Quotes from Marshall Goldsmith

One of the greatest mistakes of successful people is the assumption, "I am successful. I behave this way. Therefore, I must be successful because I behave this way!" The challenge is to make them see that sometimes they are successful in spite of this behavior.

Our quest for a successful outcome may end up doing more harm than good to our organizations, our families, and ourselves.

The next time you start to speak out of anger, look in the mirror. In every case, you'll find that the root of your rage is not "out there" but "in here.

Warren Buffett advised that before you take any morally questionable action, you should ask yourself if you would want your mother to read about it in the newspaper.

Peter Drucker famously said, "Half the leaders I have met don't need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.

But for some reason, many people enjoy living in the past, especially if going back there lets them blame someone else for anything that's gone wrong in their lives. That's when clinging to the past becomes an interpersonal problem. We use the past as a weapon against others.

Five qualities that you need to bring to an activity in order to do it well are: motivation, knowledge, ability, confidence, and authenticity.

If you've ever binge-watched a season or two of a TV show on Netflix when you should be studying, or finishing an assignment, or going to sleep, you know how an appealing distraction can trigger a self-defeating choice.

Excusing our momentary lapses as an outlier event triggers a self-indulgent inconsistency—which is fatal for change.

Understanding the past is perfectly admissible if your issue is accepting the past. But if your issue is changing the future, understanding will not take you there.

It's the little moments that trigger some of our most outsized and unproductive responses:

Emotional volatility is not the most reliable leadership tool. When you get angry, you are usually out of control. It's hard to lead people when you've lost control. You may think you have a handle on your temper, that you can use your spontaneous rages to manipulate and motivate people. But it's very hard to predict how people will react to anger.

You can continue doing what you're doing for a long time. But you'll never become the person you want to be.

Successful people never drink from a glass that's half empty.

We can't admit that we need to change—either because we're unaware that a change is desirable, or, more likely, we're aware but have reasoned our way into elaborate excuses that deny our need for change.

The simplest tool I know to finding fulfillment is being open to fulfillment.

If she wants to be a great leader, she will need to "make peace" with watching what she says and observing how she acts—for the rest of her career.

When we regret our own decisions—and do nothing about it—we are no better than a whining employee complaining about his superiors. We are yelling at an empty boat, except it's our boat.

Leadership is not about me. It is all about them.

The most reliable predictor of what you will be doing five minutes from now is what you are doing now.

If you keep your mouth shut, no one can ever know how you really feel.

Getting better is its own reward. If we do that, we can never feel cheated.

We also cling to the past as a way of contrasting it with the present—usually to highlight something positive about ourselves at the expense of someone else. Do you ever find yourself beginning a long self-serving story with the phrase, "When I was your age . . ."?

change is not a one-way street.