Soundbites
Take 30 Several years ago, I started trying to spend 30 minutes a week with each person I manage. I give them 15 minutes to talk about anything on their minds, from work to family, and then I take 15 minutes to talk with them about things on my mind — normally their work and priorities. I also try to give them godly encouragement and criticism when necessary, all with the intent of building them up as workers and people. Yes, this takes time, but you will soon begin to see the fruit of this investment of time in the lives of the people you meet with. — Sebastian Traeger in The Gospel at Work
Your last day? For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. — Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, speaking to a graduating class at Stanford University
ism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business
Schooling pays Data suggest that if 10 percent more girls attend school, a country’s GDP increases by an average of three percent. Each extra year of a mother’s schooling cuts infant mortality by between five and 10 percent. — Roger L. Martin and Sally R. Osberg in Getting Beyond Better: How social entrepreneurship works
Strike once To light a fire doesn’t take the whole book of matches. If I can influence one young person then I can make a difference. — Tony Dungy, retired Super-Bowl winning coach
Be transparent Secrets are a lot of work. There are many people who call me a pretty up-front sort of guy, but up-front to me means transparency. If you don’t tell someone the answer, they’ll
make something up. — Agribusiness CEO Lon Frahm in Ag Progress Dispatch
Techno-thanks People are quick to think of mobile phones and computers when they consider their relationship with technology. But these are really just tools that help us access an infrastructure that runs passively in the background of the 21st century. Did you drive anywhere this week? Your car wouldn’t work without the technologies of oil refineries, robot-assisted assembly lines, and vulcanized rubber. Your commute wouldn’t work without roads and bridges and traffic lights. How are you reading this right now? Your computer requires the mining of silicon and heavy metals. Your phone requires the creation, transportation, and storage of energy. A printed page requires lumber mills and paper mills and laser ink.... I need to remember to thank God for the great and good gift of technology. — Marcus Goodyear in The High Calling
Good sale There is never a good sale for Neiman Marcus unless it’s a good buy for the customer. — Stanley Marcus, former owner of department store Neiman Marcus
Starting up
Unsung
[Most] entrepreneurs who start successful businesses don’t do so to maximize profits. Of course, they want to make money, but that is not what drives most of them. They are inspired to do something that they believe needs doing. — John Mackey and Raj Sisodia in Conscious Capital-
Spring has passed. Summer has gone. Winter is here... And the song I meant to sing remains unsung. For I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument. — Rabindranath Tagore
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The Marketplace January February 2016
