Marshall Goldsmith Quotes
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Active questions are the alternative to passive questions. There is a huge difference between, 'Do you have clear goals?' and 'Did you do your best to set clear goals for yourself?' The former is trying to determine the employee's state of mind; the latter challenges the employee to describe or defend a course of action.
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If we can sacrifice something comfortable, that we're 'too good at,' that might even be holding us back, we'll have more room to grow into the person we want to be.
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When you say, 'I'm sorry,' you turn people into your allies, even your partners.
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I regard gratitude as an asset and its absence a major interpersonal flaw.
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Remember that when criticism is difficult to accept, there is probably some truth to it.
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When we stop thinking about ourselves, when we stop being so devoted to 'me,' we can start behaving in a way that actually benefits others!
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We deify willpower and self-control - and mock its absence. People who achieve through remarkable willpower are 'strong' and 'heroic.' People who need help or structure are 'weak.' This is crazy - because few of us can accurately gauge or predict our willpower.
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In one of the largest studies ever done on the effects of executive coaching - over 70,000 respondents - we learned that the biggest mistake coaches make is in not following up. It didn't matter who the coach was or what method they used. Failing to follow up made any approach to coaching ineffective.
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People that have integrity violations should be fired, not coached. How many integrity violations does it take to ruin the reputation of your company? Just one. You don't coach integrity violations. You fire them.
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Understanding the past is perfectly admissible if your issue is accepting the past. But if your issue is changing the future, understanding will not take you there.
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Once you get a reputation for emotional volatility, it can take years of model behavior to change how others see you.
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The only thing I don't think people don't understand about good leaders is that they're both good and lucky. A lot of it is timing.
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If we really want to make change, we have to make peace with the fact that we cannot self-exempt every time the calendar offers us a more attractive alternative.
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Coaching works best with high potential people who are willing to make a concerted effort to change, not as a religious conversion activity.
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As I've gotten older, I've gotten simpler - my level of aspiration has actually gone down and down. But my level of impact has gone up and up.
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Successful people become great leaders when they learn to shift the focus from themselves to others.
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People who believe they can succeed see opportunities where others see threats.
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How to prepare for 'breakdowns' and create the nimble, change-adept company
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Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, Richard Beckhard, The organization of the future, Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997; Book summary
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All of us have people in our lives who drive us crazy. We've spent hours reliving the unfair, unappreciative, inconsiderate treatment they have inflicted on us. But getting mad at this person makes just about as much sense as getting mad at a chair for being a chair.
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To me, the #1 key to success is 'creating lasting positive change in yourself and others.' That is what is most rare, most difficult, and most valuable about leading people.
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When we prolong negative behavior - the kind that hurts the people we love or the kind that hurts us in some way - we are leading a changeless life in the most hazardous manner. We are willfully choosing to be miserable and making others miserable, too.
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It can be more productive to help people learn to be 'right' than prove they were 'wrong.'
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Gratitude is not a limited resource, nor is it costly. It is abundant as air. We breathe it in but forget to exhale.