person in the organization and the work he or she does; be deeply committed to learning and teaching, which means increasing my own expertise; be fair; demonstrate character; honor the direct connection between details and improvement, and relentlessly seek the latter; show self-control, especially where it counts most—under pressure; demonstrate and prize loyalty; use positive language and have a positive attitude; take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort; be willing to go the extra distance for the organization; deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation (don’t get crazy with victory nor dysfunctional with loss); promote internal communication that is both open and substantive (especially under stress); seek poise in myself and those I lead; put the team’s welfare and priorities ahead of my own; maintain an ongoing level of concentration and focus that is abnormally high; and make sacrifice and commitment the organization’s trademark.
Bill Walsh (The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership)
A leadership comfort zone brings stagnancy, deprives one of innovation, stifles growth and frustrates both the leader and the team they lead. Your personal preferences like leadership style, communication style, prejudices, habits and mannerisms must be effectively managed so that they do not work against you. You have to be careful that your strengths do not end up becoming a hindering comfort zone. Seek to lead, driven by a cause.
Archibald Marwizi (Making Success Deliberate)
When we miss the meaning of a language, we miss the real essence and impact of communication. If we lose the real meaning of a language, we lose the real understanding of a language. Friendship is developed and nurtured through effective communication and that is the great tool that shapes friendship. A good communication, regardless of how short it might be is a great litmus paper that proves who a true friend or false friend is. A good communication does not only trigger the best bond but it also uncovers things in the heart that are hidden from the eyes. Without an effective communication, real friendship and real love between two great people is just like two great mountains with a valley between them. Without communication, we lose what we could have heard from real people. When we miss the meaning of a language, we miss the real essence and impact of communication!!!
Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
„Hitler´s dictatorship“, he said, „differed in one fundamental point from all its predecessors in history. It was the first dictatorship in the present period of modern technical developement, a dicttorship which made complete use of all technical means for the domination of its own country. Through technical devices like the radio and the loud-speaker, eighty million people were deprived of independent thought. It was thereby possible to subject them to the will of one man....Earlier dictators needed highly qualified assistants even at the lowest level – men who could think and act independently. The totalirian system in the period of modern technical development can dispense with such men; thanks to modern methods of communication, i tis possible to mechanize the lower leadership. As a result of this there has arisen the new type of uncritical recipient of orders.“ (Albert Speer)
Aldous Huxley (Brave New World Revisited)
The key is to take five minutes at the end of staff meetings and ask the question, “What do we need to communicate to our people?” After a few minutes of discussion, it will become apparent which issues need clarification and which are appropriate to communicate. Not only does this brief discussion avoid confusion among the executives themselves, it gives employees a sense that the people who head their respective departments are working together and coming to agreement on important issues.
Patrick Lencioni (The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable)
She found a way to calculate how much money his moodiness was costing the business. She spoke to him in his own financial language, adding a shot of her infectious humor to the communication, and Barry was moved. He went back to his team, told them about the feedback he’d received, and asked them to call him out when his mood was influencing their actions. The results were remarkable. In the subsequent weeks and months, many on the finance team spoke to me and Patty about the positive change in Barry’s leadership.
Reed Hastings (No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention)
the tech revolution means more comforts for everyone. It means easier communication, education, transportation, and work. Technology equalizes opportunity in important ways. Much of this is good. But it also fuels a cult of efficiency, a fetish for tools, and a lopsided focus on the future. It fosters boredom with the past. It feeds self-interest. It transfers huge wealth to a new, highly secular leadership class. It punishes many workers in traditional industries. It renders, or seems to render, the “supernatural” obsolete. And with its power to manipulate and propagandize, it reshapes our political life.
