Mark Miller > Quotes

“The heart is a muscle, and you strengthen muscles by using them. The more I lead with my heart, the stronger it gets.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“When faced with a challenging or difficult situation, the best leaders most often respond with courage; less mature leaders, or nonleaders often choose another path-a path with less risk, less conflict, and less personal discomfort.”
― Mark Miller , The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“The glass is always completely full-half air and half liquid.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Believe in your ability to create the future. That's what leaders do-that is our job. Understand reality but never be imprisoned by it. Reality is a moment in time. The future has not yet been written-it is written by leaders.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Cookbooks are almost a substitution for a lost sense of culture. People want some other life than the one they're living, so they buy a cookbook with pictures and imagine themselves as part of that life.”
― Mark Miller

“Leaders are dealers in hope.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“You need to think of your quest for wisdom as a hunger that will never be satiated. The mere thought that you've arrived will spawn pride and arrogance.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“The best leaders don’t blame others. They own their actions and their outcomes.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Expecting the best is not about always being right. It is about a belief in yourself and in your team.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“if your heart is not right, no one cares about your leadership skills.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“You can lead, with or without, a title. If you wait until you get a title, you could wait forever.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Consider me a sovereign citizen of the information age. One cannot own the truth; one can merely access it.”
― Mark Miller

“When you expect the best from people, you will often see more in them than they see in themselves. The good news is that people generally rise to the level of expectations placed on them.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Leaders don’t try to make people unhappy. However, leaders just know, progress is always preceded by change.” “And some people don’t like change,”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Leadership character is the primary driver of your success as a leader.” “What about skills?” Blake asked. “They are important, but the lack of skills is not what derails most leaders—skills are too easy to learn. It is ultimately leadership character that determines our opportunity for influence and impact.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“contrary to conventional leadership in which the leader’s focus is on himself and what he can accomplish and achieve. Rather, the focus is on those being served. Servant leaders do many of the same things other leaders do—cast vision, build teams, allocate resources, and so on. The big difference is their orientation and their motivation; these make all the difference in the world. They possess an others-first mindset. The servant leader constantly works to help others win.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Many people in the world see events as they are; leaders are different in that they see things that could be. And the future they see is always a better version of the present. We believe we can make a difference; we think we can make the world, or at least our part of it, better. Leaders are generally more optimistic than nonleaders.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Ninety percent of our success as leaders will be determined by what’s below the waterline. It’s our leadership character that ultimately drives what we do, and why. It is a true reflection of who we really are as human beings.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“Don’t confuse opportunity with leadership. Others control many of our opportunities, so that shouldn’t be our concern. We control our readiness.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“First, believe in your ability to create the future. That’s what leaders do—that is our job. Understand reality but never be imprisoned by it. Reality is a moment in time. The future has not yet been written—it is written by leaders.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“title doesn’t make someone a leader—and the absence of a title shouldn’t keep someone from leading.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“If you feel the need to make everyone happy, you should be a wedding planner not a leader.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“When leaders lead well, not everyone is going to be happy.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“My challenge to you: Get ready to lead and opportunities to lead will not be your problem.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“when leaders fail to thrive, the culprit is often their leadership character, not their lack of skills.”
― Mark Miller, The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow

“We do not see with our eyes nor with our minds, we only see through the feelings of our Emotions."-Mark Miller”
― Mark Miller

“When you expect the best, one of the risks is that you will not be grounded in reality. However, optimism is not about ignoring the facts. You still need the facts. You also need people around you to tell you the truth. However, there is greater risk in expecting the worst. Pessimists will have trouble attracting followers. They will be timid and avoid risks. And the opportunity and rewards that go with that risks will forever illude the leader.”
― Mark Miller

“When your brand is integrated into everything you do, it acts like a guardrail helping your team stay on target.”
― Mark Miller, Culture Built My Brand: The Secret to Winning More Customers Through Company Culture Hardcover

“ To find meaning and truth in life place a blindfold on and observe your surroundings, you may find it right in front of you.”-Mark Miller”
― Mark Miller

“Solitude and loneliness are two separate things. One you choose out of wisdom, the other out of necessity.”
-Mark Miller”
― Mark Miller