Top 140 Quotes & Sayings by Ken Blanchard

At Southwest, they're on a mission to democratize air travel. When they first started, the only people who could fly were relatively wealthy businesspeople, and Herb Kelleher's vision was to offer everyone the chance to visit a friend or relative during a happy and a sad time. That's a vision employees can get excited about.

I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions.

'One Minute Mentoring' is written in the parable style Spencer Johnson and I popularized in 'The One Minute Manager.' It's an entertaining story about the mentorship between a young salesperson, Josh, and a seasoned executive named Diane. As the characters learn about mentoring, so does the reader.

'Lead with LUV' is the first book I've ever done that's just a pure conversation between my coauthor and me.

People who produce good results feel good about themselves.

Patrick Lencioni, Spencer Johnson, and Stephen Covey are great communicators.

Leadership is not about you; it's about investing in the growth of others.

All good performance starts with clear goals.

As a leader, you absolutely must expend your energy engaging your frontline employees so that they will take care of customers, who will tell stories about how great your company is to other people, who will become new customers.

If people aren't clear on what business you're in, what you're trying to accomplish, your values, your goals, then shame on you. It doesn't mean you shouldn't involve them. It's just your responsibility to make sure that that's clear.

People will resist change when it's done to them, not with them.

At my company, we have 300 employees spread across offices all over the world, and I send them all a voicemail each morning with a message from me about why our work is important and a reminder about one of our values. I call myself our company's 'chief spiritual officer.'

I think a great leader is somebody who realizes it's not about them, it's about the people that they're serving, that they're really other-directed rather than self- directed.

Some people are really good at the visionary role. They're like third grade teachers who tell people the vision and values over and over and over until they get it right, right, right. But they're not implementers. If they're good leaders, they gather people around them who can take the implementation role and move it forward.

People love to be appreciated.

If your employees are disengaged, and they don't take care of your customers, it doesn't matter how good your strategy is - your customers will still go somewhere else.

Too often in business, only financial data is gathered - and then it is distributed only to management. Other key indicators that relate to performance areas also need to be tracked. Information on performance has to be made available to those people who can best use it - those doing the work.

When you write a business fable, people get caught up in the story and don't get judgmental about what you're teaching them. If you're teaching a bunch of concepts, people get skeptical and say, 'Where'd you get that research?' But if you tell them a story, they get caught up in it while they learn.

For a manager to be perceived as a positive manager, they need a four to one positive to negative contact ratio.

Too many leaders act as if the sheep... their people... are there for the benefit of the shepherd, not that the shepherd has responsibility for the sheep.

The biggest obstacle that stalls leaders' growth is the human ego. When leaders start to think they know it all, they stop growing.

A good business book teaches simple truths.

Age is rarely a limitation to being a mentor.

Many companies claim they have core values, but typically what they're referring to are generic beliefs: having integrity, making a profit, responding to customers and so on. These values only have meaning when they're defined in terms of how people behave and are ranked to set priorities.

Growing, for leaders, is like oxygen to a deep sea diver. Without learning and growing, leaders die in terms of their effectiveness.

Values-based business behavior is no longer simply an interesting option - it's crucial to your survival. Once you understand your mission and values, you have a strong basis for evaluating your practices and aligning them accordingly.

The productivity of a work group seems to depend on how the group members see their own goals in relation to the goals of the organization.

I never use notes, they interfere with me.

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.

In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people... they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.

Don't quack like a duck, soar like an eagle.

It's been true in my life that when I've needed a mentor, the right person shows up.

One of the topics I'm most passionate about is servant leadership - the greatest leaders recognize that they're here to serve, not to be served.

Managing by values - not by profits - is a powerful process that will set your business on the path to becoming what I call a 'Fortunate 500' company.

If you want your people to be responsible, be responsive to their needs.

When you stop learning you stop growing.

Leadership is about going somewhere. If you and your people don’t know where you are going, your leadership doesn’t matter.

Learning is defined as a change in behavior. You haven't learned a thing until you take action and use it.

As a manager the important thing is not what happens when you are there, but what happens when you are not there

When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

The best minute you spend is the one you invest in people

People don't mind being challenged to do better if they know the request is coming from a caring heart

Many people measure their success by wealth, recognition, power and status. There's nothing wrong with those, but if that's all you're focused on, you're missing the boat...if you focus on significance -using your time and talent to serve others -that's when truly meaningful success can come your way.

Leadership is not something you do to people. It's something you do with people.

Vision is knowing who you are, where you're going, and what will guide your journey.

Servant-leader ship is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them.

Effective team leaders adjust their style to provide what the group can't provide for itself.

Don't wait until people do things exactly right before you praise them.

The only job security you have today os your commitment to continuous personal improvement.

People who feel good about themselves produce good results.

Beware of putting all your focus into results. While results are important, your people should be your number one area of focus.

Start your day with good intentions and set yourself up for a good attitude. It's not what happens to you that matters but how you respond.

Humility does not mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less.

Connect the dots between individual roles and the goals of the organization. When people see that connection, they get a lot of energy out of work. They feel the importance, dignity, and meaning in their job.

Take a minute: look at your goals, look at your performance, see if your behavior matches your goals.

Asking for other's guidance helps you see what you may not be able to see. It's always important to check your ego and ask for help.

There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses - only results.

Vision comes alive when everyone sees where his or her contribution makes a difference.

What we give our attention to, grows.