Charles J. Chaput (Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World)
The term “leadership” connotes critical experience rather than routine practice. This is suggested in the following comment by Barnard: The overvaluation of the apparatus of communication and administration is opposed to leadership and the development of leaders. It opposes leadership whose function is to promote appropriate adjustment of ends and means to new environmental conditions, because it opposes change either of status in general or of established procedures and habitual routine. This overvaluation also discourages the development of leaders by retarding the progress of the abler men and by putting an excessive premium on routine qualities.[6]  {37}
Philip Selznick (Leadership in Administration: A Sociological Interpretation)
The art of communication, Lincoln advised newcomers to the bar, “is the lawyer’s avenue to the public.” Yet, Lincoln warned, the lawyer must not rely on rhetorical glibness or persuasiveness alone. What is well-spoken must be yoked to what is well-thought. And such thought is the product of great labor, “the drudgery of the law.” Without that labor, without that drudgery, the most eloquent words lack gravity and power. Even “extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated.” Indeed, “the leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for tomorrow that can be done to-day.” The key to success, he insisted, is “work, work, work.
Doris Kearns Goodwin (Leadership: In Turbulent Times)
As an audience it seems we’re as good as saying, “I’ll pay attention to your idea if you… * are already being taken seriously in some way * have found your place (professionally or personally) * believe strongly in something relevant to your idea * are connecting (with ideas, with people) in meaningful ways * are finding ways to be useful in the world * are finding ways to achieve more of what you value * have developed mastery and control * are participating in interesting things * and are radiating love and acceptance for self and others.” Your chosen audience will have three or four things on that list they value most in their own lives. And because they do value those things so highly, they’ll be looking for those signals from you.
Anaik Alcasas (Sending Signals: Amplify the Reach, Resonance and Results of Your Ideas)
1. Did you conduct one-to-one meetings with each salesperson on your team? 2. Did you ask each of them how they like to be managed? Are they coachable? 3. Did you inquire about their prior experience with their past manager? Was it positive or negative? 4. Did you set the expectations of your relationship with them? Did you ask them what they needed and expected from their manager? What changes do they want to see? 5. Did you inform them about how you like to manage and your style of management? This would open up the space for a discussion regarding how you may manage differently from your predecessor. 6. Did you let them know you just completed a coaching course that would enable you to support them even further and maximize their talents? 7. Did you explain to them the difference between coaching and traditional management? 8. Did you enroll them in the benefits of coaching? That is, what would be in it for them? 9. Did you let them know about your intentions, goals, expectations, and aspirations for each of them and for the team as a whole? 10. How have you gone about learning the ins and outs of the company?Are you familiar with the internal workings, culture, leadership team, and subtleties that make the company unique? Have you considered that your team may be the best source of knowledge and intelligence for this? Did you communicate your willingness and desire to learn from them as well, so that the learning and development process can be mutually reciprocated?
Keith Rosen (Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives)
