Francis Ford Coppola

My greatest gift is my enthusiasm. I get excited about whatever I'm interested in. I'm like a six-year-old.

Francis Ford Coppola as told to Fast Company

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Pot of Gold Daily Quote

In Managing Smart by Lynne Milgram, Alan Spector and Matt Tregor (Elsevier), the authors look to employee turnover to measure morale, as most companies do. Any trend is a challenge for supervisors: "Employee turnover is probably the best measure of morale. If you have selected the right employees and you still experience high turnover, then chances are there is poor supervision or that good employees tend to be given the wrong jobs."
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Work Like Your Dog

From Work Like Your Dog Fifty Ways to Work Less, Play More, and Earn More by Matt Weinstein and Luke Barber (Villard) "A new motto for the 21st century employee might well be: Be funny, make money. There is a direct correlation between having fun on the job and being more productive. Successful companies are learning to hire, reward and promote individuals who bring a sense of play to their work.”
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The Energy

You may overstep ethical boundaries but do not despair. From The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment (Ballantine) by Maria Nemeth: "The personal power that comes from virtue is the wellspring from which your success will emerge. Despite your best intentions, you will periodically find yourself acting outside your standards. What then? Go back and clean it up, make amends. Move on."
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No B.S. Business Success

In No B.S. Business Success (Entrepreneur Press) author Dan Kennedy, advises executives that when confronted by a lawsuit or threat of lawsuit, do not dally. “When you get attacked, most lawyers will want to react slowly and by the book,” Kennedy concludes. “I’ve found that the best defense is a very fast, very strong, even a little wild-eyed-and-foaming-at-the-mouth, kick-butt offense. Push your lawyer to run straight at them.”

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When You Say Yes But Mean No

You may not want to hear what employees have to say but your company better foster a climate where free-speaking is the norm or expect consequences, says Leslie A. Perlow, author of When You Say Yes But Mean No (Crown Business): “When we are in a relationship in which we don’t feel comfortable speaking up, we end up feeling anxiety and negative emotion, and it’s hard to be motivated -highly costly for individuals and organizations.”
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Theodore Roosevelt

The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them.
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President

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Jesus Entrepreneur

A San Diego landscape firm drops off a little bag of gravel and note on lawns that need tending. “This is the entrepreneurial spirit,” notes Laurie Beth Jones, author of Jesus Entrepreneur (Three Rivers Press/Random House). “Look for something that’s broken and fix it. The truth is that we live in a broken world. Opportunities for service and for improving the human condition abound.”
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Build a ship

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French author and pilot on group initiative

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Back stories

In The Success Effect (S&R) by John Eckberg, executive coach Michael O'Brien suggests executives need to find what he calls back stories: "We'll pick an upset that occurred, something that just didn't work, and we'll say go back and write out the story. What were you assuming to be true about those in the meeting room? About the purpose of the meeting? What were you assuming to be true about your role in all that?

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The Passionate Economist

Inflation always will hit small firms first, Diane Swonk, chief economist at Bank One and author of The Passionate Economist: Finding the Power and Humanity Behind the Numbers, says. "They are not likely to raise prices in response to higher costs unless those higher costs are shared by their competitors," she says. "Rising wages qualify as a universal phenomenon for small firms and hence a trigger point for inflation."
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In a slump on the job?

In a slump on the job? Take a two- or three-week break by assuming a new, temporary role, suggests Luke Rhinehart in The Book of the Die: A Handbook of Dice Living (Overlook Press). “No matter how well a man may be performing a job, it is likely he will come to perform it better if he works at another job in the organization,” Rhinehart writes. “He will have a better feel for how his job works in the order of things.”
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The first 15 minutes

Beware the first 15 minutes when you get home after work, says Dr. Robert K. Cooper, author of The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership & Life (Crown Business): “Over half of the most damaging arguments are started or magnified within 15 minutes of people greeting each other at the end of the day.” So, greet loved ones at the door, then disappear for a few minutes for “personal wind-down time.”
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Competitive response

When the Procter & Gamble Co. tried to muscle into the orange-juice business, Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid and Beatrice’s Tropicana Brands spent an avalanche of ad money to stop P&G, says Michael Treacy in Double-Digit Growth (Portfolio). “After a few years and hundreds of millions of dollars of losses, P&G gave up. Procter learned the hard way: any assessment of industry attractiveness must include the likely competitive response.”
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Feedback

Feedback is essential for managers and subordinates. Mel Silberman and Freda Hansburg detail in Working PeopleSmart (Berrett-Koehler) the four elements of feedback: sincerity, specificity, safety and self-critique. Feedback can be wrong and dismissed. “You may have heard the adage ‘Feedback is a gift.’ Bear in mind that it is also a gift you can ‘return to the store’ if it just doesn’t fit.”
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Who needs a plan?

