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"Think about work that made you proud. Remember something you produced—a product, a pitch, a proposal—that represents you at your very best? Pride feels good. We want to feel it more, and we'll work hard to get that good feeling.
Now think about work you did that made you ashamed. Remember something sent off incomplete because you didn't have time to do it justice? Remember early work you completed before you climbed up the learning curve? How'd that feel?
We're driven to do more of the work that makes us proud and less of the work that makes us ashamed. Usually, that's smart. Pride pulls us to do things well, and shame pushes us away from doing things poorly. But in certain critical times—especially when it's time to do something new—these emotions push and pull us in unwise directions.
Sometimes doing your very best is the very worst decision. In fact, sometimes it's smart to suck."
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"Welcome. You've officially arrived at the intersection of reality and possibility.
Take comfort. You are not alone. There are many who are standing with you at this junction. But each of you has his or her own path to follow, and what you do next is yours and only yours to define. While that may sound either trite, abstract or both, the future does in fact begin with you and will be defined by you."
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Take comfort. You are not alone. There are many who are standing with you at this junction. But each of you has his or her own path to follow, and what you do next is yours and only yours to define. While that may sound either trite, abstract or both, the future does in fact begin with you and will be defined by you."
"When I began my career, everyone "went" to work. It was long before the advent of the Internet and personal computers; you had to go to work to gain access to computing power. Most computer centers had people on call 24/7. When there was a problem, they had to drive to the office and fix the problem on-site. There was no such thing as logging on remotely. Employees had to be at their desks to do work. Our inboxes were paper based. We had written phone memos, not voicemail, so in order to receive a call, we had to be in the office. There weren't PCs that could be disconnected and taken home. At that time, it wasn't firewalls that protected the network; it was office walls, and if you weren't inside the office, you weren't able to work. Offices and office hours actually made sense.
Now it's an unbelievably outdated concept."
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"Self-doubt can be especially paralyzing for leaders who buy into the cultural myth of the perfect leader. Knowing full well that perfection is unattainable, they nonetheless feel compelled to project the image of a calm, confident leader who always knows what to do and how to do it. Societal taboos that paint indecision in leaders as a sign of weakness only intensify the sense of isolation and uncertainty that breed self-doubt.
Change is the crucible in which ordinary men and women develop into leaders. Indeed, whether change flows from a leader's own vision and actions, or results from shifting circumstances within an organization or society at large, change almost always carries with it exciting opportunities for learning, growth and transformation."
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"We used to think that being a good person in business would be nice. Those who went to churches or synagogues would hear preachers extol the virtues of being good on a weekly basis and trumpet them aloud on the big holidays. It felt good to hear the value of being a good person, but Mondays came along and nothing ever changed in behavior. After all, business is hard. And the first dozen years in the 21st Century demonstrated just how much harder business has become. Chances are that business will get even tougher and more competitive in the years ahead. So we've all got to man up for the brutally competitive world out there. Don't we?
Well, no. To find a winning strategy for the 21st Century business world you'll need to grasp why the world of commerce has changed so dramatically in recent decades."
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