John C. Maxwell

The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.

People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life.

A minute of thought is greater than an hour of talk.

Teamwork makes the dream work, but a vision becomes a nightmare when the leader has a big dream and a bad team.

A successful person finds the right place for himself. But a successful leader finds the right place for others.

And give… give more credit to others and don’t assume they’re mean until you know they’re actually mean.

I think people should be nicer to each other

I feel like the thing we can do is celebrate people doing great work and create more cultural momentum and awareness that this is an important thing in the world. So when the next economic crisis hits and people are talking about where to cut from the budget, science isn’t the thing.

The challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

You do your job, you keep your job. Do it well, you get a better job.

I judge people based on their capability, honesty, and merit.

When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.

Don’t necessarily avoid sharp edges. Occasionally they are necessary to leadership.

You don’t reward failure by promoting those responsible for it, because all you get is more failure.

The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

The art of leadership is a serious matter. One must not lag behind a movement, because to do so is to become isolated from the masses. But one must not rush ahead, for to rush ahead is to lose contact with the masses. He who wished to lead a movement must conduct a fight on two fronts–against those who lag behind and those who rush ahead.

You will launch many projects, but have time to finish only a few. So think, plan, develop, launch and tap good people to be responsible. Give them authority and hold them accountable. Trying to do too much yourself creates a bottleneck.

I have a very simple rule when it comes to management: hire the best people from your competitors, pay them more than they were earning, and give them bonuses and incentives based on their performance. That’s how you build a first-class operation.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.