POLLARD had known better, but instead of pulling rank and insisting that his officers carry out his proposal to sail for the Society Islands, he embraced a more democratic style of command. Modern survival psychologists have determined that this “social”—as opposed to “authoritarian”—form of leadership is ill suited to the early stages of a disaster, when decisions must be made quickly and firmly. Only later, as the ordeal drags on and it is necessary to maintain morale, do social leadership skills become important. Whalemen in the nineteenth century had a clear understanding of these two approaches. The captain was expected to be the authoritarian, what Nantucketers called a fishy man. A fishy man loved to kill whales and lacked the tendency toward self-doubt and self-examination that could get in the way of making a quick decision. To be called “fishy to the backbone” was the ultimate compliment a Nantucketer could receive and meant that he was destined to become, if he wasn’t already, a captain. Mates, however, were expected to temper their fishiness with a more personal, even outgoing, approach. After breaking in the green hands at the onset of the voyage—when they gained their well-deserved reputations as “spit-fires”—mates worked to instill a sense of cooperation among the men. This required them to remain sensitive to the crew’s changeable moods and to keep the lines of communication open. Nantucketers recognized that the positions of captain and first mate required contrasting personalities. Not all mates had the necessary edge to become captains, and there were many future captains who did not have the patience to be successful mates. There was a saying on the island: “[I]t is a pity to spoil a good mate by making him a master.” Pollard’s behavior, after both the knockdown and the whale attack, indicates that he lacked the resolve to overrule his two younger and less experienced officers. In his deference to others, Pollard was conducting himself less like a captain and more like the veteran mate described by the Nantucketer William H. Macy: “[H]e had no lungs to blow his own trumpet, and sometimes distrusted his own powers, though generally found equal to any emergency after it arose. This want of confidence sometimes led him to hesitate, where a more impulsive or less thoughtful man would act at once. In the course of his career he had seen many ‘fishy’ young men lifted over his head.” Shipowners hoped to combine a fishy, hard-driving captain with an approachable and steady mate. But in the labor-starved frenzy of Nantucket in 1819, the Essex had ended up with a captain who had the instincts and soul of a mate, and a mate who had the ambition and fire of a captain. Instead of giving an order and sticking with it, Pollard indulged his matelike tendency to listen to others. This provided Chase—who had no qualms about speaking up—with the opportunity to impose his own will. For better or worse, the men of the Essex were sailing toward a destiny that would be determined, in large part, not by their unassertive captain but by their forceful and fishy mate.
Nathaniel Philbrick (In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex)
Brown believed that technological superiority was imperative to military dominance, and he also believed that advancing science was the key to economic prosperity. “Harold Brown turned technology leadership into a national strategy,” remarks DARPA historian Richard Van Atta. Despite rising inflation and unemployment, DARPA’s budget was doubled. Microprocessing technologies were making stunning advances. High-speed communication networks and Global Positioning System technologies were accelerating at whirlwind speeds. DARPA’s highly classified, high-risk, high-payoff programs, including stealth, advanced sensors, laser-guided munitions, and drones, were being pursued, in the black. Soon, Assault Breaker technology would be battle ready. From all of this work, entire new industries were forming.
Annie Jacobsen (The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency)
If Bezos took one leadership principle most to heart—which would also come to define the next half decade at Amazon—it was principal #8, “think big”: Thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Leaders create and communicate a bold direction that inspires results. They think differently and look around corners for ways to serve customers. In 2010, Amazon was a successful online retailer, a nascent cloud provider, and a pioneer in digital reading. But Bezos envisioned it as much more. His shareholder letter that year was a paean to the esoteric computer science disciplines of artificial intelligence and machine learning that Amazon was just beginning to explore. It opened by citing a list of impossibly obscure terms such as “naïve Bayesian estimators,” “gossip protocols,” and “data sharding.” Bezos wrote: “Invention is in our DNA and technology is the fundamental tool we wield to evolve and improve every aspect of the experience we provide our customers.
