Book Reviews and Testimonials Read Excerpts From the Book Letters Between Jack & Sam Walton Summary of Quotations Found in the Book Buy the Book

"You did a marvelous job of integrating the elements of leadership in demonstrating and explaining the synchronistic nature of servant leadership."
- Joe Hardin, Former CEO & President, Kinkos & Former CEO, Sam's Wholesale

About the Book
Leading From the Heart

Quotations

The Journey

If a man happens to find himself
If he knows what he can be depended upon to do,
The limits of his courage,
The position from which he will no longer retreat,
The degree to which he can surrender his inner life to some woman,
The secret reservoir of his determination,
The extent of his dedication,
The depth of his feeling for beauty,
His honesty and unpostured goals,
Then he has found a mansion which he can inhabit with dignity all the days of his life.
James Michener

"It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service."
Albert Einstein

"Many are called, but few are chosen."
Jesus Christ

"Timing and dosage are everything."
Terry Bowen

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
William Shakespeare

"All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience."
Johann Wolfgang Goethe

"Beyond rules, politics, strategy, and tactics, there is a basic philosophy of what is right."
From a sign posted at Manco

"Every great institution is the lengthened shadow of a single man."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The final requirement of effective leadership is to earn trust. Otherwise there won't be any followers-and the only definition of a leader is someone who has followers."
Peter Drucker

"Rule Thirteen: When given command, take command. Rule Fourteen: If you don't know what else to do, do what is right."
General Norman Schwartzkopf

"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."
Thomas Edison

"Success breeds arrogance and complacency. Average people always beat the best and brightest."
H. Ross Perot

"An idea is something that won't work unless you do."
Thomas Edison

"In a corporation.the ethical standards are largely defined by the leadership. In many cases, it is an ongoing review of events and responses which results in a reiteration of the corporation's values. Leadership guides those events and responses, and sets the moral tone of the team."
Jack Shewmaker

"If all the gold in the world were melted down into a solid cube, it would be about the size of an eight-room house. If a man got possession of all that gold, billions of dollars worth, he could not buy a friend, character, peace of mind, clear conscience, or a sense of eternity."
Charles F. Banning

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."
John F. Kennedy

"A leader has all the qualities of a child-an insatiable curiosity for learning, a boundless energy to put the learning into practice, and an ability to adapt to new behaviors very quickly."
Capt. Michael McKean

"A bargain isn't a bargain unless you need it."
Jack's Mom

"You can learn something anywhere. No matter how much better than your competitors you think you are, there is always something they do better than you. Find it."
Tom Coughlin

"One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."
Socrates

"The commander in the field is always right, and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise."
General Colin Powell

"I want every member of this staff to get up front at least once every day. You will never know what is going on unless you can hear the whistle of the bullets."
General George Patton

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can try to sincerely help another without helping himself."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why?' I dream of things that never were and say, 'Why not?'"
George Bernard Shaw

"Grown men can learn from very little children, for the hearts of children are pure. The Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss."
Black Elk

"Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be king."
From a sign posted at Manco

A leader has "the ability to see value, often where others can't."
Kim Clark

"The way I've always approached things is to be prepared for all possible scenarios of what might happen. I usually come up with four or five scenarios. I do this all the time. I do it in the shower. I do it when I'm out drinking."
Herb Kelleher

"Strategy and tactics do not change; only the means of applying them are different."
General George Patton

"The best is the enemy of the good."
General George Patton

"Around here, a powerful point of view is worth at least 80 IQ points."
Michael Eisner

"Most leaders tend to view teamwork as a social-engineering problem: take X group, add Y motivational technique, and get Z result. In reality, the most effective way to forge a winning team is to call on the players' needs to connect with something larger than themselves."
Phil Jackson

"Seek people who have some balance in their lives, who are fun to hang out with, who like to laugh, and who have some non-job priorities which they approach with the same passion that they do their work. Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous, pretentious professional; I'll help them find jobs with my competitor."
Herb Kelleher

