As a prolific writer and thinker, Don Shapiro has spent a lifetime creating memorable quotations. Here are 136 of his best quotes on a variety of business and personal topics.
PERMISSIONS You have permission to copy and use any of these quotes for non-commercial purposes as long as you give full credit to Don Shapiro along with a link to the website shown for the subject heading for that quote. If you want to use any of these quotes in something that will be offered for sale such as a book, cd, video, t-shirt, website subscription or anything else, you must get permission from the author and formal licensing will be required.
Copyright 2013 Don Shapiro and First Concepts Consultants, Inc. All rights reserved.
Leadership (www.donshapiro.com/leadership)
Leaders lead from the heart first. Are you a heart smart Leader?
For there to be a great tomorrow, there must be great leaders today.
Lead into the light, not out of the darkness.
Every employee needs to lead some of the time and everyone with a title needs to lead all of the time.
Every employee needs leadership development, not just the anointed ones.
A true leader always has their peoples’ back no matter what.
Great leaders know the purpose is primary.
Managers hold onto the past. Leaders take us into the future.
What distinguishes a great leader from others is the quality of their choices.
A leader leads us toward something new and away from what once was.
A leader attracts people to their vision and inspires them to make it happen.
A leader stands on a bedrock of principles to stand up, stand tall and stand strong.
True leaders help others to be the best they can be.
Leadership isn’t about one’s title or authority. It’s about who you are inside.
Leaders have the courage & conviction to make a choice that inspires others to follow.
Managers keep it going. Leaders change it for the better.
Great leaders inspire people from all walks of lives. They never play favorites.
Go with your strengths and delegate your weaknesses.
Great leadership starts with the courage to do the right thing.
Leaders combine the best in each of us together to create a team that gets the job done.
Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders. A better tomorrow starts by inspiring them to lead.
Leaders teach & teachers lead. Encouraging & inspiring others begins with education.
You can never go wrong doing the right thing because the right thing is always right.
Top quality starts with great leadership. It’s people who make products & serve customers.
What you do counts more than what you say you do.
Sales (www.firstconcepts.com)
The most successful salespeople excel at asking good questions then listen closely to the answers.
Wouldn’t it be better if salespeople were simply guided by the way the customer thinks out a buying decision?
The salesperson’s real role is to guide prospects through the prospects way of thinking out a buying decision.
If you sell the customer the way the customer buys, you have the highest likelihood of making the sale.
When the cost of the customer’s problem is greater than the cost of the solution, they will gladly pay the price.
Marketing (www.firstconcepts.com)
Marketing is about relationships, not numbers. Connect, engage, listen & bond.
We’re all a brand. Your image in other’s eyes is caste by the sum of everything you do and say.
Prime the prospect about the general nature of what you offer before you position your specific product or service.
A competitive advantage gives you an edge only until your competitors catch up.
Put Your People First (www.donshapiro.com/leadership)
Quality & service are no better than the sum total of all your people.
Put your people first. Your quality & service will follow.
Turn off your employee turnover. Turnover lowers your quality, service, sales and profits.
It’s all about people. Just how good would your sales, quality and service be if no one showed up for work tomorrow?
Inspiration & Success (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Don’t let the experiences of the past limit your vision for the future.
We are the light at the end of the tunnel.
The rhythm of the universe flows through us & connects us all. If you listen closely, you can hear its beat.
There is always a light & a path to a better tomorrow if we see with an open heart.
A successful life looks like thousands of No’s sprinkled with some Yes’s.
When what we do IS who we are, we can tap our full potential.
Walk to the beat of your own drum. Embrace the wonder that is you.
Allow the wonder of you to transform & uplift those around you.
Every goal can be achieved…it’s only the time frame we can’t control.
Dream the big dream. Your future is only limited by the size of your thoughts.
Don’t be frozen by fear. Be fired up by the opportunity to do the extraordinary.
Take flight into the light…let faith help you scale the heights.
Focus is first in all success. If you’re bouncing off the walls, it’s tough to stick to anything.
It’s not any one thing you do that makes the difference. It’s everything you do that makes the difference.
The creator gave us unlimited potential. Don’t let what others say stop you from becoming all you can be.
If you want to truly succeed, hard work is not an unrealistic approach…its reality.
We are change. We are transformation. We are the future.
Through growing awareness you ascend a staircase of ever increasing potential & access to all you can be.
Once we give up the need for things to happen by a certain time, the universe guides us along the way.
When we travel a wise path, we lift everyone else up with us.
Once you change your perspective, you can change your reality.
Real life is not graded on a curve. You either get the job done or you don’t.
Doing good for others does good for ourselves.
What We Have In Common (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Focus on what we have in common instead of our differences so we can build a world based on mutual respect.
We are all connected regardless of our beliefs, culture or background.
Embrace the power of what we have in common to create something better for all of us.
When we combine our unique talents, we create the greatest orchestra on earth. Imagine what we can accomplish together.
Change, Systems and How Everything is Connected (www.firstconcepts.com)
Everything affects everything. Change one choice, move one pebble on the beach & you change history.
As we made it so we can change it.
Together we shape the future. Together we create the world we want.
When you change yourself, the world starts changing with you.
This moment you can unleash a thought that will help change the world.
