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Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Shine your light and make a positive impact on the world; there is nothing so honorable as helping improve the lives of others.
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Roy T. Bennett
β
Whenever I am in a difficult situation where there seems to be no way out, I think about all the times I have been in such situations and say to myself, "I did it before, so I can do it again.
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Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
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When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how much harder you work β the most you will make is 5 dollars.
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Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
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Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Integrity is doing what is right and truthful, and doing as you say you would do.
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Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
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Low employee engagement is a symptom of a suboptimal workplace culture
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Hanna Hasl-Kelchner (Seeking Fairness at Work: Cracking the New Code of Greater Employee Engagement, Retention & Satisfaction)
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Leadership begins and ends with relationships
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Richard Polak (Work Smart Now: How to Jump Start Productivity, Empower Employees, and Achieve More)
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Today is a new day and it brings with it a new set of opportunities for me to act on.
I am attentive to the opportunities and I seize them as they arise.
I have full confidence in myself and my abilities.
I can do all things that I commit myself to.
No obstacle is too big or too difficult for me to handle because what lies inside me is greater than what lies ahead of me.
I am committed to improving myself and I am getting better daily.
I am not held back by regret or mistakes from the past.
I am moving forward daily.
Absolutely nothing is impossible for me.
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Idowu Koyenikan (Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability)
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It is not until you change your identity to match your life blueprint that you will understand why everything in the past never worked.
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Shannon L. Alder
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Be a King. Dare to be Different, dare to manifest your greatness.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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A confident woman wears a smile and has this air of comfortability and pleasantness about her.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Men love women who are courageous for it means they can go all the way with him in his pursuit of his good dreams and intentions.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Don't die without fulfilling your purpose.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Advice to my younger self:
1 Start where you are with what you have
2 Try not to hurt other people
3 Take more chances
4 If you fail, keep trying
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Germany Kent
β
Dare to be different. Represent your maker well and you will forever abide in the beautiful embrace of his loving arms.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Diversity of character is due to the unequal time given to values. Only through each other will we see the importance of the qualities we lack and our unfinished soul's potential.
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Shannon L. Alder
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God is never tired of bringing the sun out every morning, taking it in the evenings and bringing out the moon.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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You don't necessarily need atomic bombs to destroy a nation. Politicians who value their pockets than the life of citizens always do that every day.
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Israelmore Ayivor (Leaders' Ladder)
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An average man is egoistic, proud and has strong self esteem. They always require partners who massage their ego not those who will drag their ego to the mud.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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The most attractive thing about you should have less to do with your face or body and more to do with your attitude and how you treat people.
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Germany Kent
β
Your words are powerful so what you say goes a long way to either establish or destroy you; this is why you should say things that God has said concerning you, not things that situations or circumstances say.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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An intelligent woman is a goldmine! She has the ability to learn, reason and understand things better and faster than her contemporaries. She is competent, alert and can reason out stuffs easily.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Don't call yourself discouraged anymore;it's no longer your name.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Don't let any situation intimidate you anymore, don't accept defeat anymore.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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You gotta make it a priority to make your priorities a priority.
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Richie Norton
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Leadership begins and ends with relationships
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Andrew Wyatt (Pro Leadership: Establishing Your Credibility, Building Your Following and Leading With Impact)
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The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.
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Brian Tracy
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Don't just float through life; don't just agree to anything and everything, have a course you are known for at all times.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Divorce = Rebirth: forget the past, replan your life, improve your appearance & REJUVENATE!
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Rossana Condoleo
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Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.
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Paul O'Brien (Great Decisions, Perfect Timing: Cultivating Intuitive Intelligence)
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You can change any status quo, stand out, walk by faith and not by sight and things will definitely go well with you.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Dominate in your domain; You can do it.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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A confident woman knows her worth and so doesnβt fret when her man is highly placed or is often found amidst other women in the course of his business or assignment.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Patience is a virtue not a vice.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
β
Dependent cultures not only kill the ambition of the people and the organization, they will ultimately drain the energy of the leader and result in the burnout that has killed so many promising careers
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Andrew Wyatt (Pro Leadership: Establishing Your Credibility, Building Your Following and Leading With Impact)
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Don't say negative things about your spouse and children.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Do the things you like to be happier, stronger & more successful. Only so is hard work replaced by dedication.
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Rossana Condoleo
β
Pick a leader who will make their citizens proud. One who will stir the hearts of the people, so that the sons and daughters of a given nation strive to emulate their leader's greatness. Only then will a nation be truly great, when a leader inspires and produces citizens worthy of becoming future leaders, honorable decision makers and peacemakers. And in these times, a great leader must be extremely brave. Their leadership must be steered only by their conscience, not a bribe.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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Weigh whatever you are about to say; what will it do to your hearer - encouragement, edification, disappointment or fear? What will it do to your life - glorify, edify, beautify or weigh you down? Speak well and things will go well.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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The job facing production managers focuses on how to help their team maintain hope while also addressing the sometimes brutal or dismal facts of their situation. If the truth of their position remains unseen, they will never grow the skills necessary to resolve it.
