Stan Slap > Quotes

“Instead of waiting for a leader you can believe in, try this: Become a leader you can believe in.”
― Stan Slap

“You can’t sell it outside if you can’t sell it inside.”
― Stan Slap

“The purpose of leadership is to change the world around you in the name of your values, so you can live those values more fully.”
― Stan Slap

“When you’re a manager, you work for your company. When you’re a leader, your company works for you.”
― Stan Slap

“The first step to solving any problem is to accept one’s own accountability for creating it.”
― Stan Slap

“Work/life balance is not about escaping work. It’s about living exactly the way you want to when you’re at work.”
― Stan Slap

“Profitability. Growth. Quality. Exceeding customer expectations. These are not examples of values. These are examples of corporate strategies being sold to you as values.”
― Stan Slap

“What first separates a leader from a normal human being? A leader knows who they are as a human being.”
― Stan Slap

“True leaders live their values everywhere, not just in the workplace.”
― Stan Slap

“Unfortunately, there’s no law against being smart and living stupid, no matter how harmful it may be to you. You can unknowingly ricochet away from your deepest values because you’ve mistakenly come to believe you don’t deserve to live them—and spend much of your life sabotaging what you want most by aiming for just the opposite. This doesn’t mean your values haven’t always been your values. They’re driving you still and they’re waiting for you still. Toss them away as forcefully as you want, then duck: boomerang.”
― Stan Slap

“When rewards come from an external source instead of an internal source, they’re unreliable, which means they’re dangerous if you grow to depend on them.”
― Stan Slap

“The first step out of the gate has to be knowing where you want to end up. What do you really want from your company?”
― Stan Slap

“Values are the individual biases that allow you to decide which actions are true for you alone.”
― Stan Slap

“Values are deeply held personal beliefs that form your own priority code for living.”
― Stan Slap

“The worst thing in your own development as a leader is not to do it wrong. It’s to do it for the wrong reasons.”
― Stan Slap

“Success for Managers means: I want to be in healthy relationships. I want a real connection with people I spend so much time with.”
― Stan Slap

“Success means: I want to know the work I do means something to somebody and helps make the world, if not a Better place, not a worse one.”
― Stan Slap

“Careful now: even a financially rewarding, intellectually stimulating work environment isn’t the same as living your own values.”
― Stan Slap

“The personal values managers reported being the most under pressure to compromise to do their jobs successfully: 1. Family 2. Integrity.”
― Stan Slap

“The myth of management is that your personal values are irrelevant or inappropriate at work.”
― Stan Slap

“A manager’s emotional commitment is the ultimate trigger for their discretionary effort, worth more than financial, intellectual & physical commitment combined.”
― Stan Slap

“It’s impossible for a company to get what it wants most if managers have to make a choice between their own values and company priorities.”
― Stan Slap

“Your values are your essence: an undistorted mirror showing you at your pure, attractive best.”
― Stan Slap

“A company can’t buy true emotional commitment from managers no matter how much it’s willing to spend; this is something too valuable to have a price tag. And yet a company can’t afford not to have it.”
― Stan Slap

“The economy is in ruins! Bottom line? Good management will defeat a bad economy.”
― Stan Slap

“When you’re not on your own agenda, you’re prey to the agenda of others.”
― Stan Slap

“The question is not how to get managers’ emotional commitment but why manager’s don’t give it even if they like their company.”
― Stan Slap

“You’ll give up nothing to live your personal values at work. The same can’t be said about choosing not to.”
― Stan Slap

“Leadership creates performance in people because it impacts willingness; it’s a matter of modeling, inspiring, and reinforcing.”
― Stan Slap

“You can stuff yourself with emotional fulfillment until it’s dribbling down your chin & your ego will quickly chomp it down and demand more.”
― Stan Slap