Career Choices (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Before you decide if you want to do something, first succeed at doing it.
Consulting is a calling, not a career choice.
Don’t follow in your friends footsteps. We each have our own place in the world.
To find out what you really should be doing first ask yourself what you’d happily do even if you weren’t paid to do it.
Life Is A Fork In The Road (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
We have a choice about how we feel and what we do. What would happen if we all made a positive choice at the same time?
You are the sum of all your choices.
Trust your inner voice to guide you through Life’s forks in the road.
Our single greatest challenge as humans is to learn to trust ourselves.
There’s 6.8 billion people on earth so there’s 6.8 billion answers to how we make our own life better.
No one knows better than you what’s best for you. You are the expert on you.
We can’t live someone else’s life or by someone else’s advice.
Listen to the pattern of your inner voice over time. A repeating pattern IS the message you need to trust.
Everything we experience offers kernels of wisdom to guide our journey through life.
Our journey through life is about one fork after another. Add up your choices and that’s your life.
The inner voice of wisdom is not our ego, desires or emotions that may lead us to selfish choices. It’s a message of wisdom that considers the best interest of both us & our loved ones.
Expand your awareness so you can see through new windows and find new forks to consider.
A “den of chatter” buzzes inside us battling against our true inner voice of wisdom.
We’re a miracle born without an instruction manual.
Life is a journey, not a destination. It’s not where we arrive that counts but how we live every moment along the way.
Let your true inner voice give you the courage to pursue your purpose and be all you can be.
Life is learning to trust the soft whisper deep inside us that hides between our breaths.
No matter what life throws at us others have been there before us.
Life is a test of faith.
There is something good, something beneficial, something helpful in the midst of every calamity.
Wouldn’t the road we travel be better with fewer forks & knives & more spoons?
When you come to a fork in the road sometimes the best thing to do is stop & have a picnic.
Accountability & Responsibility (www.donshapiro.com/leadership)
Either you’re helping to fix the problem or you’re a part of the problem
If you’re blaming “they” for your troubles start looking in the mirror.
Life is about us not I. Every choice you make affects someone else.
Communications (www.donshapiro.com/leadership)
Words have no meaning. The meaning of words is inside people not the dictionary.
Listen from the heart so you can understand what people are really saying.
Planning (www.firstconcepts.com)
A plan is a guide, not a route. When the unexpected happens, a plan helps you figure out which fork to take next.
Time is one of the greatest tools in planning. The human mind works in its own mysterious ways according to its own time clock.
You can’t create the best plans only in a planning session or with a deadline because that fails to account for how the human mind really works.
Creativity (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Creativity starts by overloading yourself with information then stepping back to let your subconscious start generating new ideas.
Great achievement starts with a fresh concept, a bold idea that explains something in an innovative way.
Imagine if we hold onto the innocence of a child while retaining the wisdom of our experience.
Thinking & Problem Solving (www.firstconcepts.com)
The first step to solve any problem begins when you really want to solve the problem.
Standards (www.firstconcepts.com )
The rise or fall of any society can be measured by the height of its standards.
Strategic Thinking (www.firstconcepts.com)
Act strategically. What are the consequences of your choices now, next year & ten years from now?
Customer Satisfaction and Service (www.firstconcepts.com)
Customers don’t care about your policies, systems, technology or other limitations…they only care about what will make their world easier and better.
Times passes slower to the customer than those serving the customer.
Words don’t mean the same thing to the customer as those serving the customer.
Learning & Growing (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Awareness unlocks our potential. As our awareness grows so we grow.
It is through exposure to the diversity in people’s beliefs & culture that we discover the best in ourselves.
Don’t put people in a box with a label whether political, social or personal. Allow everyone to be all they can be.
We learn by taking action, by experiencing the consequence of our choices.
You can’t grow & improve sitting on the sidelines watching others do what you really wanted to do.
Life is a learning state. To live longer, keep growing, learning & changing.
Motivating People (www.donshapiro.com/leadership)
People need a good reason why before they are motivated to do anything
If you want your people to do anything start by doing it yourself.
We’re motivated to do what we know we can do well & avoid that which we know we’ll do poorly.
When you join passion & purpose together, you create a force that can’t be stopped.
People are looking for something to believe in that’s bigger than themselves.
When you help your employees find a higher purpose to their efforts, you get a highly motivated and productive worker in return.
Positive Thinking (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Positive thinking is not enough. You must believe without any doubt down to the fabric of your soul to turn your visions into reality.
Imagine if one billion people all focused on the same positive thought at the same time. Just imagine.
If you believe without doubt down to the fabric of your soul, you have woven your future reality.
How we conduct ourselves & Politics (www.firstconcepts.com)
Acting in a respectful, courteous & civil manner to everyone is the glue that holds civilization together.
It is NEVER okay to attack a person personally simply because you don’t agree with their point of view.
The future of our country is more threatened by trashing people we disagree with than bad legislation.
If we’re nice to everyone we meet they might be nice to everyone they meet & then what would the world be like?
Relationships (both personal and professional) (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Trust is the currency of relationships.
We have to know who we are first before we can be there for others.
When we are at our best, we can be there for others.
Love (www.lifeisaforkintheroad.com)
Love is unconditional. If there are any conditions, it isn’t love.
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