Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Salespeople are the most important people in any organization. Until a salesperson gets an order, nobody in the company has a job.
Then again, what seems like nothing in the eyes of the world, when properly valued and put to use, can be among the greatest riches.
My stepfather was fond of letting me know, quote, 'I ain't your... damn daddy.' That was something that was painful, to put it mildly.
Remember: If you don't schmooze, you lose. Used wisely, a bit of chitchat helps create a personal connection with your boss and colleagues.
No matter what you accomplish, when you're doing something you're truly passionate about... the opportunities are always going to be bigger.
Find something that you love. Something that gets you so excited you can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Forget about money. Be happy.
Don't ever be afraid to hire people that are smarter than you. Just because they are smarter than you doesn't mean they have to make more money.
What can we be in life? Few figures in history have answered this question with as much clarity and moral authority as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sometimes we are so busy helping others that we forget about ourselves. Remember, it's okay to say no and to ask others to carry their own weight.
Baby steps count, as long as you are going forward. You add them all up, and one day you look back and you'll be surprised at where you might get to.
Long before I achieved financial success and became the subject of a Hollywood film, I was a veteran, a single father, and a working person who was homeless.
I am very, very conscious of time. I always wear two watches. People ask me, 'Why do you do that?' Because I was late once,and it cost me a huge opportunity.
One of the things young people always ask me about is what is the secret to success. The secret is there is no secret. It's the basics. Blocking and tackling.
(The movie) is the story of my life, but it's not about me. It's about anybody who ever dreamed big and had someone tell them, 'No, you can't do it.' You can.
I've never considered selling anything other than profession, but it's more than that. It's one of the highest callings that you can aspire to. Not everyone can do it.
Veterans who are homeless may not have a home, but that doesn't mean they don't have diverse skills that could be put to use to meet the needs of an expanding job market.
I have one of those old-fashioned mothers who told me every single day, 'Son, you can do or be anything that you want to do or be.' And I believed it. I bought into it 100%.
When you tell your kids they can be anything, you've got to be careful. I told my kids that, and I ended up with a music producer and an interior designer. But they're doing it.
Walk that walk and go forward all the time. Don't just talk that talk, walk it and go forward. Also, the walk didn't have to be long strides; baby steps counted too. Go forward.
Be bold enough to find the one thing that you are passionate about. It might not be what you were trained to do. But be bold enough to do the one thing. Nobody needs to dig it but you.
So many men have holes in their souls the shape of their fathers. You can pass that on to your kid, or you can do something about it, and I'm seeing a lot of men doing something about it.
Finding gainful employment to pay for housing is hard for any veteran experiencing homelessness. It's even more difficult for veterans who've also had encounters with police and stints in jail.
I've been saying to people for a long time, 'If you're not doing something you're tremendously excited about, and you're not feeling passionate about it, you're compromising yourself every day.'
If you're having a hard time recognizing your gifts, look to someone else you know who's been resourceful. You may be surprised by how your own strengths rise to the surface by watching someone else.
There was a language specific to all things. The ability to learn another language in one arena, whether it was music, medicine, or finance, could be used to accelerate learning and other arenas, too.
When I was a kid, we played a jump rope game called double Dutch - where you had to jump over two ropes swinging in opposite directions. Picking just the right moment to jump in was a practiced art form.
Strong people stand up for themselves. Stronger people stand up for others. The irony is that while sleep sometimes brings nightmares, it's the reality of my waking hours that can cause me the greater fear.
We all understand genetics. You get your eyes from your dad, your mom's nose, there's nothing you can do about that. But your spiritual genetics you can choose, pick, embrace and commit to. That's what I did.
I was blessed to have the guys at Bear Stearns as mentors. They taught me a lot, but most of all, they taught me that there's nothing wrong with selling if you're selling the right product to the right person.
Still a dreamer, yet more of a realist than ever before, I knew this was my time to sail. On the horizon I saw the shining future, as before. The difference now was that I felt the wind at my back. I was ready.