Brad Stone (Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire)
The disaster at the Chernobyl plant, along with the war in Afghanistan and the cruise-missile question, is generally seen today as the start of the decline of the Soviet Union. Just as the great famine of 1891 had mercilessly laid bare the failure of czarism, almost a century later Chernobyl clearly showed how divided, rigid and rotten the Soviet regime had become. The principal policy instruments, secrecy and repression, no longer worked in a modern world with its accompanying means of communication. The credibility of the party leadership sank to the point at which it could sink no further. In the early hours of 26 April, 1986, two explosions took place in one of the four reactors at the giant nuclear complex. It was an accident of the kind scientists and environmental activists had been warning about for years, particularly because of its effects: a monstrous emission of iodine-131 and caesium-137. Huge radioactive clouds drifted across half of Europe:
Geert Mak (In Europe: Travels Through the Twentieth Century)
Qualities such as honesty, determination, and a cheerful acceptance of stress, which can all be identified through probing questionnaires and interviews, may be more important to the company in the long run than one's college grade-point average or years of "related experience." Every business is only as good as the people it brings into the organization. The corporate trainer should feel his job is the most important in the company, because it is. Exalt seniority-publicly, shamelessly, and with enough fanfare to raise goosebumps on the flesh of the most cynical spectator. And, after the ceremony, there should be some sort of permanent display so that employees passing by are continuously reminded of their own achievements and the achievements of others. The manager must freely share his expertise-not only about company procedures and products and services but also with regard to the supervisory skills he has worked so hard to acquire. If his attitude is, "Let them go out and get their own MBAs," the personnel under his authority will never have the full benefit of his experience. Without it, they will perform at a lower standard than is possible, jeopardizing the manager's own success. Should a CEO proclaim that there is no higher calling than being an employee of his organization? Perhaps not-for fear of being misunderstood-but it's certainly all right to think it. In fact, a CEO who does not feel this way should look for another company to manage-one that actually does contribute toward a better life for all. Every corporate leader should communicate to his workforce that its efforts are important and that employees should be very proud of what they do-for the company, for themselves, and, literally, for the world. If any employee is embarrassed to tell his friends what he does for a living, there has been a failure of leadership at his workplace. Loyalty is not demanded; it is created. Why can't a CEO put out his own suggested reading list to reinforce the corporate vision and core values? An attractive display at every employee lounge of books to be freely borrowed, or purchased, will generate interest and participation. Of course, the program has to be purely voluntary, but many employees will wish to be conversant with the material others are talking about. The books will be another point of contact between individuals, who might find themselves conversing on topics other than the weekend football games. By simply distributing the list and displaying the books prominently, the CEO will set into motion a chain of events that can greatly benefit the workplace. For a very cost-effective investment, management will have yet another way to strengthen the corporate message. The very existence of many companies hangs not on the decisions of their visionary CEOs and energetic managers but on the behavior of its receptionists, retail clerks, delivery drivers, and service personnel. The manager must put himself and his people through progressively challenging courage-building experiences. He must make these a mandatory group experience, and he must lead the way. People who have confronted the fear of public speaking, and have learned to master it, find that their new confidence manifests itself in every other facet of the professional and personal lives. Managers who hold weekly meetings in which everyone takes on progressively more difficult speaking or presentation assignments will see personalities revolutionized before their eyes. Command from a forward position, which means from the thick of it. No soldier will ever be inspired to advance into a hail of bullets by orders phoned in on the radio from the safety of a remote command post; he is inspired to follow the officer in front of him. It is much more effective to get your personnel to follow you than to push them forward from behind a desk. The more important the mission, the more important it is to be at the front.
Dan Carrison (Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way)
Leadership is about having clear & grand vision, taking initiatives, possessing courage to question the status quo, ability to set large goals, consistently inspire self & others towards those goals, being self motivated and capability to motivate others, being spirited & strong to surmount any obstacle on the path, humility & openness to listen and learn from others, strength to stand for what he believes is right, while being flexible enough to revisit & review his beliefs, ability to organize & shift paradigms of his own & others, ability to attract, retain, develop & work with bigger leaders than himself, ability to trust others & being trust worthy , to think big & not petty, being above self, kind & giving, ability to sacrifice for others and to be bereft of insecurities & suspicion, ability to take risks, learn from both success & failure, being able to forget & forgive mistakes and mishaps of others, being focused, patient & persistent, to possess an amazing ability to be simple & easy to understand, to communicate & express with clarity and above all, being human.
