You're not a product of your nature. That is your genetic makeup or your nurture, the things that have happened to you. Of course those things affect you powerfully, but they do not determine you.
— Stephen Covey
When one side benefits more than the other, that's a win-lose situation. To the winner it might look like success for a while, but in the long run, it breeds resentment and distrust.
If you have a family mission statement that clarifies what your purpose is, then you use that as the criterion by which you make the decisions.
The spirit of America has nurtured responsibility and community unlike any other country.
One of the things that I have admired about India is the spiritualism of the people.
Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.
Every time I see high-trust cultures, I see a lessening of adversarialism.
We become what we repeatedly do.
The roots of the problems we face in the world, in our national life, and in our family and personal lives are spiritual.
When we value correct principles, we have truth - a knowledge of things as they are.
A mission statement is not something you write overnight... But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.
We see the world not as it is, but as we are.
My parents were just constantly affirming me in everything that I did. Late at night, I'd wake up and hear my mother talking over my bed, saying, 'You're going to do great on this test. You can do anything you want.'
An empowered organisation is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organisational success.
Some habits of ineffectiveness are rooted in our social conditioning toward quick-fix, short-term thinking.
The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged.
You can't talk your way out of problems you behave yourself into.
Most people are basically a victim of the circumstances of their life. They have things like 9/11, they have terrorism threats, they have new war threats, they have economy problems, and they think, 'What can I do? I'm basically a victim.'
Most negotiators are trying to get their way.
The average family spends 30 hours in front of a television, and they say they don't have the time to have a balanced, integrated life.
A little over 5% of the world's population produces almost 29% of the world's goods and services.
Both times I was in India, I could not get people to listen to each other. I had to literally tell people to listen to each other and tell them that they can't get creative and find alternate solutions if they don't listen to each other. There's a lot of arguing and justifying.
Outsourcing is inevitable, and I don't think it's necessarily treating people like things.
It's amazing how confused and distracted and misdirected so many people are.
We need to have business leaders who live by deep, strong principles.
To learn something but not to do is really not to learn. To know something but not to do is really not to know.
Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value.
It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one's heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.
What is common sense isn't common practice.
Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.
Accountability breeds response-ability.
If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That's when you can get more creative in solving problems.
What air is to the body, to feel understood is to the heart.
The true identity theft is not financial. It's not in cyberspace. It's spiritual. It's been taken.
For me, the essence of the great American Dream is spiritual. I believe that our Constitution is inspired and that it is based on principles that are timeless and universal. This is the reason why 95% of all written constitutions throughout the world are modeled after our Constitution.
When the external factors over which one has no control in a way start to become negative, it starts to affect our creative juices.
Light is the greatest disinfectant in nature and also in organizations.
Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.
Mind over mattress.
Every time you think the problem is 'out there,' that very thought is the problem.
Reactive people... are often affected by their physical environment. They find external sources to blame for their behavior.
Listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.
I believe in this concept that you learn by teaching.
People and organizations don't grow much without delegation and completed staff work because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses.
In school, many of us procrastinate and then successfully cram for tests. We get the grades and degrees we need to get the jobs we want, even if we fail to get a good general education.
Listen with your eyes for feelings.
I affirm to you the tremendous potential you have, not beyond anything you could ever imagine.
