Quotes About Influence

He had the attitude that he could do anything, and therefore so can you. He put his life in my hands. So that made me do something I didn't think I could do.... If you trust him, you can do things. If he's decided that something should happen, then he's just going to make it happen. (Elizabeth Holmes)

Steve's head dropped and stared at his feet. After a weighty, uncomfortable pause, he issued a challenge that would haunt me for days. Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world? Sculley felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. There was no response possible other than to acquiesce. He had a uncanny ability to always get what he wanted, to size up a person and know exactly what to say to reach a person, Sculley recalled.

Polite and velvety leaders, who take care to avoid bruising others, are generally not as effective at forcing change. Dozens of the colleagues whom Jobs most abused ended their litany of horror stories by saying that he got them to do things they never dreamed possible. And he created a corporation crammed with A players.

During the crossing, Einstein explained his theory to me every day, and by the time we arrived I was fully convinced that he really understands it.

As Friedland had done and as Jobs would learn to do, he was able to turn charm into a cunning force, to cajole and intimidate and distort reality with the power of his personality

People with the halo effect seem to know exactly what they're doing and, moreover, make you want to admire them for it.

Greg Calhoun, who became close to Jobs right after college, saw another effect.

Mauchly and Eckert should be at the top of the list of people who deserve credit for inventing the computer, not because the ideas were all their own but because they had the ability to draw ideas from multiple sources, add their own innovations, execute their vision by building a competent team, and have the most influence on the course of subsequent developments. The machine they built was the first general-purpose electronic computer.

Ed Woolard, his mentor on the Apple board, pressed Jobs for more than two years to drop the interim in front of his CEO title. Not only was Jobs refusing to commit himself, but he was baffling everyone by taking only $1 a year in pay and no stock options. "I make 50 cents for showing up," he liked to joke, "and the other 50 cents is based on performance.

Growing up, I got inspired by the history of the place," Jobs said.

The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste," he said. "I don't mean that in a small way. I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas and they don't bring much culture into their product.

Jobs did not know that Sculley had told Eisenstat he wanted to quit, but by then it didn't matter. Overnight, he had changed his mind and decided to stay. Despite the blowup the day before, he was still eager for Jobs to like him. So he agreed to meet the next afternoon.

To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

When people take insights from multiple sources and put them together, it's natural for them to think that the resulting ideas are their own—as

Jobs put his hand on Ellison's left shoulder, pulled him so close that their noses almost touched, and said, Larry, this is why it's really important that I'm your friend. You don't need any more money.

When I hear that kind of thing," he responded, "it reminds me of what the beaver told the rabbit as they stood at the base of Hoover Dam: 'No, I didn't build it myself, but it's based on an idea of mine.

A Benjamin Franklin Reader Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Kissinger: A Biography

Tribble recalled that he adopted the phrase from the "Menagerie" episodes of Star Trek, "in which the aliens create their own new world through sheer mental force." He meant the phrase to be a compliment as well as a caution: "It was dangerous to get caught in Steve's distortion field, but it was what led him to actually be able to change reality.

Amazingly, the reality distortion field seemed to be effective even if you were acutely aware of it. We would often discuss potential techniques for grounding it, but after a while most of us gave up, accepting it as a force of nature.

he was able to turn charm into a cunning force, to cajole and distort reality with the power of his personality.

There can be something he knows absolutely nothing about, and because of his crazy style and utter conviction, he can convince people that he knows what he's talking about

Why in the world would you involve Steve in a decision like this?" Amelio replied, getting angry. "Steve is not even a member of the board of directors, so what the hell is he doing in any of this conversation?" But Woolard didn't back down, and Amelio hung up to carry on with the family picnic before telling his wife.

Likewise, what emphasis should be put on great individuals versus on cultural currents has long been a matter of dispute;

Henry Luce to his Time magazine writers: Tell the history of our time through the people who make it.