Understand the "Pygmalion Effect": Leaders should always expect the very best of those around them. They know that people can change and grow.

Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born.

The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

Leaders learn by leading, and they learn bestby leading in the face of obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, problems shape leaders.

You are your own raw material. When you know what you consist of and what you want to make of it, then you can invent yourself.

Find the appropriate balance of competing claims by various groups of stakeholders. All claims deserve consideration but some claims are more important than others.

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.

Leaders must earn the trust of their teams, their organizations, and their stakeholders before attempting to engage their support.

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.

Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together.

The funny thing about destiny is that you can't predict it, and you can't prevent it.- Leslie

There was a desire to see me being nasty and horrible, and of course that's not really me

I am optimistic. But I also know that, with time, I'm beginning to fight issues of aging as well as long-term paralysis.

You cannot walk on the water of hunger, misery, and death. You have to wade through to record them.

I don't write about anything I don't love even if that love sometimes gets all screwed up and tormented.

I tell myself that's what you get when you put thirty-one toilets on the most popular girl's front yard. People tend to treat you a little differently than before.

It's important to remember that behind every data point is a daughter, a mother, a sister—a person with hopes and dreams.

An authentic faith-which is never comfortable or completely personal-always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.

We all love being outdoors. Grandma was in her garden or fishing; Mama loves to fish and I love to be outside. We all love the Lord.

The situation is getting worse, and people are losing hope. That despair stokes violence.