Organizational Leadership Quotes

“company leaders need to provide their company with a self-organizing and semi-autonomous immune system. Effective risk management isn't about a siloed approach focusing on isolated threats. We have to think more broadly. Effective risk management requires a holistic approach that transcends a siloed focus on isolated threats. In today's interconnected business landscape, risks are rarely confined to a single department or function. Instead, they often ripple across the organization, impacting multiple areas simultaneously.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr., Board Room Blitz: Mastering the Art of Corporate Governance

“The first step out of the gate has to be knowing where you want to end up. What do you really want from your company?”
― Stan Slap

“Every organization would benefit from having Holistic Wealth Project Groups comprised of groups of employees in each region who are energized and motivated to help each other achieve Holistic Wealth both at work and in their personal lives, and therefore drive organizational purpose, resilience, innovation, wellness, and success.”
― Keisha Blair, Holistic Wealth (Expanded and Updated): 36 Life Lessons to Help You Recover from Disruption, Find Your Life Purpose, and Achieve Financial Freedom

“To create a culture of creativity, you have to celebrate creativity.

Often times, when organizations become bureaucratic, following the rules is what's celebrated; walking the line is what's celebrated; doing it the way it's done around here is what's celebrated.

No judgement if that's how you want your organization, but IF you want a culture of creativity... IF you want a culture of innovation.... You have to be willing to turn a blind eye sometimes when the rules are broken. You have to be willing to have the business endure the risks associated with a culture of creativity - less certainty, etc. And you have to celebrate teammates when they create a new process, redesign a workflow process or solve a problem on an unconventional way.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr.

“Leading is about people and their wellbeing the first foundation to the organisations wellbeing.”
― Janna Cachola

“If a LEADER is using their time wisely, they don't have time to look for attention or feed an ego. The reward just happens as a pleasant byproduct.”
― Donavan Nelson Butler, MSG, US Army Retired

“The structure of operations also encourages connection. Any employee can attend meetings of any department, including Zingerman's board meeting. A truck driver can help plan a menu, and a chef can help strategize on the online marketing strategy. To Ari [Weinzweig], part of the benefit of this is disabusing people of the notion that leadership always knows what they are doing. It's okay to acknowledge that everyone is fallible even as they strive to make the company stronger.”
― Vivek H. Murthy, Together: Why Social Connection Holds the Key to Better Health, Higher Performance, and Greater Happiness

“Embedding Vital Behaviors into an organization’s DNA is both a science and an art.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“The important thing to remember is that Vital Behaviors are dynamic, not static. They will change as people ask for more clarity and as conditions change.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“The behaviors must connect at an emotional level for people. They must be personally rewarding, not just for the organization.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Behavior Analysis provides the systematic way to do this. It’s a positive approach that helps people focus on what they want, rather than the fear they wish to avoid.”
― Lori Ludwig

“Lasting habits can only be created when a person’s internal and external environments are aligned.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Our ultimate promise brings surprisingly good news: achieving organizational behavior change is easier than achieving individual behavior change.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“External environment is more important than internal, personal motivation— because if you change your environment, behavior change will follow, and so will a change in your thoughts and beliefs.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“People need to know that leaders are doing everything possible to remove barriers that hamper their doing the “right” things.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Vital Behaviors can be relatively straightforward (like safety procedures) or extremely complex (like decision-making). They can be identified at any level of an organization.”
― Lori Ludwig, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Rather than blaming people for their poor habits, Behavior Analysis focuses on altering the environment to help them succeed.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“The reality of execution is that nothing changes until people’s behaviors change.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Consistent behavior can be like a turbo boost for your organization, and it won’t cost you anything extra. In contrast, inconsistent behavior can be a major stumbling block if you underestimate its importance in achieving effective execution.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Vital Behaviors reflect an organization’s brand, policies, procedures, work processes, terms, and tools.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Sometimes the cause of behavioral hotspots lies hidden elsewhere in the process.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Simply relying on leaders isn’t enough to make habits stick in a company.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Make sure you consider how performance improvement in one area might have a positive or negative ripple effect on the rest of the organization.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“The behaviors must connect at an emotional level for people. They must be personally rewarding, not just for the organization.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“People need to know that leaders are doing everything possible to remove barriers that hamper their doing the “right” things.”
― Julie M. Smith

“External environment is more important than internal, personal motivation— because if you change your environment, behavior change will follow, and so will a change in your thoughts and beliefs.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Instead of blaming individuals for their poor habits, Behavior Analysis focuses on understanding observable behaviors and how the environment can be adjusted to support desired changes.”
― Julie M. Smith, Vital Behavior Blueprint: 5 Steps to Embed Mission-Critical Habits into Your Organization's DNA

“Before I learned about labor unions, contracts, and collective bargaining, I was taught about structure and organization, in church. (Reclaiming the Black Church: A Call to Restore Leadership, Unity, and Purpose – blog)”
― Carlos Wallace

“The establishment is in crisis. Popular opinion is on our side. But we have to step out of our comfortable clubhouse and into the terrain of politics. The little clubhouse called "activism" is moldy and decaying. We no longer fit inside of its self-defeating walls. We have to walk away from the sideshow if we want to seize the main stage. This is not about "selling out" or "watering down" our politics or becoming "less radical". There is nothing "radical" about an atachment to outsiderness and marginality. And what is more radical than believing that everyday people can come together and organize a collective vehicle powerful enough to remake the world?”
― Jonathan Smucker, Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals

“Teams thrive when they’re known, not just named.”
― Janna Cachola