"The only sustainable competitive advantage is speed."
Jack Shewmaker

"Battles are primarily won in the hearts of men."
Vince Lombardi

"Winning isn't everything. The desire to win is everything. In fact, it's the only thing."
Vince Lombardi

"Mr. Sam didn't ask for 110 percent. He demanded it. And then he still gave you back 120 percent."
Walter Sheil

"The speed of the leader sets the speed of the pack."
Dan Perella

"Remember that customers buy from us because we say, 'Yes.'"
Dan Brogan

"While we have heard of blundering swiftness in war, we have not yet seen a clever operation that was prolonged."
Sun Tzu

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

"If the primary mission of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would never leave port."
Thomas Aquinas

"All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on. Discipline, pride, self-respect, self-confidence, and the love of glory are attributes which will make a man courageous even when he is afraid."
General George Patton

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."
Johann Wolfgang Goethe

"The task of leadership is to make the status quo more dangerous than launching into the unknown."
Sir John Harvey-Jones

"Sounds dangerous. Count me in!"
From a sign posted at Manco

"Enlightened trial and error outperforms the planning of flawless intellects."
K. Erik Drexler

"The point isn't to be infallible, but to be right more than you're wrong."
Bill Walsh

Leaders learn how to lead by being stuck in a tough situation and fighting their way out.
Warren Bennis, Ph.D (paraphrased)

"Successful people invest in themselves."
Jack Kahl

"When you work on commission, you get zip for zip. I have to be there when lightening strikes. I have to make myself available to the opportunities."
Jack's Dad

"We've long believed that when the rate of change inside an institution becomes slower than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight. The only question is when."
Jack Welch

"Being Prime Minister is a lonely job. You cannot lead from the crowd."
Margaret Thatcher

"The man who was ready to beard a tiger or rush a river without caring whether he lived or died-that sort of man I should not take. I should certainly take someone who approached difficulties with due caution."
Tzu-lu

"There is a time to take counsel of fear, and there is a time to forget your fears. When you have collected all of the facts and fears, make your decision. After you make your decision, forget all of your fears and go full steam ahead."
General George Patton

"No man stands taller than when he stoops to help a child."
Unknown

"People do business with people."
John Kahl

"I don't care how much you know until you show me how much you care."
Jack Shewmaker

"People acting together as a group can accomplish things that no individual acting alone can ever hope to bring about."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

"To climb small hills and mountains can be done alone. To climb the highest mountain takes a team based on faith, trust, and honesty. Together let us climb the highest mountain."
Manco Spirit Award

"I want to work for a company that contributes to and is part of the community. I want something not just to invest in. I want something to believe in."
Anita Roddick

"I skate to where the puck is going, not to where it's been."
Wayne Gretzky

A plan might be worthless, but the process of planning is essential.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (paraphrased)

"If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend four of them sharpening my axe."
Abraham Lincoln

"The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction, and malperformance."
Peter Drucker

"It marks a big step in a man's development when he comes to realize that other men can be called in to help him do a better job than he can do alone."
Andrew Carnegie

The job of the Chief Executive is to have people who are better than he is at every single aspect of the corporation's work.
Malcolm Forbes (paraphrased)

"Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted, the leader must be doubly vigilant."
General Colin Powell

"Execution is the thing."
General George Patton

"To go fast, row slowly and in equal rhythm."
From a sign posted at Manco

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."
Ken Blanchard

"When you see a snake, just kill it. Don't form a committee on snakes."
H. Ross Perot

"A well defined problem is half solved."
Ken Morris

"One does not try to make the circumstances fit the plans. One tries to make the plans fit the circumstances."
General George Patton

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little, when his work is done and his aim fulfilled, they will say, 'We did it ourselves.'"
Lao-tze

"Man can accomplish great success if he doesn't care who gets the credit."
Robert Woodruff