Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Harness the power of peers.
Were born to be players, not pawns.
The right brain is finally being taken seriously.
Experimentalists never know when their work is finished.
Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.
Selling is helping people to do what they're already inclined to do.
Do what you can't and experience the beauty of the mistakes you make.
Politicians are, in general, receptive to those who make the most noise.
The three things that motivate creative people - autonomy, mastery, purpose!
Wikipedia represents a belief in the supremacy of reason and goodness of others.
Whenever I meet someone new, I always ask the same question... 'So, what do you do?
Asking "Why?" can lead to understanding. Asking "Why not?" can lead to breakthroughs.
All of us want to be part of something bigger than ourselves, something that matters.
The ultimate freedom for creative groups is the freedom to experiment with new ideas.
The left-brainer and the economist in me says watch what people do, not what they say.
Anytime you're tempted to upsell someone else, stop what you're doing and upserve instead.
It's a question we all ask ourselves. What have we done lately? It rattles us each birthday.
For creative tasks, the best approach is often just to hire great people and get out of their way.
Tens of millions of people have iPods, whereas eight years ago, they didn't know they were missing them.
The ultimate pitch for an era of short attention spans begins with a single word - and doesn't go any further.
I tend to pull nuggets out of many books - rather than having a handful of books that serve as guiding lights.
Intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity; controlling extrinsic motivation is detrimental to creativity.
It's nothing short of a whole new brain... animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life.
What entrepreneurs and artists have in common is that they give the world something it didn't know it was missing.
In the past thirty years we have learned more about the workings of the human brain than in all of previous history.
Artists should agitate and democratize their own work, but they should also work to democratize the arts themselves.
When the reward is the activity itself--deepening learning, delighting customers, doing one's best--there are no shortcuts.
The misuse of extrinsic rewards, so common in business, impedes creativity, stifles personal satisfaction and turns play into work.
To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resources—not to deprive that person, but to leave him better off in the end.
There's an idea out there that salespeople have actually been obliterated by the Internet, which is just not supported by the facts.
Giving people some kind of control over what they do is important. Human beings don't do their best work under conditions of control.
Greatness and nearsightedness are incompatible. Meaningful achievement depends on lifting one's sights and pushing toward the horizon.
Today it’s economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging.
The monkeys solved the puzzle simply because they found it gratifying to solve puzzles. They enjoyed it. The joy of the task was its own reward.
The truth is, if we have our own reasons for doing something - reasons that we endorse - we're more likely to do it; we're more likely to stick with it.
If you create something, whether it's a painting or a company, I think if you care about it, you have some obligation to go out and tell people about it.
People don't know how to listen, and it's not their fault. In school, we learn how to read, we learn how to write - but nobody teaches you how to listen.
"Mad" magazine is like one of my few formative experiences, absolutely. "Mad" magazine teaches a whole generation of people to be irreverent toward power.
The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers.
When the facts are on your side, there is huge power in pitching with questions. Because questions are active rather than passive. They necessitate a response.
Money can extinguish intrinsic motivation, diminish performance, crush creativity, encourage unethical behavior, foster short-term thinking, and become addictive.
Abstract thinking leads to greater creativity... But in our businesses and our lives, we often do the opposite. We intensify our focus rather than widen our view.
It seems the best approach for any venture is a combo platter - Japan's quality-consciousness paired with America's willingness to experiment and (sometimes) fail.
Carry a notebook and write down examples of good and poor design. After a week, you'll begin to realize that nearly everything is the product of a design decision.
All of us can expect to live longer than any organization that we would work for. That continues apace. Human longevity is increasing; corporate longevity is decreasing.
Especially for fostering creative, conceptual work, the best way to use money as a motivator is to take the issue of money off the table so people concentrate on the work.
Entrepreneurs are moving from a world of problem-solving to a world of problem-finding. The very best ones are able to uncover problems people didn't realize that they had.
If the only reason people are coming in and doing anything in your office is because you're giving them a paycheck, I'm not sure you have the most productive workplace there.
I think people get satisfaction from living for a cause that's greater than themselves. They want to leave an imprint. By writing books, I'm trying to do that in a modest way.
If you understand the independent worker, the self-employed professional, the freelancer, the e-lancer, the temp, you understand how work and business in the U.S. operate today.