The creator of our future
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.
The first responsibility of a leader is to “define reality.
The size of your team will determine the size of the dream that you accomplished.
To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
The success of your dream is going to be more determined about who's on your team than anything else.
If you want to be great, you can't be great by yourself. You gotta to bring people around you. As the the challenge escalates, the need for teamwork elevates. The greater the challenge, the better the team.
People will often say "You can't change other people." My research shows this societal belief is not only dis-empowering, it is scientifically false.
Creativity is not a solitary process. It happens within networks... when talented people get together, when idea systems and mentalities merge.
Everything you do right now ripples outward and affects everyone. Your posture can shine your heart or transmit anxiety. Your breath can radiate love or muddy the room in depression. Your glance can awaken joy. Your words can inspire freedom. Your every act can open hearts and minds.
You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.
Buddhism has always taught that there is a time and a place for taking on the life of a secluded monk, for living apart from the world in order to learn to serve the world. But serve the world we must, and to do so we must be in the world.
Change is the province of leaders. It is the work of leaders to inspire people to do things differently, to struggle against uncertain odds, and to persevere toward a misty image of a better future.
Become a documentarian of what you do.
Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it.
In our age of connection, every one of us is a node. We sit on that tense, stretched surface between center and periphery. When we say Connection changes the nature of an object, this is the exact balance we have to contemplate.
What is true for the machines all around us now is true for us too: We are what we are connected to. And mastery of that connection turns out to be the modern version of Napoleon’s coup d’oeil, the essential skill of the age.
In connected systems, power is defined by both profound concentration and by massive distribution.
You cannot paddle the boat alone. Find someone to share your life with. Make as many friends as possible, and never forget that your success depends on others.
Whether we're a preschooler or a young teen, a graduating college senior or a retired person, we human beings all want to know that we're acceptable, that our being alive somehow makes a difference in the lives of others.
All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connects us as neighbors—in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver.
As long as you are alive, you will either live to accomplish your own goals and dreams or be used as a resource to accomplish someone else's.
It is better to make something happen—good or bad—than to have it happen to you.