A plan? Who needs a plan, say the late Paul Newman and editor A.E. Hotchner in Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good: The Madcap Business Adventure by the Truly Oddest Couple (Talese-Random House): “We have never had a plan. Hotch and I comprise two of the great witless people in business. None of this is supposed to work. We are a testament to the theory of Random.”
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Dive right in

When a project comes calling, start with the ending: How much time can you afford to spend on it? Then look at the value of the project. “Will it increase income, prestige, move your career forward and bring you closer to your goals?” asks Barry J. Farber in his book Dive Right In: 101 Powerful Action Steps for Personal Achievement (Berkley Publishing). Other questions - difficulty of task, accessibility of colleagues involved.
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Homer

I want to share something with you - the three sentences that will get you through life. No 1: "Can you cover for me? No. 2: Oh, good idea, Boss. No. 3: It was like that when I got here. -- Homer Simpson
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African proverb

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet. - African proverb

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Companies are People, Too

Companies that have an idealistic bent are also challenged by other factors, says Sandra Fekete with LeeAnna Keith in Companies are People, Too (Wiley): “This type of organization radiates enthusiasm for its work. If they can overcome a tendency toward disorganization and poor follow-through, organizations with these characteristics have the capacity to produce cutting-edge work, imaginative products and innovative services.”
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How Full is Your Bucket

Some at work are energy drainers, and there is nothing you can do about it. In How Full is Your Bucket (Gallup Press) by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clinton, the authors contend these people dip into others’ limited buckets of energy: “Some persistently negative or hurtful people simply won’t change, despite your best efforts. Steer clear of these kinds of people as much as possible – for your own well-being and emotional health.”
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Splatter vision

Robert Duboff and Jim Spaeth, authors of Market Research Matters (Wiley), suggest that companies need splatter vision: “Never become so focused that you expect your challenge to come from a specific direction. Surprise turns into crisis not because business managers don't look to the future, but because they look to a single future or tightly define the battle. Change usually hits where we least expect it.”
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Pilot Your Life

Tell an employee that they must find a new job on a Monday or a Tuesday – not a Friday, cautions Ron Shaw, chief executive of Pilot Pen Corp. and co-author of Pilot Your Life (Clerisy). It gives the employee the rest of the week to pick up the pieces, start looking for a new job and regain some sense of control. Why not a termination on Friday? “We don’t want them anguishing over their misfortune over the weekend,” Shaw says.
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The Success Effect

Author and psychologist Ellen Frankenberg talks about leadership strategies of women in The Success Effect (S&R) by John Eckberg: "Family firms today can capitalize on the female advantage. Women will adopt more flexible solutions. They're going to integrate work with the rest of life. Women nurture. Women, as a rule, think first of the impact on others before they make decisions."
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Fix it fast

Something breaks? Fix it fast, Tom Richardson and Augusto Vidaurreta suggest in Business is a Contact Sport (Penguin). “Acting quickly keeps resentment from building up,” the authors contend. “Working to fix the problem shows you value the relationship and the sooner you fix the problem, the sooner you make the other party whole and limit the damage they suffer.”
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Winning Job Search

A former hiring manager, Todd Bermont knew he would eventually get to one question whenever he interviewed applicants, Bermont reveals in 10 Insider Secrets to a Winning Job Search (Career Press). Bermont always asked it, too: Why should I hire you instead of one of the other candidates that I have interviewed? ”It reveals much about the applicant," he says.
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Guide to Greatness

Bimonthly crew meetings at the World Famous Pike Place Fish end with each crewmember acknowledging another for something they have done: a great listener, for giving or receiving coaching, for being fun to work with – anything. “It’s a powerful way to end meetings,” says Cyndi Crother in Catch! A Fishmonger’s Guide to Greatness (Barrett-Koehler Publishers, “and it is very apparent in the energy level at work the following day.”
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Best morale

The best morale exists when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it’s usually lousy. - Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States

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