Quote of the Week

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson What will you do this week to drive change and make a new ending for some change that truly matters to you?

It is my month after all. Happy April Fools’ Day everyone. Enjoy the joke and beware the April!

He who is afraid to ask is ashamed of learning.” – Danish proverb Don’t be afraid. Don’t be ashamed. Those are two feelings that start from within.  That means you can choose to overcome them or leave yourself imprisoned by them.  Why would you choose a self-made prison? Set yourself free.  Ask questions.  Learn. Drive

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” ~ General Colin Powell The General’s quote is a reminder to the leader,

This too shall pass.” – Ancient Proverb Stick with it. Your change is worth it.    

Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources.  Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits.  He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use.” – William James,

If you don’t like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.” – Marian Wright Edelman, American children’s activist

The workers are handicapped by the system; and the system belongs to management.” – W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis On Friday I participated in a conversation which oscillated between advocacy for a top-down approach to change and another arguing for a bottom-up approach.  Sadly, neither term included anything close to what Deming would

If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.”– F. A. Hayek  

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill There are two distinct types of difficulties: ones you create and ones you observe. It is essential, if you are managing change or change agents to be able to see the difference. When someone points out