As a leader, people put their hopes, their dreams, and their fears in you. You are the container of their intangibles.

If you want respect, first look to the source. The source is you. Like so many things, respect flows from the inside out., and self-respect is the strongest stream. You get what you expect. So first, you have to expect it from yourself. So the question becomes, do you respect yourself the way you want to be respected?

We don’t get away unscathed. As we make our way through life, life leaves its marks. The marks we bear can make our lives deeper and more meaningful. Or they can sour our view, and make us bitter and cold. It’s all in how we respond.

These are the people who fight the good fight. They don’t do it for recognition, fame, or glory. They do it because it’s who they are, and they fight for what they believe in.

Keep virtuous cycles going and abort vicious cycles early. The little wins each day keep you going and add up over time. The same is true of setbacks.

You can have a beautiful mind. In fact, like a fine wine, your mind can get better with age. According to Edward de Bono, “there is very much more that you can do to make your mind more beautiful.”

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” — Mike Murdock

“Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach a person how to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.”

One of the questions I keep asking is, what skills do we need to survive or thrive in our new world?

“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” — Ken Blanchard

Have you ever had a hard time trying to convince somebody of something?

“The secret of confidence is focusing on what you can control, not on what you can’t.” – Mira Kirshenbaum

I don’t know if you’ve read Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1) , but it’s *interesting.*

My three take aways are:

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” — Walt Disney

Whether you are a “one-man band” or a large organization, your customers are why you are in business. By having clarity on the customer segments, the customer needs, and the potential profitability of each segment, you can choose more effective segments to serve for a more sustainable business.

“Change is inevitable, growth is intentional.” — Glenda Cloud

The field you’re in can slow you down or it can speed up your career success.

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.” — Winston Churchill

To predict explosive change before it occurs, you need to be able to distinguish a “spider” from a “starfish.” A starfish can replicate and spread a fluid set of ideas, beliefs, values, and norms. This is the hidden power behind things like Wikipedia, craigslist, Skype, and even the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous.

“You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.” — Jerry Garcia

It’s a Darwin world. If you want to survive, or thrive, in a Darwin world, you have to play to your strengths. More than that though, you need to differentiate and specialize. Specialization is nature’s strategy for winning.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here’s another lens to use when you think about the role your peers played in shaping your personality. When we think of “peer pressure,” it’s easy to think of the negative. Obviously, this depends on who you hang with and their habits and practices whether the peer pressure is negative or not.

“Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.” — Tao Te Ching

Not all power is created equal. If you know the six sources of social power, then you can influence yourself and others more effectively.

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” — Mary Engelbreit

I’ve written about the Elephant and the Rider before. This post puts it together into a simple way to remember a change framework. Change isn’t easy, but a framework helps makes it easier and helps you build skill.

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” — Maria Robinson

When you have to think your way through things, you wear yourself out. This is why routines and going into automatic pilot serve you. You don’t have to think your way through the basics and you can focus your thinking on higher level things up the stack.

Every now and then I come across a metaphor that really sticks and helps me think differently about something I see every day. The metaphor helps me look at these situations with a new lens, and, as a result, think, feel, and act more effectively.

I’ve heard of several ways to think about our thinking. I’ve heard of the left-brain and right-brain. I’ve heard of the emotional side and the rational side. This time, the metaphor is the Elephant and the Rider.