When you say, 'I'm sorry,' you turn people into your allies, even your partners.
Interpretation
Apologizing helps to repair relationships and build alliances.
This quote by Marshall Goldsmith emphasizes the power of an apology in fostering positive relationships. By expressing remorse or taking responsibility for actions, individuals can mend rifts and transform adversarial dynamics into cooperative partnerships, thereby enhancing collaboration and mutual support.
In practice
In a team meeting, I might say, 'I'm sorry for the oversight, let's work together to fix it.'
Active questions are the alternative to passive questions. There is a huge difference between, 'Do you have clear goals?' and 'Did you do your best to set clear goals for yourself?' The former is trying to determine the employee's state of mind; the latter challenges the employee to describe or defend a course of action.
Treat every piece of advice as a gift or a compliment and simply say, βThank you.
The only thing I don't think people don't understand about good leaders is that they're both good and lucky. A lot of it is timing.
Life is short. Do whatever you can to help people - not for status, but because the 95-year-old you will be proud if you did help people and disappointed if you didn't.
If we become aware of what's happening before we act, behaviour becomes a function of choice rather than a result of an impulse or trigger. You begin to control your world more as opposed to the outside world controlling you.
A leader who is self-aware enough to know that he or she is not adept at everything is one who has taken the first step toward being a great leader.
Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.
Few things in life are more embarrassing than the necessity of having to inform an old friend that you have just got engaged to his fiancee.
An argument would have begun to steam and boil and sputter - and you know how arguments end. Even if I had convinced him that he was wrong, his pride would have made it difficult for him to back down and give in.
In this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.
Our people could not talk with these white-faced men, but they used signs which all people understand.
Sex prejudice is so ingrained in our society that many who practice it are simply unaware that they are hurting. It is the last socially acceptable prejudice.
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