Innovative organizations provide the freedom to act which arouses the desire to act.

Everything looks like a failure in the middle.

What being among the 'right people' entails is the possession of human capital, rather than organizational capital: an individual reputation, portable skills, and network connections. Career responsibility is squarely in the hands of individuals, a function of their knowledge and networks. Transferable knowledge is more important to a career than firm-specific knowledge.

Confidence makes you willing to try harder and attracts the kind of support from others that makes "winning" possible.

Leaders must pick causes they won't abandon easily, remain committed despite setbacks, and communicate their big ideas over and over again in every encounter.

Corporate men and women, once divided by striking differences in opportunity for career growth, have come to share career chaos.

Pessimists see problems as stemming from stable and universal causes, thus making them less susceptible to corrective action. Optimists, in contrast, view problems as temporary and resulting from specific factors that will either change or be changed.