The Heart of Leader

Ken Blanchard’s book, The Heart of Leader is filled with great quotes. I would like to share several with you.

Remember, the best leaders are those who understand that their power flows through them, not from them. p. 3

. . . give praise immediately, make it specific, and finally, encourage people to keep up the good work. p. 5

. . . praise progress . . . p. 7

The more attention you pay to a behavior, the more it will be repeated. Accentuating the positive and redirecting the negative are the best tools for increasing productivity. p. 9

You get from people what you expect. p. 10

People are motivated to do things that provide them with feedback on results. Feedback is important to people. p. 15

No one can make you feel interior with your permission Eleanor Roosevelt p. 16

The belief that I control my own self-esteem permits me to listen to and hear their feedback in a nondefensive way – looking to see if there is something I can learn. p. 17

Get your ego out of the way and move on p. 22

The minute you decide to be part of a team, you’re going to lose some things and gain others. p. 23

When you stop learning, you stop growing. p. 30

What you resist, persists. Until you deal with your feelings, you will be stuck with them. p. 37

If you don’t take time out to think, strategize, and prioritize, you will work a whole lot harder, without enjoying the benefits of a job smartly done. p. 39

Anything worth doing does not have to be done perfectly – at first. p. 44

Managers should recognize that good performance – both their own and their people’s – is a journey, not an announced destination. Everyone learns by doing. It takes time and practice to achieve specific goals. p. 45

My teaching example parallels the three parts of an effective review system: performance planning when goals and objectives are set, day-to-day coaching when ongoing feedback is given, and performance evaluation when overall performance is determined.

In business, communicating performance objectives – giving people the final exam questions ahead of time – is the perfect way to ensure that everyone is working from the same sheet of music and headed in the right direction. Once goals are clear, leaders should wander around and “teach people the answers” so when they take the final exam, they will get A’s. After all, that’s what life is all about! p. 49

Character is following through on decisions. p. 80

A lot of people love to make announcements-yet it’s commitments, not announcements, that really matter. Commitment involves making sure that what you intend to do or what you announce you will do actually gets done. p. 81

Vision is a lot more than putting a plaque on the wall. A real vision is lived, not framed. p. 94

All good performance starts with clear goals. p. 96

An important way to motivate your people is to make sure they know where they are going. p. 97

When you ask people about the best leader they ever had, one quality is always mentioned: they are good listeners. p. 103

Observing successful people over the years, I’ve noticed that they don’t let disappointments stop them. When one door closes, they look for another to open. p. 105

To learn from the past is good, but to live there is a waste. To plan for the future is good, but to live there is a waste. You are happiest and most productive in life when you are living in the present. p. 121

. . . called people live by the philosophy that everything is on loan. They contend that we come into this world with nothing, and we leave with nothing. p. 125

Choose work you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. p. 132

You want to get rid of the behavior, not the person. p. 137

It’s surprising how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit. Abraham Lincoln p. 150

. . . ego really stands foe “edging God out.” p. 183

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