Laurie Beth Jones Quotes

Belief in oneself is a crucial quality of leadership, because 'a house divided against itself cannot stand.' A leader who fluctuates back and forth sends a very wavery signal. Like the soprano who can shatter glass by finding that high note and holding it, a leader who can hold that high note, without wavering, can shatter walls.

Inertia, when first encountered, appears to be an immovable force. We are creatures who like comfort, patterns, and repetition ... Yet change is life's only constant.

As a leader, it is vitally important that you keep in touch with your boss on a regular, sacrosanct basis. Chances are your boss can provide an aerial view that will make your path more clear.

If someone was to tally the number of human hours wasted in business by people trying to accomplish objectives without being given the authority to do so, we would all be appalled.

It takes people some time to appreciate that their greater resources are often the people they know.

Know more about the situation you're facing than a reporter who is writing a major article would.

A good leader has a plan that consists of changing simple pictures. Just because a group of people has a bunch of boards, hammers, and nails does not mean that they are building a house or even anything recognizable. Sometimes leaders think they are doing their job just because there is a lot of hammering going on. As a society we like the sound of hammering, but we are uncomfortable with the sound of thinking, which is silence.

They seek the edges, because it is the edges that ultimately lead us. A wise person does not fear the edges and fringes, but studies them. Indeed, he or she is often in them, working to make change happen.

Perhaps the true mark of a leader is that she or he is willing to stand alone.

... the fruit merely a manifestation of what was inside the tree all along.

People who succeed speak well of themselves to themselves.

Nobody wins until we all do.

A purpose statement is, in essence, a written-down reason for being. Jesus' mission helped him decide how to act, what to do, and even what to say when challenging situations arose. Clarity is power: Once you are clear about what you were put here to do then 'jobs' become only a means toward accomplishing your mission, not an end in themselves.

Leaders identify, articulate, and summarize concepts that motivate others. Most important, they boil concepts down to an understandable idea.

I have been challenged by the concept of meditation ... I decided recently to accept the invitation of a friend to experience the sheer silence of meditation-undirected prayer ... I had before only sensed intellectually ... But by going deep into prayer I could almost feel it.

If you believe you have a just cause, an important message, or a key contribution to make, you will be just as innovative as a college freshman desperate to see his girlfriend six hundred miles away. You will get there any way you can.