KEN BLANCHARD

Don't quack like a duck, soar like an eagle.

Too many leaders act as if the sheep... their people... are there for the benefit of the shepherd, not that the shepherd has responsibility for the sheep.

For a manager to be perceived as a positive manager, they need a four to one positive to negative contact ratio.

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.

People who produce good results feel good about themselves.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions.

I never use notes, they interfere with me.

The productivity of a work group seems to depend on how the group members see their own goals in relation to the goals of the organization.

I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.

In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people... they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.

Some people are really good at the visionary role. They're like third grade teachers who tell people the vision and values over and over and over until they get it right, right, right. But they're not implementers. If they're good leaders, they gather people around them who can take the implementation role and move it forward.

'One Minute Mentoring' is written in the parable style Spencer Johnson and I popularized in 'The One Minute Manager.' It's an entertaining story about the mentorship between a young salesperson, Josh, and a seasoned executive named Diane. As the characters learn about mentoring, so does the reader.

Age is rarely a limitation to being a mentor.

If people aren't clear on what business you're in, what you're trying to accomplish, your values, your goals, then shame on you. It doesn't mean you shouldn't involve them. It's just your responsibility to make sure that that's clear.

Patrick Lencioni, Spencer Johnson, and Stephen Covey are great communicators.

Growing, for leaders, is like oxygen to a deep sea diver. Without learning and growing, leaders die in terms of their effectiveness.

When you write a business fable, people get caught up in the story and don't get judgmental about what you're teaching them. If you're teaching a bunch of concepts, people get skeptical and say, 'Where'd you get that research?' But if you tell them a story, they get caught up in it while they learn.

Leadership is not about you; it's about investing in the growth of others.

Too often in business, only financial data is gathered - and then it is distributed only to management. Other key indicators that relate to performance areas also need to be tracked. Information on performance has to be made available to those people who can best use it - those doing the work.

People will resist change when it's done to them, not with them.

I think a great leader is somebody who realizes it's not about them, it's about the people that they're serving, that they're really other-directed rather than self- directed.

Managing by values - not by profits - is a powerful process that will set your business on the path to becoming what I call a 'Fortunate 500' company.

All good performance starts with clear goals.

The biggest obstacle that stalls leaders' growth is the human ego. When leaders start to think they know it all, they stop growing.

'Lead with LUV' is the first book I've ever done that's just a pure conversation between my coauthor and me.