Semper Fi

In the Marine Corps, officers guard against fraternization because it can compromise the officer’s legal and moral authority, say Dan Carrison and Rod Walsh in Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way (AMACOM): “An officer who decides to be ‘one of the boys’ even for one night and gets falling down drunk with his troops will never be looked upon with the same degree of respect again.”
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I believe

First thing every morning before you arise say out loud, "I believe," three times.
Ovid
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How to Work for an Idiot

Those who avoid goals for work are practicing a form of denial, a powerful defense mechanism that cloaks reality, contends Dr. John Hoover in How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive Without Killing Your Boss (Career Press). Instead, make goal-setting a private matter. “Start by refocusing energy away from contempt for your Idiot Boss to personal growth and satisfaction,” Hoover says
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Jesus, Entrepreneur

Though companies strive to grow and expect growth to bring benefits, Laurie Beth Jones in Jesus, Entrepreneur (Three Rivers/Crown), details how most companies are not big. “The huge Fortune 500 companies employ only 15 percent of America’s workforce. The lions that really roar are the accumulated small businesses, which employ 85 percent of the workers in the United States.”
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John Wooden

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.

John Wooden, UCLA basketball coaching icon

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Tips from the Top

When an employer provides a 401(k) match, the prudent employee takes it, says financial advisor Mark Wilson in Tips from the Top: Targeted Advice from America’s Top Money Minds (Alpha Books/Pearson) edited by Edie Milligan: “When the match is made in employer stock, the deal can be quite good. Even in the worst of cases, as when the employer stock goes down by 90 percent, you still receive some free money.”
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What’s money?

What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between, he does what he wants to do.
Bob Dylan, poet
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Building trust

Building trust in the workplace is a big challenge for managers – and workers. One of the best ways to do that, suggests Melissa Giovagnoli in Angels in the Workplace (Jossey-Bass), is to share information: “If you start sharing, you will find that people share back with you. In time, people will come to trust you as a giver and give to you. You will find yourself not knowing whether you give more than you receive.”
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Daring

Daring is not safe against daring men.
Ovid
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What Smart People Do When Dumb Things

One key question should be asked before any vital decision is made at work, insists Charles E. Watson, author of What Smart People Do When Dumb Things Happen At Work (Career Press): "The next time you contemplate an important action, don't ask yourself Will it be praised? Instead, ask - Should it be praised? No amount of favorable responses to the former can justify a negative answer to the latter."
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Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service

Samuel Smiles, a 19th Century writer, knew that manners go far and cost nothing, says Ron Zemke and Kirstin Anderson in Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service (AMACOM Books). Why do some sales people deliver a negative message: I think you’re stupid? “You send that when you use the phrase: do you understand? If four-year-olds don’t appreciate being talked down to, why should adult customers find it satisfying?”
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She Wins You Win

Women need to establish networks but those associations do not need to mirror traditional male activities like poker or golf, says Gail Evans in She Wins You Win: The Most Important Rule Every Businesswoman Needs to Know (Gotham Books). “Network wherever you go. Look for multiple ways to connect with everyone you meet. Nurture relationships with notes and cards, and remember you’re never too important to network.”
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The Quest for Authentic Power

You’re a boss. You have authority. Therefore you have the power to have employees get things done. Wrong, says G. Ross Lawford in The Quest for Authentic Power (Berrett-Koehler): “Employees may or may not choose to facilitate the wishes of their bosses. The power to choose is stronger than the so-called power of authority. Don’t confuse the power of authority with the power of coercion or intimidation.”
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Just Ask a Woman

The business implications of supporting Moms with products and services that validate her choices are huge, says Mary Lou Quinlan, author of Just Ask a Woman (Wiley). Quinlan says: “Marketers who insist on showing Moms as out of control women with bratty kids who mess up the house are ticking her off. Creative marketers find ways to ease Mom’s stress by taking action instead of talking about it.”
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Guts

In Guts: Companies that Blow the Doors Off Business-As-Usual (Currency), authors Kevin and Jackie Frieberg describe how Dr. Michael DeBakey, a heart specialist at Methodist Hospital in Houston, empowered hospital staff. On his rounds, he told a custodian the hospital couldn't function without him as germs would spread. Later, a Frieberg colleague asked him what he did: "Dr. DeBakey and I? We save lives together."
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Not getting along

