Quotes from Marshall Goldsmith

One of the greatest mistakes of successful people is the assumption, 'I behave this way, and I achieve results. Therefore, I must be achieving results because I behave this way.' This belief is sometimes true, but not across the board.

My job is to show my clients that their anger is rarely someone else's fault. It's their flaw.

I have a lot of deficiencies, but gratitude is not one of them.

I was at UCLA when John Wooden was the basketball coach. The next coach was Gene Bartow, who got fired for winning 90 percent plus of his games. He wasn't John Wooden. It's incredibly difficult to replace someone who has been seen as an icon.

An excuse is the handy explanation we offer when we disappoint other people.

Coaching works best with high potential people who are willing to make a concerted effort to change, not as a religious conversion activity.

I don't get paid if my clients don't get better by a certain time period. And sure, I have not been paid before. We all fail sometimes; it's okay.

The only thing I don't think people don't understand about good leaders is that they're both good and lucky. A lot of it is timing.

I regard gratitude as an asset and its absence a major interpersonal flaw.

Put your goals on paper, or an Excel spreadsheet. Measure every day, 'Did I do my best to...?' Your problems won't disappear, but you will exist in a different relation to them, and you will improve.

If we can sacrifice something comfortable, that we're 'too good at,' that might even be holding us back, we'll have more room to grow into the person we want to be.

The people I coach are very successful people, so it's very hard for winners to not constantly win. Even if it's trivial and not worth it, we still want to win - because we love winning. It's a very deep habit.

A leader who is self-aware enough to know that he or she is not adept at everything is one who has taken the first step toward being a great leader.

As I've gotten older, I've gotten simpler - my level of aspiration has actually gone down and down. But my level of impact has gone up and up.

If somebody is going in the wrong direction, behavioral coaching just helps them get there faster. It doesn't turn the wrong direction into the right direction.

If we become aware of what's happening before we act, behaviour becomes a function of choice rather than a result of an impulse or trigger. You begin to control your world more as opposed to the outside world controlling you.

Our inner beliefs trigger failure before it happens. They sabotage lasting change by canceling its possibility. We employ these beliefs as articles of faith to justify our inaction and then wish away the result. I call them belief triggers.

Anybody can change, but they have to want to change.

When you say, 'I'm sorry,' you turn people into your allies, even your partners.

Americans get fatter and fatter and buy more and more diet books, but you don't lose weight by buying diet books - you go on a diet. It's easy to read a diet book, but it's hard to go on a diet.

Never confuse acquiring degrees with wisdom.

It's not appropriate to pass judgment when we specifically ask people to voice their opinions... even if you ask a question and agree with the answer.

All of us have people in our lives who drive us crazy. We've spent hours reliving the unfair, unappreciative, inconsiderate treatment they have inflicted on us. But getting mad at this person makes just about as much sense as getting mad at a chair for being a chair.

Gratitude is not a limited resource, nor is it costly. It is abundant as air. We breathe it in but forget to exhale.