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Raymond Wheeler (Lift: Five Practices Great Managers Do Consistently: Raise Performance and Morale - See Your Employees Thrive)
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Pick a leader who will keep jobs in your country by offering companies incentives to hire only within their borders, not one who allows corporations to outsource jobs for cheaper labor when there is a national employment crisis. Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.
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Warren Bennis
β
You are not permitted to suffer what others suffer, you are not permitted to fail or die young.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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When we are connected to the source, we will not be afraid of any task set before us.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Accept responsibilities for all your actions. Learn from your past and your mistakes.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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If we could eliminate the concept of town and return to live in small villages, all world problems were solved.
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Rossana Condoleo
β
A NATION'S GREATNESS DEPENDS ON ITS LEADER
To vastly improve your country and truly make it great again, start by choosing a better leader. Do not let the media or the establishment make you pick from the people they choose, but instead choose from those they do not pick. Pick a leader from among the people who is heart-driven, one who identifies with the common man on the street and understands what the country needs on every level. Do not pick a leader who is only money-driven and does not understand or identify with the common man, but only what corporations need on every level.
Pick a peacemaker. One who unites, not divides. A cultured leader who supports the arts and true freedom of speech, not censorship. Pick a leader who will not only bail out banks and airlines, but also families from losing their homes -- or jobs due to their companies moving to other countries. Pick a leader who will fund schools, not limit spending on education and allow libraries to close. Pick a leader who chooses diplomacy over war. An honest broker in foreign relations. A leader with integrity, one who says what they mean, keeps their word and does not lie to their people. Pick a leader who is strong and confident, yet humble. Intelligent, but not sly. A leader who encourages diversity, not racism. One who understands the needs of the farmer, the teacher, the doctor, and the environmentalist -- not only the banker, the oil tycoon, the weapons developer, or the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyist.
Pick a leader who will keep jobs in your country by offering companies incentives to hire only within their borders, not one who allows corporations to outsource jobs for cheaper labor when there is a national employment crisis. Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies.
Most importantly, a great leader must serve the best interests of the people first, not those of multinational corporations. Human life should never be sacrificed for monetary profit. There are no exceptions. In addition, a leader should always be open to criticism, not silencing dissent. Any leader who does not tolerate criticism from the public is afraid of their dirty hands to be revealed under heavy light. And such a leader is dangerous, because they only feel secure in the darkness. Only a leader who is free from corruption welcomes scrutiny; for scrutiny allows a good leader to be an even greater leader.
And lastly, pick a leader who will make their citizens proud. One who will stir the hearts of the people, so that the sons and daughters of a given nation strive to emulate their leader's greatness. Only then will a nation be truly great, when a leader inspires and produces citizens worthy of becoming future leaders, honorable decision makers and peacemakers. And in these times, a great leader must be extremely brave. Their leadership must be steered only by their conscience, not a bribe.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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You recreate your world to your taste with God's Word in your mouth.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Algorithms are great tools for improving business results, but its people and their leadership that ultimately determine business success.
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Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr.
β
Doing nothing requires effort. Over time, that effort is greater than the effort necessary to improve, or move somewhere better. The trick is to redirect energy.
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Max McKeown (Adaptability: The Art of Winning In An Age of Uncertainty)
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God rewards every act of obedience to His Will.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Pivoting is not the end of the disruption process, but the beginning of the next leg of your journey.
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Jay Samit (Disrupt You!: Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity, and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation)
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If you do not change employee behaviour, you will not get organisational change and performance improvement"β
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Peter F. Gallagher
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7 keys to getting more things done:
1 start
2 dont make excuses
3 celebrate small steps
4 ignore critics
5 be consistent
6 be open
7 stay positive
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β
Germany Kent
β
Seven Ways To Get Ahead in Business:
1. Be forward thinking
2. Be inventive, and daring
3. Do the right thing
4. Be honest and straight forward
5. Be willing to change, to learn, to grow
6. Work hard and be yourself
7. Lead by example
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Germany Kent
β
To be a jazz freedom fighter is to attempt to galvanize and energize world-weary people into forms of organization with accountable leadership that promote critical exchange and broad reflection. The interplay of individuality and unity is not one of uniformity and unanimity imposed from above but rather of conflict among diverse groupings that reach a dynamic consensus subject to questioning and criticism. As with a soloist in a jazz quartet, quintet or band, individuality is promoted in order to sustain and increase the creative tension with the group--a tension that yields higher levels of performance to achieve the aim of the collective project. This kind of critical and democratic sensibility flies in the face of any policing of borders and boundaries of "blackness", "maleness", "femaleness", or "whiteness".
