Do you have a favorite quote or bit of business wisdom?
Aha!
The best boss I ever worked for told me, “She with a plan wins.” I reiterate this statement to the team quite often — it reinforces how important it is to always begin by asking, “Why?”
That statement is the essence of Aha! — we want our software to help businesses define where they are going by starting with strategy. That is how lovable products are born.
AnswerFirst
I like to tell our new employees that every call is an opportunity to change someone’s day/week/life in a small way just by being a warm and friendly voice on the other end of the phone.
CloudPeeps
Trust that everything in your career will work out the way it should, and that you can’t stuff it up if it’s meant to be. All roads will lead you where you need to go, it might not be exactly how you imagined it. Quieten your ego and focus on creating and producing – when in doubt, ship it! Don’t be afraid of the worst case scenario and be prepared to lose everything in order to follow your true calling.
Collage.com
I have two mottos, both from my grandmother:
- If it is to be, it is up to me
- It’s not what you get but what you give that measures the worth of the life you live
DataStax
“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”
I think that sums up the startup life!
Go Fish Digital
I’m obsessive about all things productivity and efficiency. I believe working smarter and more efficiently is a better use of my time, and it leads back to my desire for a good work/life balance. I’m into a lot of the time management approaches for productivity and lifehacks. A favorite guiding quote along these lines is, “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” – Bruce Lee
Help Scout
“The most important knowledge is that which guides the way you lead your life.” — Seneca
Inpsyde GmbH
“Fear is a bad advisor” and “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job……wait until you hire an amateur.”
InVisionApp
As a remote designer it’s really important to constantly share your work with your team or stakeholders. If you keep your ideas to yourself for too long before sharing, then you become attached to that particular solution. Sharing early makes iterating easier, and it ultimately leads to a better end result.
iTutorGroup
If your plans involve more than two “ifs,” it is not happening.
Jungle Scout
Just to get going! I used to have all these excuses of why I could not start and now I know if I can do it, you can too!
Knobs.co
Learn, Grow, Teach
LiquidSpace
“A .300 hitter, that rarest of breeds these days, goes through life with the certainty that he will fail at his job seven out of ten times.” —Ted Williams
I understand that everything I try to accomplish won’t work. I understand that only a small percentage of initiatives will be “home run initiatives.” And I also understand that the more swings I take, the better my chances are of hitting one out of the park, so to speak. In a fast-moving company like LiquidSpace, knowing that most things won’t work gives me the confidence to swing for the fences.
Modern Tribe
“Your income is in direct proportion to the value of the problems you solve. Want to make more? Solve bigger problems.” – I forget who said it, but it blew me away when I heard it.
“I can determine the outcome of your life by looking at your daily habits” – John Maxwell
Omni Interactions
“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your entire life.” —Naeem Callaway
Plex
A friend in human resources once told me that she measures the health of an organization by how helpful its people are. I’ve still not found a better measure for either office or remote environments. If you really focus on hiring kind and helpful people, I guarantee that communication won’t be a problem — even if your tools and processes aren’t perfect — and you’ll have a very healthy organization.
Project Ricochet
I live and die by the 80/20 rule. Whenever an 80% solution is good enough, I take it and do what I can with it, knowing that I got it in 20% of the time, energy, and money that the 100% solution would have taken.
The challenge has been identifying (and helping my team identify) what the 80% solution looks like, especially when I personally really, really want the 100% solution.
Remote Year
Whenever possible, make a decision one time and stick with that decision so you do not have to keep making that decision each time the opportunity presents itself.
RunRepeat
A few things are underestimated in life, one of them is thinking long-term. Too many have short-term gains in mind. Thinking long-term is a lot more fun as well. Here’s a good video interview with Jeff Bezos about thinking long-term.
Stack Overflow
Our guiding management philosophy is: “Hire smart people and get out of their way.” I am also partial to a quote one of our developers says, which is “Failure is always an option.”
Sutherland Global Services
I heard this on a conference call a few years ago and thought it was brilliant. If it takes less than 10 minutes to complete, do it immediately!
TNTP
If you see something, say something. One of the most important things you can do as a manager, especially in a virtual environment, is to offer honest, direct feedback. If you notice a problem, raise it. If you have a question, ask it. There’s no better way to keep the work moving and your people growing.
I also believe in having the most important management conversations face-to-face. I have flown to a staff member’s city for an important performance evaluation or major work milestone to send a clear message about the importance of a conversation.
Universal Mind, Inc.
A phrase that comes up a lot at Universal Mind is “don’t take yourself too seriously.”
Vork Inc
My leadership tips to myself: Focus on the end goal. Leaders lead. Be honest. Handy way to make decisions in a complex world.
WAKA Kickball & Social Sports
We like to say here that working from home is 95% awesome! (There are definite downsides!)
Working Solutions
Failure is not being wrong or making a mistake…it’s not doing what you set out to do.