In today’s business world, anyone can be a leader. Every individual from the CEO all the way down to a student intern can be in a position to lead, guide, or innovate. These memorable quotes from the books of some of the most prominent authors in business today will help bring out the leader in you.
Jim Collins, Good-to-Great
“Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well (and if they cannot find a specific person or event to give credit to, they credit good luck). At the same time, they look in the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck when things go poorly.”
Adam Grant, Originals
“When new leaders take over a team or organization, they’re often eager to institute changes. But there’s value in being patient. Teams that evaluated their strategies at the midpoint were 80 percent more effective than teams that had the conversation at the start. The task was unfamiliar, so they didn’t know enough to set an effective strategy. Yale researcher Connie Gersick finds that the midpoint of a task is often the best time for a leader to institute change, as it’s when groups become most open to originality.”
Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs
“The nasty edge to [Steve Jobs’] personality was not necessary. It hindered him more than it helped him. But it did, at times, serve a purpose. Polite and velvety leaders, who take care to avoid bruising others, are generally not as effective as forcing change. Dozens of the colleagues whom Jobs most abused ended their litany of horror stories by saying that he got them to do things they never dreamed possible. And he created a corporation crammed with A players.”
Salim Ismail, Exponential Organizations
“According to noted hotelier Chip Conley, ‘Culture is what happens when the boss leaves.’”
Peter Thiel, Zero to One
“The best thing I did as manager at PayPal was to make every person in the company responsible for doing just one thing. Every employee’s one thing was unique, and everyone knew I would evaluate him only on one thing. I had started doing this just to simplify the task of managing people. But then I noticed a deeper result: defining roles reduced conflict…Eliminating competition makes it easier for everyone to build the kinds of long-term relationships that transcend mere professionalism.”
Just some good thoughts to keep in mind. #BuoyUp
