prisoner of the past

Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future. The past is closed and limited; the future is open and free.

Deepak Chopra

The Path to Love: Spiritual Strategies for Healing by Deepak Chopra. Harmony/Rodale. 2007. p.170. As found in 2022 Great Quotes From Great Leaders Boxed Calendar: 365 Inspirational Quotes From Leaders Who Shaped the World.

we’ve always done it this way

On the wall over her desk, [Grace Murray Hopper] hung a clock going counter-clockwise to remind hardheads that because something was done one way in the past is no reason why it can’t be done a better way In the future.

“The hardest thing in the world is to change the minds of people who keep saying, ‘But we’ve always done it this way.’ These are days of fast changes and if we don’t change with them, we can get hurt or lost.”

1975 September 26, The Baltimore Sun, Navy computer grandmother keeps moving (KNI), Quote Page B8, Column 3 and 4, Baltimore, Maryland. (Newspapers_com). As found in QuoteInvestigator, December 1, 2017. Originally found in 2022 Great Quotes From Great Leaders Boxed Calendar: 365 Inspirational Quotes From Leaders Who Shaped the World.

I don’t work with leopards

During the 1940s and 1950s, an American prison warden, Clinton Duffy, was well known for his efforts to rehabilitate the men in his prison. Said one critic, “You should know that leopards don’t change their spots!”

Replied Warden Duffy, “You should know I don’t work with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day.”

Bill Sands

The Seventh Step. G&D Media. 1969. As found in "See Others as They May Become", by President Thomas S. Monson. November 2012. Ensign. 

futures that were not predicted to happen

[Leadership isn't] about giving great speeches or being liked or charismatic. It's about delivering results and realizing futures that were not predicted to happen. Period.

That's why executives are paid the big bucks. Part of their job is to realize a future that's not going to happen through managing what's already in place. And that's also why leadership is typically not an "I" thing. It requires enrolling others to see something possible for themselves and their team that wasn't there before...

An organization that remains rooted in doing the same things the same way will be left behind. It's inevitable. Everything changes--from technology to consumer demand and everything in between--and because of that, it's crucial to imagine what has never been imagined before (at least for that specific organization).

It's the leaders who stand on the precipice of impossible and show the world (their employees, team members, or close friends and confidants) where they want to go. Where they wish to lead.

Tanya Prive

"Where Does Management Stop and Leadership Start?" Inc.com. January 27, 2022

life is not fair

Life is not fair. If you think it is, you are sorely mistaken. What you've got to do in politics is be sure that what you say can be justified by principle, by argument, and to put it across. As I always say, never follow the crowd. Make up your own mind and get the crowd to follow you. 

Margaret Thatcher

The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity While Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at Work by Laura A. Liswood. Wiley. 2010. p.125