People are rarely fired for incompetence. It’s not getting along that’s almost always the underlying reason for dismissal.
Stuart Margulies

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Leadership Presence

Calamities need prompt company response, truth and candor, say Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar in Leadership Presence (Ariel/Gotham). When Johnson & Johnson put the public first during a poisoning scare in 1982, the firm lost $100 million with a recall of 31 million bottles: “Because it acted so swiftly and decisively, Tylenol regained 95 percent of its dominant market share within threes months of the recall.”
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The Simpsons

Bart: I am through with working. Working is for chumps.
Homer: Son, I'm proud of you. I was twice your age before I figured that out.

The Simpsons

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Weaver on Strategy

Earl Weaver managed the Baltimore Orioles to four pennants and one World Series. In his book Weaver on Strategy with Terry Pluto (Brassey’s), he offers his second law of managing, a rule that applies to most workplaces: If you don't make any promises to your players, you won't have to break them. “It's the manager's job to make decisions, not to create expectations,” he says.
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Chuck Jones

Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity.

Chuck Jones, creator of Bugs Bunny

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Living Your Best Life

When it comes to making promises, nobody is more important than you are, says Linda Berman Fortgang, author of Living Your Best Life: Discover Your Life's Blueprint for Success: “It is to ourselves that we must first begin to give our word and keep it. Breaking your own promises to yourself erodes your self-esteem. It deafens you to wisdom.”
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Managing Your E-Mail

It pays to review some email truths, says Christina Cavanagh, author of Managing Your E-Mail (Wiley), and one of the most important axioms about email should be etched onto every computer terminal: “There is no such thing as deleted electronic mail. The best course of action is to regard e-mail as permanent and use it only for professional, legitimate and publicly known information.”
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James Baldwin

A good job not only has to pay well, it has to offer hope.
James Baldwin, American author

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Gallup Organization's Q-12 Advantage

What other findings are in The Gallup Organization's Q-12 Advantage? These qualities are critical to workers: my fellow employees are committed to doing quality work; I have a best friend at work; in the past six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress; and in the past year, I have had opportunities to learn and grow.
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Success

“The common idea that success spoils people is erroneous: on the contrary it makes them humble, tolerant and kind. Failure makes people cruel and bitter.
W. Somerset Maugham

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Office Spa

You should sometimes see the elevator in a new light, says Darrin Zeer in the book Office Spa (Chronicle Books). The next time you get on an elevator, use the space as a place to seek peace. “Watch the numbers rise or fall in unison with your breath,” Zeer says. “When your floor arrives you will be calm and centered.”
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Take notes

Take notes — copious notes, suggest co-authors Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler in Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High (McGraw-Hill): “Don't leave your hard work to memory. Write down all details of conclusions, decisions and assignments. Revisit notes and review assignments. Remember that one dull pencil is worth six sharp minds.”
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All I Really Need to Know

A lesson about honor came to Robert Fulghum, author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Ballantine), after a trip to a shoe repair shop. The owner told him the shoes were too shoddy to be fixed. Then he disappeared into a backroom and wrapped the shoes. When Fulghum got home, he found a cookie in each shoe and a note: “Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well,” the note read.
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Robert C. Gallagher

Even if you fall on your face, you are still moving forward.
Robert C. Gallagher, American humorist

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The Quest for Authentic Power

Never doubt the power of prayer, says G. Ross Lawford in The Quest for Authentic Power (Berrett-Koehler). Larry Dossey, M.D., discovered more than 130 scientific studies on healing and many employed prayer. He concluded: “Not to employ prayer with my patients was the equivalent of withholding a potent drug or surgical procedure.” Strong and clear intentions have an enormous power.
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Martha Inc.

Martha Stewart knew her Wall Street days were ending when the bull market of the 1960s turned into the bear market of the 1970s. Another sign that she needed to find a new career? Christopher Byron, author of Martha Inc. (Wiley), points out she was a nervous wreck, sleep problems and, even, hives. Within months Stewart quit to sell homemade pies at the door of a local clothing store. A mogul-to-be was born.
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