CEOs hate variance. It's the enemy. Variance in customer service is bad. Variance in quality is bad. CEOs love processes that are standardized, routinized, predictable. Stamping out variance makes a complex job a bit less complex. Marcus Buckingham More Quotes by Marcus Buckingham More Quotes From Marcus Buckingham "Freedom, individualism, authenticity and being yourself so long as you don't hurt another's physical person or property: Sustained success comes only when you take what's unique about you and figure out how to make it useful!" Marcus Buckingham being-yourself hurt art A strength is what you do that makes you feel strengthened. Marcus Buckingham feels We're all filled with naturally recurring patterns that make us unique - they're called talents. And our charge is to bloody well use them. Marcus Buckingham patterns unique use If we have to know without a doubt that the choices we are making are the perfect ones, we risk never making any choices at all. Marcus Buckingham risk choices perfect To get the best coaching outcomes, always have your 1-on-1's on your employee's turf not yours. In your office the truth hides. Marcus Buckingham coaching office inspire People should be hired "as is" and their managers then help them to develop their individual strengths while completing tasks for which they have the greatest aptitude and in which they have the greatest interest. Marcus Buckingham individual-strength tasks people Companies don't have one culture. They have as many as they have supervisors or managers. You want to build a strong culture? Hold every manager accountable for the culture that he or she builds. Marcus Buckingham strong want culture Managers are, and should be, totally responsible for recognizing individual strengths (both natural talents and skills), getting those strengths in proper alignment (i.e. in the right "seats"), and then leveraging them. Marcus Buckingham natural-talent individual-strength skills Gen Y is really quite distinct from Gen X; it's really self-involved and very narcissistic - their cameras are filled with pictures of themselves; Facebook, it's about me. It's a generation that's been pampered by their parents and their schools, given prizes for just taking part. Marcus Buckingham parent self school Teach your children how to identify their own strengths and challenge them to contribute these strengths to others. Marcus Buckingham teach challenges children What do we know to be important but are unable to measure? Marcus Buckingham important knows You won't find a CEO who doesn't talk about a 'powerful culture' as a source of competitive advantage. At the same time, you'd be hard-pressed to find a CEO who has much of a clue about the strength of that culture. Marcus Buckingham clue powerful culture There's something unique and different that makes a leader, and it's not about creativity or courage or integrity.... A leader's job is to rally people toward a better future. Marcus Buckingham creativity integrity jobs Every time you make a rule you take away a choice, and choice, with all of its illuminating repercussions, is the fuel for learning. Marcus Buckingham boss fuel choices The best way to find out whether you're on the right path? Stop looking at the path. Marcus Buckingham best-way path way It's a special person - and personality - who can lead a start-up to soaring success and sustain that success for the long term. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg are star examples. Marcus Buckingham zuckerberg stars jobs You should know that what wakes me up at night, what gets me running fast in the morning, and, frankly, what prompts me to lose any semblance of my habitual reserve is the conviction that work doesn't have to be this grim. We can do better. Marcus Buckingham running morning night We all want the chance to express the very best of ourselves and to be challenged to keep reaching for more. Our time at work affords us this chance - not the only chance, to be sure, but, given that we're there forty or fifty hours a week, it's one of the best. Marcus Buckingham chance fifty want Too many of the organizations I have observed resemble a farm in Kansas. They have lots of fences and silos as well as a storm cellar. Marcus Buckingham kansas storm organization The first step is to recognize what you need to know and why you need to know it. Marcus Buckingham steps needs firsts
