“What Can I Do Today to Make a Difference? / Visualize the Impossible”
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (Maya Angelou)
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“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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“If you want to interact effectively with me, to influence me – your spouse, your child, your neighbor, your boss, your worker, your friend – you first need to understand me. And you can’t do that with technique alone. If I sense you’re using some technique, I sense duplicity, manipulation. I wonder why you’re using it, what your motives are. And I don’t feel safe enough to open myself up to you.” (Stephen R. Covey, Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People)
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“You cannot build a team or organization that believes in different things from you. You can’t make them into something you’re not. Leadership isn’t just a job; it is a commitment to other people’s excellence.
As an illustration, think of the movie, ‘Remember the Titans.’ One of the highlights of that film was the heated exchange between the white captain and one of the black players, who had experienced firsthand the captain’s lack of acceptance and support. When the captain confronted the player for deliberately missing a play, the player retorted, ‘attitude reflects leadership, captain.’
We must remember that, unfortunately, too many managers and supervisors who are responsible for developing others haven’t learned the basics of good leadership and development, even for themselves. They are trying to build organizations or provide services based on a different value system. It doesn’t work. Employees quickly observe the disconnect between words and deeds.” (Don Ritz)
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“The final meditation on followership from Ira Chaleff’s book, “The Courageous Follower” is: ‘Courage always exists in the present. What can I do today?’
I am convinced that if more people would assume responsibility for asking themselves each and every day, “what can I do today to make a difference?” that our organizations would experience radical transformation.
Most of your peers are playing it safe. They don’t want to stand up, stand out, and risk rejection or challenge. They are content with doing just enough to get by, and by their own behavior our leaders encourage the perpetuation of this pattern.
We can do better, and because we can, we should. Without courage, this is all just rhetoric. Courage has to start today, and it has to start with you.
You have a lot more power than you think. People are watching.” (Brett L. Simmons)
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“Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.” (Cherie Carter-Scott)
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Catalyst Quotes 