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Shackleton was looking for those with something more. He was looking for a crew that belonged on such an expedition. His actual ad ran like this: "Men wanted for Hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success." The only people who applied for the job were those who read the ad and thought it sounded great.

The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.

The reason the human race has been so successful is not because we're the strongest animals--far from it. Size and might alone do not guarantee success. We've succeeded as a species because of our ability to form cultures. Cultures are groups of people who come together around a common set of values and beliefs. When we share values and beliefs with others, we form trust. Trust of others allows us to rely on others to help protect our children and ensure our personal survival.

it beneficial to live and work in a place where you will naturally thrive because your values and beliefs align with the values and beliefs of that culture.

Trust begins to emerge when we have a sense that another person or organization is driven by things other than their own self-gain.

Thomas Edison, a man definitely driven by a higher cause, said, "I didn't find a way to make a lightbulb, I found a thousand ways how not to make one."

Once buyers get used to paying a lower-than-average price for a product or service, it is very hard to get them to pay more.

When fear is employed, facts are incidental. Deeply seated in our biological drive to survive, that emotion cannot be quickly wiped away with facts and figures. This is how terrorism works. It's not the statistical probability that one could get hurt by a terrorist, but it's the fear that it might happen that cripples a population.

As Herb Kelleher famously said, "You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills."

Charisma has nothing to do with energy; it comes from a clarity of WHY. It comes from absolute conviction in an ideal bigger than oneself. Energy, in contrast, comes from a good night's sleep or lots of caffeine. Energy can excite. But only charisma can inspire.

Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. People are either motivated or they are not. Unless you give motivated people something to believe in, something bigger than their job to work toward, they will motivate themselves to find a new job and you'll be stuck with whoever's left.

Great leaders, in contrast, are able to inspire people to act. Those who are able to inspire give people a sense of purpose or belonging that has little to do with any external incentive or benefit to be gained.

For values or guiding principles to be truly effective they have to be verbs. It's not "integrity," it's "always do the right thing." It's not "innovation," it's "look at the problem from a different angle." Articulating our values as verbs gives us a clear idea ... we have a clear idea of how to act in any situation.

We are drawn to leaders and organizations that are good at communicating what they believe. Their ability to make us feel like we belong, to make us feel special, safe and not alone is part of what gives them the ability to inspire us.

In the business-to-business world, promotions are called "value added."

Henry Ford said, "If you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."

"they never have the time or money to do it right the first time," she said of her client, "but they always have the time and money to do it again."

"Quitting smoking is the easiest thing I've ever done," said Mark Twain. "I've done it hundreds of times."