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Cornel West (Race Matters)
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When a man finds this kind of woman, he will go all out for her knowing that she will not be a letdown.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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If you're not reaching back to help anyone then you're not building a legacy.
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Germany Kent
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No obstacle is so big that one person with determination can't make a difference.
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Jay Samit (Disrupt You!: Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity, and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation)
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Life is all aboutΒ 'Continuous Never Ending Change and Improvement' (CNECI) as we grow, develop and regenerate
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Peter F. Gallagher (Change Management Handbook: The Leadership of Change Volume 3)
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When you give an assignment, donβt take it back!
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Raymond Wheeler (Lift: Five Practices Great Managers Do Consistently: Raise Performance and Morale - See Your Employees Thrive)
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Managing activities, not results, requires a comprehensive application of the skills inherent in gained ownership. It is the true test of your management abilities and will cause you the greatest amount of personal growth and satisfaction.
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Raymond Wheeler (Lift: Five Practices Great Managers Do Consistently: Raise Performance and Morale - See Your Employees Thrive)
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At its essence, good leadership isnβt about being indispensable; itβs about helping others be prepared to possibly step into your shoesβgiving them access to your own decision making, identifying the skills they need to develop and helping them improve, and, as Iβve had to do, sometimes being honest with them about why theyβre not ready for the next step up.
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Robert Iger (The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company)
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A woman that is patient has the ability to endure provocation, pain, annoyance etc, with much calm and strength.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Wisdom is knowing the right thing to do and doing it at the right time to get the desired result. It is also the correct application of knowledge.
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Patience Johnson (Why Does an Orderly God Allow Disorder)
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Leaders will love to be poor and see their people rich, than to be rich and see their people poor. This is their mission.
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Israelmore Ayivor (Leaders' Ladder)
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You may not attain the highest height with one leap but my dear; you will reach your destination.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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A typical response when starting a change journey and engaging organisational leaders, it is not us, it is the employees below me that have the problem with change and improvement
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Peter F Gallagher
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If climate drives business results, what drives climate? 50-70% of how employees perceive their organizationβs climate corresponds to the actions of one person: their manager.
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Raymond Wheeler (Lift: Five Practices Great Managers Do Consistently: Raise Performance and Morale - See Your Employees Thrive)
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When you feel that others are lacking and failing ....
first assess the skill, style, quality, results, mindset,
support, professionalism and spirit with which
you yourself play the game.
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Rasheed Ogunlaru
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Your mouth is not given to you for feeding alone; it is given to you to programme events and circumstance around you.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Working harder to achieve results usually results in frustration and failure. The focus of work is the activities that generate results, not the results themselves.
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Raymond Wheeler (Lift: Five Practices Great Managers Do Consistently: Raise Performance and Morale - See Your Employees Thrive)
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Ask yourself: what is it, that if I believed it down to my core, would change everything?
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Kamal Ravikant (Live Your Truth)
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Leaders say "no" to corruption. Anyone playing a role in governance, and is not ready to do this is not a leader.
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Israelmore Ayivor (Leaders' Ladder)
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Divorce is the start point for a brand new life. Don't lose the chance to redesign it upon your dreams!
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Rossana Condoleo
β
To vastly improve your country and truly make it great again, start by choosing a better leader. Do not let the media or the establishment make you pick from the people they choose, but instead choose from those they do not pick.
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Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
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Worship is the marriage of two Spirits - the Spirit of God and the Spirit of man.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Create your world with God's Word in your mouth just say it and it will be accomplished!
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Your status has changed. Your Name is changed! You are a new creation.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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A responsible woman is one who sees opportunities of service and responds to them quickly. In her dwells the ability to see and respond to opportunities.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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The only way to follow your path is to take the lead.
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Joe Peterson (Help Me Live... As I Die, Cancer vs. the Power of Love)
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Mindfulness improves your capacity for self-discovery and empowerment.
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Amit Ray (Mindfulness Meditation for Corporate Leadership and Management)
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People can destroy people; People can also decorate. The former are misleaders; the latter are leaders.
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Israelmore Ayivor (Leaders' Ladder)
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Your decision not to join the crowd may be what God is waiting for to grant you revelation on how to deliver your family, your country, business, profession or even your church!
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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The presence of God is so important in the life of believers. There is abundance of all you need to make your life comfortable in His presence.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu (The Prince and the Pauper)
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Drown those degrading thoughts.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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Desire to give and not always receive.
