The degree to which the opportunity to use power effectively is granted to or withheld from individuals is one operative difference between those companies which stagnate and those which innovate.

Sports is a perfect activity in which to see streaks and cycles, organizational and otherwise, in action - and to watch confidence build or erode. There are repeated episodes of performance with similar rules and clear winners or losers. I added team sports to my studies of business because there are excellent parallels to work groups in the performance of sports teams and also excellent parallels to larger, more complex businesses or organizations in the strategy, structure, and culture surrounding any particular team.

A basic truth of management - if not of life - is that nearly everything looks like a failure in the middle.

Leaders must wake people out of inertia. They must get people excited about something they've never seen before, something that does not yet exist.

I was determined to achieve the total freedom that our history lessons taught us we were entitled to, no matter what the sacrifice.

Confidence is the bridge connecting expectations and performance, investment and results.

The best way for business to move out of the Hall of Shame is to demonstrate a commitment to social causes. This also makes business sense. A focus on solving social problems has motivational benefits in lean economic times.