Mac Anderson > Quotes

“Be prepared to go the extra mile; there is less competition there.”
― Mac Anderson, 212 Service: The 10 Rules for Creating a Service Culture

“In business, real discipline comes in saying no to the wrong opportunities.” —Jim Collins”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“If your company mission is to climb a tree, which would you rather do: hire a squirrel or train a horse?”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“One of the biggest reasons many leaders fail is their unwillingness to accept their limitations. Ego gets in the way. They feel they’re smart enough to do it all and mistakenly feel that what they don’t know can be learned on the fly. So many times it’s a recipe for disaster, especially for entrepreneurs. Walt Disney failed many times early in his career. He had brilliant ideas, but his ability to execute them was painfully lacking. He also, believe it or not, was a lousy artist. After the third failure, Disney was finally convinced that, to succeed, he must surround himself with great artists who could bring his animation ideas to life. He also needed his brother, Roy, to handle the financial side of the business. These two moves made all the difference and freed Walt up to do what he did best—using his imagination to plan their future.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“It's not the things we get but the hearts we touch that will determine our success in life.”
― Mac Anderson

“When hiring someone, start with the premise that attitudes are contagious. Then ask yourself one question: Is theirs worth catching? I’ve been in business for over thirty years, and I’ve come to realize the difference in success and failure is not how you look, not how you dress, not how much you’re educated, but how you think! In my business life, I’ve watched many very intelligent people fail miserably because they have a negative attitude, and I’ve also observed just as many people with average intelligence soar to success because of positive attitudes. Southwest Airlines’s vice president of people is often asked the question “How do you get your people to be so nice?” Her answer is always the same: “We hire nice people.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“As a leader, however, we must manage our attitudes. Do we need to be perfect? Of course not. But we can never underestimate the influence that our actions and our attitudes will have on our team.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“For many years, Darrel Royal was the football coach for the University of Texas at Austin. They always had great teams and winning records. Sometimes, however, when they won a close game, a sportswriter would suggest that while the Longhorns were skilled, they had been lucky on that day. Hearing it one time too often, Coach Royal finally said, “Luck is partly the residue of design, the simple act of being prepared for luck when it arrives.” And there is something else to luck, Royal said—luck follows speed. Move, and luck finds you. Move quickly, and it finds you more often.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“values are critical to build great brands and great companies. 2.They must be continuously enforced to truly make it a part of your company culture. Why the need for values in an organization? Core values serve as critical guides for making decisions, and when in doubt, they cut through the fog like a beacon in the night. Identifying the core values that define your company is one of the more important functions of leadership. They can make or break your long-term success. But you also should know that gaps between your values and your actions can do more harm than good. In other words, if you talk about building a customer-first culture but fail to do so, you’ll lose the respect of your employees and your customers.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“Change is the key that unlocks the door to growth and excitement in any organization. The leader’s ability to inspire a culture of change can make or break their success. Tomorrow comes at us with lightning speed, and our competitive advantage is a fleeting thing. Bill Gates puts it this way: “In three years, every product my company makes will be obsolete. The only question is whether we will make them obsolete or somebody else will.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“Brian Tracy, in his book Eat That Frog, says that your “frog” should be the most difficult item on your to-do list, the one where you’re most likely to procrastinate, because if you eat that first, it’ll give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. But if you don’t, and you let him sit there on the plate and stare at you while you do a hundred unimportant things, it can drain your energy and you won’t even know it. So here’s your assignment: for the next thirty days, take a look at your list, circle the frog, and eat that first.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it is an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time.” —Vince Lombardi”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“I have a friend who, at sixty-five, looked like he was fifty-five. When I saw him, I said, “Tony, you look great.” He said, “I feel great! I got a second job.” I said, “A second job? I thought your import business was doing well.” He said, “It is. My second job is on the treadmill from six to seven every morning. When I started looking at it as a second job, I showed up whether I wanted to or not! The pay is lousy, but the benefits to my health and my attitude are priceless!”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“More and more they are relying on their gut—and their feelings—to make decisions. In fact, he said, it really doesn’t matter how customers feel about you and your business. What makes a difference is how your products make them feel about themselves and their decisions.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership

“Far too many companies are focused on the product and not the experience. We need to replace our brain with our heart, because that’s often how people make decisions. Studies have proven that the essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action and reason leads to conclusions.”
― Mac Anderson, You Can't Send a Duck to Eagle School: And Other Simple Truths of Leadership