Management Quotes

If you focus on your values, then you’ll improve the “balance” between your business and personal lives. Give me a break. Focusing on your values may provide you with meaning, but it won’t simplify things. You’ll just discover even more stuff that’s important to you. You can do anything — but not everything. The universe is full of creative projects that are waiting to be done. So, if you really care about quality of life, if you want to relax, then don’t focus on values. Just control your aspirations. That will simplify things. Learning to set boundaries is incredibly difficult for most people.
— David Allen

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Achievement and Personal Development

When people ask me how to set priorities, I ask them a question: At what level do you want to have this conversation? Each of us operates on many different levels at all times. We each have a runway that holds all of the little things that consume our time. At 10,000 feet are the projects. At 20,000 feet, people are deciding on their roles and goals. At 30,000 feet, people are thinking ahead, asking themselves where they want to be in their careers 12 to 18 months down the road. At 40,000 feet, they’re thinking 3 to 5 years out and looking at their organizational aspirations. Then, at the top — at 50,000 feet — they’re asking, “What’s my job on this planet?”

A Wall Street executive once complained to me about having to attend too many meetings. I drew a chart and asked, “At what level do you want to have this conversation?” I explained that at 20,000 feet, maybe you need those meetings. But if you go up a level and think about the next 12 to 18 months, maybe you can pass on some of those meetings. And at 50,000 feet, where you think about your heart and your health, you might say, “I don’t need to make partner. I’ve made enough money. From now on, I’m going to leave at 7 PM every day. And if you don’t like it, then fire me.”
— David Allen

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Personal Development

Building an impressive resume is a lot easier than building a fulfilling life because life is a lot more complicated. It’s not a ladder at all, but rather a continuum with confusing twists and turns. Being smart helps; being wise, thoughtful, and disciplined is an absolute necessity. We’ve seen stars succeed at life, and we’ve seen stars fail life miserably, despite professional success.Those that succeed build lives as well as resumes.
— Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Personal Development and Success

People succeed when they run toward something rather than away from something.
— Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Success

Until you’ve explicitly defined your life’s goals and aspirations, you can’t really know what tradeoffs you’re willing to make to reach them.
— Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Ambition and Personal Development

Maximizing one of life’s variables (such as net worth) usually comes at the direct expense of others (such as free time). More money is better only if the tradeoffs it requires don’t undermine other dimensions of your desired point of arrival. Even the wealthiest among us agree that at some level, money has diminishing marginal returns. But since money is a common scorecard, it can gradually become an end in and of itself-with the consequence that more always seems better.
— Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Money and Success

Honest feedback is a valuable-albeit often painful-gift. Seeking it out is not a natural act. We all want to protect ourselves, to solicit only those perspectives that reinforce our positive self-image.To hear what we agree with and discard the rest. We rationalize this behavior in a million different ways, from discrediting the source of a disagreeable perspective (”What do they really know?”) to “accidentally” forgetting the feedback a few days later. That is why it takes conscious effort to see ourselves as others truly see us, rather than as we’d like to think they do.

Ironically, it is often much easier to get clarity professionally than personally. Outstanding firms find ways to make constructive feedback an ongoing part of their professionals’ lives. But performance reviews about your personal life are anything but routine and a lot tougher to facilitate.
— Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Personal Development

What distinguishes the men and women who succeed from those who fail is the efficacy of their actions, not the spaciousness of their hopes. If they believe their lives are out of alignment with their capabilities, goals, and needs, they make choices and take actions to correct the situation.
— Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Personal Development and Success

Every life is shaped to some extent by circumstances: a lucky break or a fortunate decision…Things happen to us that drive our destinies in unforeseen ways. More fundamentally, we are all dealt a hand of cards– ranging from our genes to the family and neighborhood we grew up in-which shapes how we adapt to these circumstances.

Personal alignment is how well we play that hand so that our decisions match our capabilities and aspirations. The game is complex and gradual. As children, our parents guide us, then ease away until we are virtually independent. We select a college and then a first job, often making choices without even beginning to know what we really don’t know.We move on, reacting to opportunities, coping with disappointments.As we succeed, and especially as we fail, we mature and learn more and more about the consequences of our choices. The nature of the game and its choices change dramatically from age 30 to age 45 to age 60, yet the fundamentals remain largely constant.We must build on the hand of cards we’re dealt and adapt to changing circumstances.
— Jay W Lorsch and Thomas J Tierney

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Luck and Success

The real work of critical inquiry is to examine what we think we know in order to learn about what we do not know. We must question our givens and opinions. For it is far easier to label than to understand, and intellectual laziness undermines our studies with the deadly inversion of the scientific method: “I’ll believe it when I see it!” becomes “I’ll see it when I believe it!”
— Professor Emil Homerin (University of Rochester)

No Comments » Posted by Administrator / Personal Development and Thought