Krishna Saagar
He seemed a little surprised that writers in America do not get together, do not associate with one another very much. In the Soviet Union writers are very important people. Stalin has said that writers are the architects of the human soul. We explained to him that writers in America have quite a different standing, that they are considered just below acrobats and just above seals. And in our opinion this is a very good thing. We believe that a writer, particularly a young writer, too much appreciated, is as likely to turn as heady as a motion-picture actress with good notices in the trade journals. And we believe that the rough-and-tumble critical life an American writer is subject to is very healthy for him in the long run. It seems to us that one of the deepest divisions between the Russians and the Americans or British, is in their feeling toward their governments. The Russians are taught, and trained, and encouraged to believe that their government is good, that every part of it is good, and that their job is to carry it forward, to back it up in all ways. On the other hand, the deep emotional feeling among Americans and British is that all government is somehow dangerous, that there should be as little government as possible, that any increase in the power of government is bad, and that existing government must be watched constantly, watched and criticized to keep it sharp and on its toes. And later, on the farms, when we sat at table with farming men, and they asked how our government operated, we would try to explain that such was our fear of power invested in one man, or in one group of men, that our government was made up of a series of checks and balances, designed to keep power from falling into any one person’s hands. We tried to explain that the people who made our government, and those who continue it, are so in fear of power that they would willingly cut off a good leader rather than permit a precedent of leadership. I do not think we were thoroughly understood in this, since the training of the people of the Soviet Union is that the leader is good and the leadership is good. There is no successful argument here, it is just the failure of two systems to communicate one with the other.
John Steinbeck (A Russian Journal)
More generally, a data scientist is someone who knows how to extract meaning from and interpret data, which requires both tools and methods from statistics and machine learning, as well as being human. She spends a lot of time in the process of collecting, cleaning, and munging data, because data is never clean. This process requires persistence, statistics, and software engineering skills — skills that are also necessary for understanding biases in the data, and for debugging logging output from code. Once she gets the data into shape, a crucial part is exploratory data analysis, which combines visualization and data sense. She’ll find patterns, build models, and algorithms — some with the intention of understanding product usage and the overall health of the product, and others to serve as prototypes that ultimately get baked back into the product. She may design experiments, and she is a critical part of data-driven decision making. She’ll communicate with team members, engineers, and leadership in clear language and with data visualizations so that even if her colleagues are not immersed in the data themselves, they will understand the implications.
Rachel Schutt (Doing Data Science: Straight Talk from the Frontline)
FOCUS ON GENERATING REVENUE THE DOJ FOUND THAT virtually every branch and tributary of the city’s bureaucracy—the mayor, city council, city manager, finance director, municipal court judge, municipal court prosecutor, court clerk, assistant clerks, police chief—all were enmeshed in an unending race to raise revenue through municipal fines and fees:            City officials routinely urge Chief [Tom] Jackson to generate more revenue through enforcement. In March 2010, for instance, the City Finance Director wrote to Chief Jackson that “unless ticket writing ramps up significantly before the end of the year, it will be hard to significantly raise collections next year. . . . Given that we are looking at a substantial sales tax shortfall, it’s not an insignificant issue.” Similarly, in March 2013, the Finance Director wrote to the City Manager: “Court fees are anticipated to rise about 7.5%. I did ask the Chief if he thought the PD [police department] could deliver 10% increase. He indicated they could try.” The importance of focusing on revenue generation is communicated to FPD officers. Ferguson police officers from all ranks told us that revenue generation is stressed heavily within the police department, and that the message comes from City leadership. The evidence we reviewed supports this perception.