Business school professors don't take selling seriously because they don't know how to sell. It's easy to talk about business theory and production time and just-in-time development. Selling is much more difficult.
Do something that you love. Whatever you're going to do is going to be tough enough. Find something that gets you so excited that the sun can't come up early enough in the morning because you want to go do your thing.
The hardest thing that I had to do every day as a working single parent was child care, to have to leave my child with people that I did not know and hope everything was OK, that was the most painful part of every day.
I initially moved to San Francisco to become a research associate for one of the top young heart surgeons in the country. Everything that I learned in that position is that skills, talent, and expertise are transferable.
I just wanted to make a million dollars. But I couldn't sing and I couldn't play ball, so I said to my mother, 'How am I going to make a million dollars?' And she said to me, 'Son, if you believe you can do it, you will.'
I also often hear people say that the deck is stacked against them because of racism, sexism, or other oppressive 'isms.' But once you let go of the blame and excuses, you'll see that you can alter your position on your own.
Most of us have heard the saying, 'Cleanliness is next to godliness.' That's a sentiment I value, but another virtue has inspired me to revise that saying. As far as I'm concerned, what's next to godliness is resourcefulness.
Nine times out of 10, extenuating circumstances aside, I believe that people are where they are by some kind of choice on their part. You need to acknowledge that, 'Hey, I'm here because I steered my horse in this direction.'
Fortunately, our digital age has created some wonderful tools for finding employers and showing your strengths. But when it comes to discovering or keeping a job, nothing beats good old-fashioned face time and up-to-date skills.
If you're lucky enough to have a permanent position, don't feel entitled. Companies value longtime employees' institutional memory, but to be irreplaceable, you must stay invested. Take the initiative and assume new responsibilities.
My first ambition in life, I made up my mind I was going to become Miles Davis. I studied music, music theory. I played trumpet for nine years. One day, my mother explained, 'You can't be Miles Davis. There's one, and he's got that job.'
I chose to embrace the spirit of my mother, who, though she had too many of her own dreams denied, deferred, and destroyed, she still instilled in me, her child, that I could have dreams and that I did have a responsibility and the power.
You have to be bold because there will be folks who will say, "You can't" or "You shouldn't" or "Why?" There is a certain boldness to saying, "Well, I really don't want to be a high-powered corporate lawyer. I'm really passionate about painting."
Probably the hardest question I get asked is, 'How do I choose between passion and practicality?' I can't answer that. I had to do both. I was passionate about pursuing a career in financial services. But I was also passionate about feeding my child.
Though my mom had too many of her own dreams denied, deferred and destroyed, she instilled in me that I could have dreams. And not just have dreams but had a responsibility to make them reality. My mom taught me from a very early age that I could do anything I wanted to do.
You know how mountains get moved? Everyone who can move a couple, move a couple. Those who can move rocks, move rocks. Those who can move boulders, move boulders. That's how mountains get moved. If every one of us did everything we could, I believe we would be in a different world.
The future was uncertain, absolutely, and there were many hurdles, twists, and turns to come, but as long as I kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, the voices of fear and shame, the messages from those who wanted me to believe that I wasn't good enough, would be stilled.
You want be young and have fun, that's great. But while you're having fun, someone you don't see is studying and preparing. You might end up working for that person. No one wants to hear that! But I try to tell young people: You want to be the one signing the front of the check, not the back.
Your skills may not be anything out of the ordinary, but you can do miraculous things with what you've got. Maybe it's your parenting skills, or your compassion. It may be your curiosity, your imagination or unique style of fashion. Even if it seems to be no big deal, the lesson here is we all have unique abilities and talents.
I've been talking to a lot of young people, especially here in America. I let them know that the people who they're competing with for opportunities live all over the place. They're probably not in your city, state, or country; they are hungry, and they are grinding! Some of the things that a lot of us take for granted, these people don't.