As a mother I work hard every day and I expect that work to be recognized and appreciated. Because I work for and with human beings sometimes they're grateful and sometimes they aren't.
Those in powerless positions aren't about to complain about bullying bosses abusive supervisors or corrupt co-workers. There is no safe way to do so and no process that promises redress.
Customers who have to come back and spend or customers who just don't want the hassle of leaving - those are the ones who are most worth attracting.
British innovation in design in the creative arts in engineering and manufacturing is world class.
How can any company know if its processes products people are safe? Only if everyone is watching and telling the truth. The first part can be assumed; the second cannot.
Once you have power you are inevitably surrounded by people who have their own agendas and will tell you whatever advances them.
Everywhere I look there are ads marking Mother's Day. Mostly they conform to stereotype: flowers jewelry perfume. Not a lot of books. Not many computers. Few tools. Little that's useful.
Most executives I know are so action-oriented or action-addicted that time for reflection is the first casualty of their success.
Building businesses takes tremendous stamina and success isn't achieved without it.
You cannot fix a problem that you refuse to acknowledge.
A great advantage of a large corporation is supposed to be the large pool of talent in which its leaders can find and groom high achievers and successors.
For good ideas and true innovation you need human interaction conflict argument debate.
One of the sad truths about leadership is that the higher up the ladder you travel the less you know.
Companies don't have ideas. Only people do. And what motivates people are the bonds of loyalty and trust they develop around each other.
I don't think a true company - one that builds sustainable value - can ever only exist online or remotely.
Making a company fit to sell may be the only way to ensure you never need a buyer.
Any fool can buy talent; only real leaders develop it.
Very few entrepreneurs start their business on the back of market research. Instead they have tremendous zeitgeist honed by paying attention to where they are.
In business staying focused requires that you turn most opportunities down.
What do you want your business to do? Make money of course. To pay for people and supplies to be able to grow.
Noise is a buffer more effective than cubicles or booth walls.
Speaking is what most people work on. They forget the thinking and the breathing and instead try to occupy space with sound.
Making those around you feel invisible is the opposite of leadership.
As long as it (an issue) remains invisible it is guaranteed to remain insoluble.
The cell phone has become the adult's transitional object replacing the toddler's teddy bear for comfort and a sense of belonging.
Britain is famous for being great at inventing and poor at commercializing.
Bosses and leaders everywhere should cherish the people who bring them bad news disappointing data or hard problems.
Openness isn't the end; it's the beginning.
Silence is the language of inertia.
Research shows that when we read words on paper it reduces our stress levels by nearly 70 percent. We also read more carefully than on tablets or laptops.
Certainty is no guarantor of correctness.
A thinking partner who isn't an echo chamber... How many of us dare to have such collaborators?
A fantastic model of collaboration: thinking partners who aren't echo chambers.
The healthiest companies are always characterized by organic talent development.
If the company depends entirely on you - your creativity ingenuity inspiration salesmanship or charisma - nobody will want to buy it. The risk and the dependency are too great.
Phones and soundtracks and Muzak and fountains replace genuine and unpredictable human contact with a seamless soundtrack from a bad movie and a cliche that makes us believe we must all be happy.
Huge open source organizations like Red Hat and Mozilla manage the collaboration of hundreds of people who don't know one another and have spent no time hanging around the water cooler.
Companies don't have ideas. Only people do.
Every organization has issues and concerns which are known about by many people who choose to remain silent.
We have to see conflict as thinking and then get really good at it.
If we aren't going to be afraid of conflict we have to see it as thinking.
The medical profession is - and knows itself to be - endemically conservative and conformist.
When we confront facts and fears we achieve real power and unleash our capacity for change.
[For constructive conflict ] we have to resist the neurobiological drive which means that we really prefer people mostly like ourselves.
When you use words loosely without care and consideration you erode trust in yourself and in what you're saying. When you squander words you diminish your power.
When we care about people we care less about money and when we care about money we care less about people.
It is nobody's right to be waited on and nobody's fate to do the waiting.
Words are how people think. When you misuse words you diminish your ability to think clearly and truthfully.
The truth won't set us free - until we develop the skills and the habit and the talent and the moral courage to use it.
If you have never failed at anything then you haven't been trying hard enough aren't very imaginative or have had such extraordinarily good luck that you have come to believe you are invincible.
The best remote companies I've seen do almost everything online via email and telephone. But they also get together face to face on a regular basis.
Everyone I know feels harassed by email which has invaded their waking and sleeping hours.
In our house Mother's Day is every day. Father's Day too. In our house parents count. They do important work and that work matters. One day just doesn't cut for us.
All businesses and jobs depend on a vast number of people often unnoticed and unthanked without which nothing really gets done. They are all human and deserve respect and gratitude.
There is no more powerful weapon for change than honesty.
If I have to spend a lot of time on planes I try to think of this as time off. In certain ways it's more restful than home: no Internet no phones no interruptions.
I don't think you ever know anyone until you see them in action.
I haven't always hated McDonald's. When my kids were little and I lived in the U.S. they were as susceptible as anyone to Happy Meals and tatty toys that subsequently littered our sitting room.
As long as they are well-intentioned mistakes are not a matter for shame but for learning
We treasure what we can measure.
Most people have their best ideas when they take their minds away from problems they're trying to solve.