Quotes from Harvard Business School Press

Successful careers are not planned. They develop when people are prepared for opportunities because they know their strengths, their method of work, and their values. Knowing where one belongs can transform an ordinary person—hardworking and competent but otherwise mediocre—into an outstanding performer.

Don't worry about the level of individual prominence you have achieved; worry about the individuals you have helped become better people. This is my final recommendation:

If you're not guided by a clear sense of purpose, you're likely to fritter away your time and energy on obtaining the most tangible, short-term signs of achievement, not what's really important to you. And

leaders who do undertake a voyage of personal understanding and development can transform not only their own capabilities but also those of their companies.

strategic-issue reviews are organized around "facts, alternatives, and choices.

Do your organization's ethics resonate with your own values? If not, your career will likely be marked by frustration and poor performance.

In South Africa in the early 1990s, a joke was making the rounds: Given the country's daunting challenges, people had two options, one practical and the other miraculous. The practical option was for everyone to pray for a band of angels to come down from heaven and fix things. The miraculous option was for people to talk with one another until they could find a way forward.