Norm Stamper (To Protect and Serve: How to Fix America's Police)
The clear transmission of facts and evidence becomes irrelevant in the hyperemotional space of social media. Facts come from a world external to ourselves—namely, reality. Actually, that’s the whole point. But in the social media world, they are either meaningless or threatening to the self we’re constructing and protecting. The world can’t help but degrade into “It’s all about me.” Deluged with information filtered through the lens of popular self, our internal monitoring causes the world to shrink: Did the news make me feel bad? Turn it off. Did that comment upset me? Blast the messenger. Did that criticism hurt me? Get depressed or strike back. This is the tragedy of self-reference where, instead of responding to information from the external environment to create an orderly system of relationships, the narrow band of information obsessively processed creates isolation, stress, and self-defense.6 Focused internally, the outside world where facts reside doesn’t have meaning. Our communication with one another via the Web generates extreme reactions. Think about how small events take over the Internet because people get upset from a photo and minimal information. There doesn’t have to be any basis in fact or any understanding of more complex reasons for why this event happened. People see the visual, comment on it, and viral hysteria takes over. Even when more context is given later that could help people understand the event, it doesn’t change their minds. People go back to scanning and posting, and soon there is another misperceived event to get hysterical about. One commentator calls this “infectious insanity.”7
Margaret J. Wheatley (Who Do We Choose to Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity)
The Warrior His gift is the gift of passion and a commitment to something larger than himself in the world. The Warrior fights for what he loves. He has a mission that is bigger than his woman, his relationship or himself. He’s not a fighter, per se, but he aligns with what he cares about. By loving something bigger than himself, he inspires respect, honor, and a woman’s devotion. The Warrior is about living life on your own terms. The Sage His gift is the gift of integrity and an unbreakable trust. A man can see a woman’s beauty, communicate his love, and direct and offer his passion, but all that is nothing without trust. A woman never fully surrenders herself until she feels trust. Trust is not simply upholding vows of monogamy. It’s trusting that you truly see and know her. It’s trusting you can take her somewhere she can’t get to on her own. It’s trusting she can relax into your leadership and directionality. The opportunity of The Sage is integrity. Trust what you know. Use your word as a bond and do the right thing. Note: The Sage and the Warrior are partners in spirit. The Warrior, without integrity of mind, body, and spirit – and without the power of his truth – can do only harm. If you’ve struck out to fight the good fight and found yourself beaten by anger or misdirected energy, or you have lost the support of your woman, you likely lacked the integrity of The Sage. With greater alignment of values and actions, you can act on what you care about in a good way and have an impact you cannot have without it. If you’re not getting the support and the speed you want in your mission, check on where you might be lacking integrity.
Karen Brody (Open Her: Activate 7 Masculine Powers to Arouse Your Woman's Love & Desire)
The emphasis was on “soft.” No matter what else happened, the wranglers were to stay soft while riding the horses. Soft hands, soft seat, and soft legs. There was to be absolutely no hitting, kicking, slapping, or yelling at any time for any reason. The penalty for doing such things was to be placed on a two-day suspension. A second offense would lead to termination. Neither penalty was ever needed. At times it wasn’t easy to stay quiet with the horses because so many of them had been “used up” over the years, dulled to any form of cue. However, we remained consistent in our focus and the horses responded. The wranglers were instructed to ride the horses with the softest cues possible, often using nothing more than a light squeeze to get forward movement and a shift of weight in the saddle, along with light pressure on the reins, for a stop. They were also instructed to look for, find, and then release their cues at the slightest try from the horse—something they all became very adept at doing. With everyone riding in the same manner from one day to the next, all the horses began to respond within a few weeks. Before we knew it, all of our horses, including the very old ones that had been in the program for years and years, became responsive to the lightest of cues. We’d taught our horses to be responsive to these light cues, but a question remained. How could we keep them that way, particularly with the hundreds of different people who would be riding each horse over the summer? The answer was simple. Everyone needed to remain consistent. So, instead of expecting our horses to respond to the conflicting cues that each new rider was bound to give, we taught each rider how to communicate with our horses. Each week when a new batch of guests arrived at the ranch, we held an orientation in the riding arena. During this orientation, we explained how our horses were trained and what was expected of them as a rider of one of our horses. We gave them a demonstration in the saddle of proper seat and hand position, so they could keep their balance. We showed them the cues for walk, stop, trot, lope, and turn, using a horse right out of the string. Once we had demonstrated how our horses worked, we got everyone on horseback in the arena and helped them to practice giving the cues, allowing the horse to respond, and releasing the cues so that the horse would remain responsive. Of note is the fact that after
Mark Rashid (Horses Never Lie: The Heart of Passive Leadership)