Quotes from Scott Berkun

Self-reliance is the ability to apply your individuality to the world, based on a framework of emotional, physical, and financial support for yourself.

Innovations often need to be explained in terms of the status quo, which is why automobiles are rated in horsepower and electric lights in

Expressing ideas is often the only way to fully understand what ideas are, and to know what it is you really think.

Learning from mistakes requires three things: Putting yourself in situations where you can make interesting mistakes Having the self-confidence to admit to them Being courageous about making changes

It's not the fear of writing that blocks people, it's the fear of not writing well; something quite different.

Plans act as a forcing function against all kinds of stupidity because they demand that important issues be resolved while there is time to consider other options. As Abraham Lincoln said, "If I had six hours to cut down a tree, I'd spend four hours sharpening the axe," which I take to mean that smart preparation minimizes work.

when you can laugh at your mistake, you know you've accepted it and no longer judge yourself on the basis of one single event. Reaching this kind of perspective is very important in avoiding future mistakes. Humor loosens up your psychology and prevents you from obsessing about the past.

It's not a new, radical idea for work to have meaning and for workers to have both great freedom and pride in the work itself. Instead those ideas are rooted in the origins of work; we've just lost our way.

Einstein once said, "If I had 20 days to solve a problem, I would take 19 days to define it,

the podium is what you stand on. The lectern is what you stand behind.

Know what the other guy values before you try to convince him of something.

You can blame people who knock things over in the dark, or you can begin to light candles. You're only at fault if you know about the problem and choose to do nothing.

Reflection is highly underrated as a decision-making tool. To reflect means to step back and allow all of the information you've been working with to sink

Effective PMs simply consider more alternatives before giving up than other people do.

Human beings, who are almost unique [among animals] in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." — Douglas Adams

You have to be willing to get burned if you want to develop the skill of putting out fires.

Hire Self-Sufficient, Passionate People

Taking responsibility, even for failures, is always a growth opportunity.

I want to do this job and I'll give it my heart and soul.

Chance favors the prepared." — Louis Pasteur

If you want to learn the secrets of any performer, see his show twice. Then you'll notice how much of what seems improvised truly is.

Good engineering estimates are possible only if you have two things: good information and good engineers. If the specs are crap, and a programmer is asked to conjure up a number based on an incomprehensible whiteboard scribbling, everyone should know exactly what they're getting: a fuzzy scribble of an estimate.

Think biologically: humans are in better moods after they've eaten a fine meal or when they are in more pleasant surroundings.

History can't give attention to what's been lost, hidden, or deliberately buried; it is mostly a telling of success, not the partial failures that enabled success.[31] Without at least imagining the missing dimensions to the stories, our view of how to make things happen in the present is seriously compromised.