Quotes from Roger Connors

Since no one individual can mandate a perfectly accurate description of reality, you must draw from many other people's perceptions to imbue your reality with the deepest possible understanding of its many hues and shades.

When you're doing all you can and "what more?" seems an impossible task, try thinking differently, step outside your box, and open your mind to solutions that were there all the time. Solutions you just couldn't see. Act

When bad things unexpectedly happen, as they always do, or when serious errors in judgment occur, as they do more often than most of us wish to admit, accountable companies and their executives take action to control the damage and set a new course for achieving results.

left uncorrected in an organization, victim attitudes can erode productivity, competitiveness, morale, and trust to the point that correction becomes so difficult and expensive that the organization can never fully heal itself

But even in the worst of such circumstances, people can't move forward if they just sit around feeling powerless and blaming others for their misery.

A thin line separates success from failure, the great companies from the ordinary ones. Below that line lies excuse making, blaming others, confusion, and an attitude of helplessness, while above that line we find a sense of reality, ownership, commitment, solutions to problems, and determined action. While losers languish Below The Line, preparing stories that explain why past efforts went awry, winners reside Above The Line, powered by commitment and hard work.

Remember, getting stuck in the victim cycle is not bad, it's just not effective. It keeps you from getting results.

Every organization has a culture, which either works for you or against you—and

They view painful situations as accidents, bad luck, or something that was done to them. But many of the problems we face in life are not accidents. Most of the time our problems are ones we bring on ourselves

They view painful situations as accidents, bad luck, or something that was done to them. But many of the problems we face in life are not accidents. Most of the time our problems are ones we bring on ourselves. This is why learning to Own It is so important.

Outliers: The Story of Success

Think as if your life depended on it.

the Solve It step, think as if your life depended on it. While your life may not be at risk, your happiness is.

The "Solve It" Question When taking the Solve It step, you should ask: What else can I do? Asking this over and over is the key to making progress. Repeatedly asking, What else can I do? forces you to drill down through any obstacles to find solutions, solutions that are often buried deep in the rich soil of innovation and creativity, solutions that almost always lurk below the surface of your easygoing, everyday, even routine way of thinking.

Staying conscious means overcoming the auto-pilot mode and paying attention to everything that may relate to potential solutions, particularly those things that we take for granted or that we have come to accept as the way we do things around here. Always challenge current assumptions and beliefs in an effort to break through to a new level of thinking that may take you out of your comfort zone.

Processing and filtering customer input allows for objectivity and promises that whatever action you decide to take is more in line with market demand than with personal opinions. Celebrate

She had made a habit of quickly asking her own version of What else can I do?

Feedback is oxygen. It's lifeblood. We can't grow and develop without it.

Asking "What else can I do?" is the very essence of taking accountability and is the Solve It question. It's all about your ability to engage personally, and deeply, with what you can and should be doing, despite the gravitational tug from all the reasons/excuses that can drag you down Below The Line.

Your belief system needs to include the idea that feedback from others should not be feared but desired.

The hard things people need to say and hear are those things that can do the most to help them see the reality of a situation, a reality that can make all the difference between success and failure. That's the prize. It's not about the hard things hurting you; it's about the hard things helping you see a reality that will move you to a better place to get the results you want. Now

There is an expiry date for blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction. The moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

You are probably not the first one trying to overcome this obstacle or solve this problem. Find out what others did and how it worked for them.

Every successful journey Above The Line begins by asking a single question: What else can I do to achieve the result I want?