Before a leader can be accepted, let alone succeed, autonomous professionals must agree to be influenced by that person.

You cannot and should not try to please everyone. Make sure that the right people like you, and it will be expected that others will not. That's how the world works.

Professional is not a label you give yourself - it's a description you hope others will apply to you.

What is important is what inspires persistence and determination- in other words what you care about.

Left untended, knowledge and skill, like all assets, depreciate in value surprisingly quickly.

Don't get stampeded by what people around you value. The task is to figure out what YOU value - and value highly enough to throw yourself into with unqualified passion.

Whether or not your values are operational is crucially determined by whether or not there are consequences for noncompliance.