Great Throughts Treasury

"Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building."

"Because the church is a formal organization made up of policies, programs, practices, and people, it cannot by itself give a person any deep, permanent security or sense of intrinsic worth. Living the principles taught by the church can do this, but the organization alone cannot."

"Because the struggle continues, I retire frequently to the solitude of my own inner self to recommit to win my battles privately, to get my motives straight."

"Because their identity and sense of self-worth are wrapped up in their work, their security is vulnerable to anything that happens to prevent them from continuing in it."

"becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on our basic paradigms."

"Begin with the end in mind is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There?s a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation to all things."

"Begin each day with the blueprint of my deepest values firmly in mind then when challenges come, make decisions based on those values."

"Beneficial results possible. They become the basis of a person?s character, creating an empowering center of correct maps from which an individual can effectively solve problems, maximize opportunities, and continually learn and integrate other principles in an upward spiral of growth. They are also habits of effectiveness because they are based on a paradigm of effectiveness that is in harmony with a natural law, a principle I call the"

"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."

"Build inner character first?private victory before public victory."

"Being is seeing in the human dimension."

"Businesses, community groups, organizations of every kind?including families?can be proactive. They can combine the creativity and resourcefulness of proactive individuals to create a proactive culture within the organization."

"Borrowing strength builds weakness."

"But borrowing strength builds weakness."

"Between stimulus, or what happens to us or has ever happened to us, and our response, lies our power and freedom to choose. In those choices lie our growth and happiness."

"But people who end up with the good jobs are the proactive ones who are solutions to problems, not problems themselves, who seize the initiative to do whatever is necessary, consistent with correct principles, to get the job done."

"But the greatest opportunities and boundless accomplishments of the Knowledge Worker Age are reserved for those who master the art of we."

"But the underlying chronic condition remains, and eventually new acute symptoms will appear. The more people are into quick fix and focus on the acute problems and pain, the more that very approach contributes to the underlying chronic condition. The way we see the problem is the problem."

"But until a person can say deeply and honestly, 'I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,' that person cannot say, 'I choose otherwise.'"

"But with the steady disintegration of the family in modern society over the last century, the role of the school in bridging the gap has become vital!"

"Catch people doing things right. They need to feel valued and appreciated and they need to feel the work they are engaged in is worthy of their commitment and their best effort."

"Can leadership be taught? No, but it can be learned. The key is the exercise of the space between stimulus, that is the teaching, and response, that is the learning, and if people will exercise their freedom of choice to learn the knowledge, skills, and character traits associated with leadership (vision, discipline, passion, and conscience), they will learn to be leaders that other will happily choose to follow. In a very real sense they are both followers of principles. Ultimately a good leadership team is a complementary team where people?s strengths are made productive and their weaknesses made irrelevant by the strength of others."

"By behaving in ways that build trust with one, you build trust with many."

"But you can?t change the fruit without changing the root."

"Certainly you can pick up that room better than a child, but the key is that you want to empower the child to do it."

"Companies that outperformed their industry peers excelled at four primary management practices: (1) Strategy ? Devise and maintain a clearly stated, focused strategy. (2) Execution ? Develop and maintain flawless operation execution. (3) Culture ? Develop and maintain a performance-oriented culture. (4) Structure ? Build and maintain a fast, flexible, flat organization."

"Character Ethic as the foundation of success?things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule."

"Complement, don?t criticize, your boss."

"Coherence suggests that there is harmony, unity, and integrity between your vision and mission, your roles and goals, your priorities and plans, and your desires and discipline."

"Competition is fierce; survival is at stake. The need to produce today is today?s reality and represents the demands of capital, but the real mantra of success is sustainability and growth. You may be able to meet your quarterly numbers, but the real question is, are you making the necessary investment that will sustain and increase that success one, five, and ten years from now?"

"Churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality. There are some people who get so busy in church worship and projects that they become insensitive to the pressing human needs that surround them, contradicting the very precepts they profess to believe deeply."

"Chinese bamboo tree planted after the ground is well equipped. During the first four years of growth achieved by all of this tree in the section under the earth will be. The only thing visible throughout that period, including a small ball out of which a very small plant. In the fifth year to grow this tree eighty feet at once. This system applies to the leader who is his leadership on the principles of right and knows the Chinese bamboo tree theory, this type of leaders know the value of work and they know the value of the land planting and processing of seeds and put fertilizer, water and care full, as well as the value of non- Rushing the results early. They know that excellent crop will come later. What a wonderful harvest."

"Conscience profoundly alters vision, discipline and passion by introducing us into the world of relationships. It moves us from an independent to an interdependent state? Conscience transforms passion into compassion."

"Conscience sees life on a continuum. It?s capable of complex adaptation. Ego can?t sleep. It micromanages. It dis-empowers. It reduces one?s capacity. It excels in control. Conscience deeply reveres people and sees their potential for self-control. Conscience empowers."

"Conscience teaches us that ends and means are inseparable, that ends actually preexist in the means."

"Consequences are governed by principles, and behavior is governed by values, therefore, value principles!"

"Could synergy not create a new script for the next generation?one that is more geared to service and contribution, and is less protective, less adversarial, less selfish; one that is more open, more trusting, more giving, and is less defensive, protective, and political; one that is more loving, more caring, and is less possessive and judgmental?"

"Deep within each of us there is an inner longing to live a life of greatness? a life of real contribution, a life of significance ? one that really made a difference."

"Despite all our gains in technology, product innovation and world markets, most people are not thriving in the organizations they work for."

"Deathbed confession or mere ordinance work do not change man?s nature. This is the reason Satan?s plan to force everyone to be good would have failed, for there could never be a returning to the presence of the Eternal Father without a testing in the face of opposites and temptation and without the continuous choosing of the highest good over lesser goods and over evil. Any other approach to salvation ignores this process of growth and turns it all into some kind of an arbitrary and awesome mystery that, to many, is the hallmark of spirituality."

"Creative experiences can be produced regularly? it requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure."

"Determinism is deeply imbedded into present-day culture and is reinforced by the terrifying sense that if I do have choice, then I am also responsible for my present situation. Until a person can honestly say ?I am what I am? and ?I am where I am because I so choose to be there,? that person cannot say with conviction, ?I choose otherwise.?"

"Discernment is often far more accurate than either observation or measurement."

"Destination. We could call it your true north. Everybody deep inside their hearts and minds has a compass like this. And if you close the top, you see a clock, which represents what life is, the realities of everyday existence. Perhaps no one else would know except you and yours that you make every decision regarding your clock based upon the compass. Your sense of direction, your sense of vision and purpose, and your sense of principles and values are all based on the compass. So you frequently examine your compass, you examine your mission statement, to reclaim your moral bearings, reclaim your heritage, reclaim your sense of destiny, your sense of purpose and meaning. You regain your sense of making a difference, your sense of contributing and adding real value to life. That?s the power of this compass. I frequently look at it and think this way: Stay on target. In other words, put first things first. Put your mission statement where it can be examined and explored, where you can go and study it against your behavior to see how well you?re living up to it. As"

"Do not fear mistakes?fear only the absence of creative, constructive, and corrective responses to those mistakes."

"Did you ever consider how ridiculous it would be to try to cram on a farm?to forget to plant in the spring, play all summer and then cram in the fall to bring in the harvest? The farm is a natural system. The price must be paid and the process followed. You always reap what you sow; there is no shortcut."

"Difference is the beginning of synergy."

"Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things."

"Don?t argue for other people?s weaknesses. Don?t argue for your own. When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from it ? immediately."

"Doing the right things for the right reason in the right way is the key to Quality of Life!"