I recently finished reading Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat by Lou Pritchett. The author is a retired Proctor and Gamble Executive who shares many of his business and life “lessons learned” by sharing experiences during his many years of service in the corporate world. From the book, I’ve pulled a few of my favorite quotes that I wish to elaborate on.
#1 “You’re either moving ahead or losing ground.”
Lots of us like to think we can stay in one place, that we can settle down, and stand still. Like the author states however, I believe that at all times we are either moving forward or backward based on our daily decisions. We live in an ultra-competitive, fast-moving world where standing still is an impossibility—and trying to do so usually results in losing ground. We should remember that each day our decisions, even the little ones, either move us closer or further from our goals. Thus it becomes imperative that we are vigilant about our actions and always determine whether they are helping us to move ahead or causing us to lose ground.
#2 “Leaders make it easy to follow them.”
Good leaders are easy to follow. If we want to truly be effective leaders then we must set the example and pave the path we hope others will follow. Many leaders do not practice what they preach. They say one thing but then do another. Good leaders however do what they say they are going to do and thus gain respect through their integrity and good example. If it seems people are not finding it easy to follow us, we must examine what we are doing and make adjustments in order to be better leaders. People want to follow good leadership!
#3 “What we see depends on where we stand.”
The idea that we know it all, or that our opinions and perspectives are always right is silly. So much of what we believe and see truly does depend on where we stand. I remember visiting a colleague’s place of work once and I quickly noticed a very strange practice that greatly reduced productivity and the overall experience of customers. When I questioned this practice, I was told it was company policy. I was shocked to hear this and we investigated the matter together. As it turned out, it was not and then my colleague was shocked! Somehow from where he and his team were standing it was believed that what they were doing was a necessity. However, since someone was standing and seeing something else, they were able to rid themselves of this bad practice. We must not always take all we believe to be true as truth because so much depends on where we stand.
#4 “The barrier to what we can and cannot do is all self-imposed.”
Similar to the story above, often we believe we can or cannot do certain things simply based on what we believe to be true. Unfortunately, our truth or reality is skewed in one way or another. Many times our biggest hindrance to progress is ourselves and our self-perceived limitations. We must break down these barriers however and believe that all things are possible. 9 out of 10 times barriers exist simply in our minds. If we can learn to overcome them and truly believe that all things are possible, we will be successful. Let’s not put self-imposed limitations on ourselves!
These are a few quotes I enjoyed form the book Stop Paddling & Start Rocking the Boat by Lou Pritchett. For a more thorough review on the book and to see how I rated it, please click here.
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