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.

Change is a threat when done to me, but an opportunity when done by me.

Not everyone in an organization is in a position to accumulate power through competent performance because most people are just carrying out the ordinary and the expected - even if they do it very well. The extent to which a job is routinized fails to give an advantage to anyone doing it because 'success' is seen as inherent in the very establishment of the position and the organization surrounding it. Neither persons nor organizations get 'credit' for doing the mandatory or the expected.

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.

Confidence isn't optimism or pessimism, and it's not a character attribute. It's the expectation of a positive outcome.

A self-reinforcing upward spiral: performance stimulating pride stimulating performance.

One of the symptoms of a losing streak is a turnover of top executives. It's a revolving door.