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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While delivering organisational change or improvements, one cannot be sure whether the main challenge is narcissistic and deluded leaders or the sheep that follow in abundance"
Peter F Gallagher
Change Management Handbook - The Leadership of Change Volume 3
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Peter F Gallagher
β
The change question all leaders should be able to answer
Do you have a change vision, are you aligned on your strategic objectives, are you a high performing team and does you team have change leadership skills to lead the change or improvement that your organisation is facing?
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Peter F Gallagher
β
remember when God has answered you, it no longer matters who has been against you but for Him to answer you and change your story, you have to make up your mind to disobey the wrong order, change the status quo and BE DIFFERENT!
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Jaachynma N.E. Agu
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That's why I wanted to use Supper at Six to teach chemistry. Because when women understand chemistry, they begin to understand how things work."
Roth looked confused.
"I'm referring to atoms and molecules, Roth," she explained. "The real rules that govern the physical world. When women understand these basic concepts, they can begin to see the false limits that have been created for them."
"You mean by men."
"I mean by artificial cultural and religious policies that put men in the highly unnatural role of single-sex leadership. Even a basic understanding of chemistry reveals the danger of such a lopsided approach."
"Well," he said, realizing he'd never seen it that way before, "I agree that society leaves much to be desired, but when it comes to religion, I tend to think it humbles us--teaches us our place in the world."
"Really?" she said, surprised. "I think it lets us off the hook. I think it teachers us that nothing is really our fault; that something or someone else is pulling the strings; that ultimately, we're not to blame for the way things are; that to improve things, we should pray. But the truth is, we are very much responsible for the badness of the world. And we have the power to fix it.
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Bonnie Garmus (Lessons in Chemistry)
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All the managers I interviewed had the same sense of identity and self-assurance. None of them were arrogant. Instead, they were clear about who they were and what needed accomplishing. They used that sense of self to engage their team and learn each team memberβs strengths and contributions. Their courage and confidence were infectious to their team and to anyone who crossed their paths.
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Raymond Wheeler (Lift: Five Practices Great Managers Do Consistently: Raise Performance and Morale - See Your Employees Thrive)
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One cannot measure a managerβs knowledge and performance in a vacuum. It involves their participation in business activities while bringing all of themselves to the process of development, including their spiritual, personal, and skill & ability development.
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Raymond Wheeler (Lift: Five Practices Great Managers Do Consistently: Raise Performance and Morale - See Your Employees Thrive)
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Marcos, each question I ask is designed to give you just enough rope. What you do with that rope is up to you. You decide with your answers if that rope will hang you or save you. How you choose is up to you. I pray that over time you will learn that being honest, even if you did wrong, is a better option.
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Mark Villareal (Leadership Lessons From Mom)
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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)
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Strive to do small things well. Be a doer and a self-starterβaggressiveness and initiative are two most admired qualities in a leaderβbut you must also put your feet up and think. Strive for self-improvement through constant self-evaluation. Never be satisfied. Ask of any project, How can it be done better? Donβt overinspect or oversupervise. Allow your leaders to make mistakes in training, so they can profit from the errors and not make them in combat. Keep the troops informed; telling them βwhat, how, and whyβ builds their confidence. The harder the training, the more troops will brag. Enthusiasm, fairness, and moral and physical courageβfour of the most important aspects of leadership. Showmanshipβa vital technique of leadership. The ability to speak and write wellβtwo essential tools of leadership. There is a salient difference between profanity and obscenity; while a leader employs profanity (tempered with discretion), he never uses obscenities. Have consideration for others. Yelling detracts from your dignity; take men aside to counsel them. Understand and use judgment; know when to stop fighting for something you believe is right. Discuss and argue your point of view until a decision is made, and then support the decision wholeheartedly. Stay ahead of your boss.
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David H. Hackworth (About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior)
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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.
Donβt 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 doesnβt make you better at anything. Evaluated experience is what enables you to improve your performance.
As a leader, what you donβt know can hurt you. What you donβt 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 doesnβt 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.
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Andy Stanley
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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 donβt wait until people feel βpreparedβ or βfully equipped.β Seriously, when is anyone ever completely prepared for ministry?
Ministry makes peopleβs faith bigger. If you want to increase someoneβs 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 donβt see a mess, if you arenβt 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, itβs application that makes all the difference. Truth isnβt 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 weβve all seen, itβs not safe to assume that people automatically know what to do with what theyβve 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, itβs my responsibility to offend people with the gospel. Thatβs 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 donβt 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. Thereβs a big difference between being expected to do something and being invited to try something.
There is an inexorable link between an organizationβs 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.
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Andy Stanley (Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend)