“The problem isn’t that you’re too busy. You are too busy, but that’s not the problem. If you view being busy as the problem, there is no solution. You will always be too busy, and that will never change. As Andy Grove once noted: ‘A manager’s work is never done. There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more than can be done.’ The problem is that you’re acting like a firefighter instead of a fire marshal.”
Ed Batista
Management Quotes
Tony Robbins Quote on Accomplishments and Getting Better at Managing Time
“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year—and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.”
Tony Robbins
Beyond the Quote (241/365)
When I first started MoveMe Quotes in 2010, I was so self-conscious about my writing and my own voice as a writer that I could only post other people’s words. I wouldn’t add, subtract, change, or elaborate on anything—I shared quotes and that’s it. I refused to share my opinion because I felt unworthy when surrounded by such giants in the writing world. I would constantly ask myself, “Who am I to comment on words from this great person or that amazing writer?” And so that’s how it went for the first five years of MoveMe Quotes. I was merely a quote collector and organizer.
Read More »Tony Robbins Quote on Accomplishments and Getting Better at Managing Time11 Important J. Keith Murnighan Quotes from Do Nothing! on Leadership and Management
Excerpt: “Doing nothing” is about learning how to stop micromanaging. Read our 11 quotes from Do Nothing! and learn how important this idea really is…
Read More »11 Important J. Keith Murnighan Quotes from Do Nothing! on Leadership and Management
Diane Dreher Quote on Micromanaging and How It May Cause More Harm Than Good
“Micromanaging erodes people’s confidence, making them overly dependent on their leaders. Well-meaning leaders inadvertently sabotage their teams by rushing to the rescue and offering too much help. A leader needs to balance assistance with wu wei, backing off long enough to let people learn from their mistakes and develop competence.”
Diane Dreher
Beyond the Quote (194/365)
In the earliest stages of a child’s development it is the responsibility of the parents to provide the most ideal nurturing environments and circumstances. Children are, essentially, completely dependent on what their parents provide. As they grow, however, so too does their ability to accept responsibility and manage their own surroundings—starting on a micro level and growing in size proportionally as they mature.
Read More »Diane Dreher Quote on Micromanaging and How It May Cause More Harm Than GoodFamily First, Work Second. The Power of Family Values in Business [Excerpt]
![Family First, Work Second. The Power of Family Values in Business [Excerpt]](https://movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_7016-930x620.jpg)
Excerpt: This is a story of a company who prioritized family first, work second into their business model. It’s an excerpt from the book, Do Nothing! Enjoy.
Read More »Family First, Work Second. The Power of Family Values in Business [Excerpt]
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” ~ Antoine De Saint Exupery, via Blog of Jonathan Fields
Do Nothing! [Book]
Book Overview: According to J. Keith Murnighan, Great leaders don’t do anything—except think, make key decisions, help people do their jobs better, and add a touch of organizational control to make sure the final recipes come out okay. In sharp contrast, most leaders are too busy actually working to do these things—and their teams suffer as a result. Do Nothing!’s practical strategies and true stories will show you how to set high expectations for your team and watch it rise to the challenge. It will help you establish a healthier culture by trusting people more than they expect to be trusted. And it will help you overcome your natural tendencies toward micromanagement so you can let people do their jobs—even when you know you could do their jobs better.
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Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
“You shouldn’t focus on outcomes so much. Focus instead on doing things right, on the best possible process, and on paying attention to what you can do rather than to what you can’t control.”
J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!
“‘People don’t know how much you know until they know how much you care about them.’ You could be the world’s greatest expert on something but if the people you work with don’t know that you care about them, they won’t listen to you much.”
J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!
“It is up to you as the leader to make sure that your team members feel safe. You must bend over backwards to make this happen, because team members know that their leaders are always evaluating them and they have perfectly natural fears about the outcome of those evaluations. You must work doubly hard to help them feel safe: you must treat your team members’ questions and observations as if you love hearing each and every one of them and you must entertain their ideas and even invite them to disagree with you. You must make it eminently clear that you want them to participate, to question, to comment, and to disagree – and you need to reinforce them when they do.”
J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!
“Stated succinctly, partial trust sucks. When we know we have been trusted only partially, we naturally wonder, ‘Why didn’t he trust me more?’ This natural question reduces our motivation to reciprocate and leads to less long-term commitment to a leader, to a team, and to an organization. Partial trust sucks in many ways: it is the reverse of flattery and respect and it stimulates lousy outcomes, for everyone.”
J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!
“Leadership Law: Think of the reaction that you want first, then determine the actions you can take to maximize the chances that those reactions will actually happen.”
J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!
“Doing too much is far worse than doing too little. When leaders do too much, they cannot be as effective or as thoughtful or as strategic as they might otherwise be. Even worse, their team members are underutilized and underchallenged. Better team members are also likely to be increasingly angry – because their leader is doing what they could and should and want to be doing. By not letting good performers do their jobs, on their own, leaders don’t allow their team members to feel proud of what they can do. The end result is the development of dislike or even hate for a leader who butts in, as well as earning him a reputation for being a control freak and a micromanager.”
J. Keith Murnighan, Do Nothing!
Tribes [Book]
Book Overview: The Web can do amazing things, but it can’t provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals—people just like you who have passion about something. The explosion in tribes means that anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at her fingertips. If you think leadership is for other people, think again―leaders come in surprising packages. Ignore an opportunity to lead and you risk turning into a “sheepwalker”―someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don’t do very well these days. Tribes will make you think (really think) about the opportunities for leading your fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, readers…. It’s not easy, but it’s easier than you probably imagine.
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Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
“Secrecy is the enemy of trust and is responsible for much of the distrust that exists between business and society, corporations and customers, management and employees.” ~ Keshavan Nair, A Higher Standard of Leadership
“I’ve been told that certain species of fish will grow according to the size of their environment. Put them in a tiny aquarium, and they remain small even at adulthood. Release them into a huge natural body of water, and they grow into their intended size. People are similar. If they live in a harsh and limiting environment, they stay small. But put them someplace that encourages growth, and they will expand to reach their potential.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Today Matters
“When a leader makes the choice to put the safety and lives of the people inside the organization first, to sacrifice their comforts and sacrifice the tangible results, so that the people remain and feel safe and feel like they belong, remarkable things happen.” ~ Simon Sinek, TED
“Cats do what cats do, ducks do what ducks do, and eagles do what eagles, do. If you take a duck and ask it to do an eagles’ job, shame on you. As a leader, your job is to help your ducks to become better ducks and your eagles better eagles – to put individuals in the right places and help them reach their potential.” ~ John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold
