Quotes from Ronald A. Heifetz

To sustain momentum through a period of difficult change, you have to find ways to remind people of the orienting value—the positive vision—that makes the current angst worthwhile.

You stay alive in the practice of leadership by reducing the extent to which you become the target of people's frustrations. The best way to stay out of range is to think constantly about giving the work back to the people who need to take responsibility. Place the work within and between the factions who are faced with the challenge, and tailor your interventions so they are unambiguous and have a context.

The person who has a disproportionate need for control, who is too hungry for power, is susceptible to losing sight of the work.

Having listened to people facing the end of their days, we have never heard them say, "I wish I had spent more time at the office." Instead, they talk in countless variations about the other joys of life: family, friendships, the many ways in which their lives touched people and how their work meant something to others.

Win-win solutions are ideal but not common with strategic choices. When we hear someone talk "win-wins," we wonder if anything really lasting is going to change.

You can't cook without a pot to cook in, and leadership is as much about strengthening the pot and controlling the temperature as it is about which ingredients to add when.