Dallas-area Movers and Shakers Share the Thoughts that Guide Them
Cheryl Hall wrote an interesting article yesterday that appeared in the Dallas Morning News. Her work is always insightful. Take a look:
My boss, Jim Moroney, chief executive of The Dallas Morning News, has a sign displayed prominently in his office: People who don't get carried away should be. He's not certain who coined the phrase, but he believes it wholeheartedly as the publisher of this newspaper. "What we do every day helps preserve and strengthen our democracy, which is the foundation of the precious liberties we enjoy," Moroney says. "If you can't get passionate about that, you need to find another line of work."
Dallas-area Movers and Shakers Share the Thoughts that Guide Them
We all have truisms that shape our business and life philosophies.Ruth Altshuler, Dallas civic leader
My first business editor, Al Altwegg, taught me: You can't sell what you give away. Truer words for the newspaper industry were never spoken. The motto I drummed into my daughter is: A smile costs you nothing . It's often unexpected. And the rewards can be awesome. Lately, friends have been e-mailing me one that's tearing up the Internet: Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the ground each morning, the devil says, "Oh crap, she's up."
They say it makes them think of me. I hope they mean that as a compliment.
During my 37-year career here, I've been blessed with verbal presents from business legends. Norman Brinker always reminded me: Begin with the end in mind. Stanley Marcus' caution was: It's just as wrong to be too early to market as too late.
Ross Perot is passionate about Never give in – never, never, never, never.
Turns out, this Churchill quote is also a favorite of Southwest Airlines chief executive Gary Kelly. "Whether it's a bad-weather day for the airline, a health issue or a pickup stuck in the mud, things happen, and you have to persevere," Kelly says. "Getting older just reinforces that truism, and it makes one even more grateful for all the good things in life."
To get us off to a fresh start in 2010, I asked business, academic and community leaders to share a guiding truism.
I was overwhelmed with wonderful responses.
Some are original. Most are treasured words from parents, colleagues, mentors or famous folks. Some came without explanation, others with personal meanings.
Some cheated and sent several, leaving me the difficult task of selecting one.
Enjoy!
Randy Johnston, partner, Johnston Tobey PC
I only use my gun whenever kindness fails. - Robert Earl Keen
This reminds me not to start out every legal conflict by using all my lawyerly weapons if I can get it by being nice. If the other side wants the fight, well then, kindness has failed, and it is time to become the hired gun.
Adelfa Callejo, attorney and community leader
Be a master of the job before you. Be a student of the job above you. And be a teacher of the job below you.
I finished high school when I was 16. I was 17 when I had my first job in an office. An old Spaniard who was my mentor told me this saying. He said that would guarantee me an interesting and fruitful life. It's worked for me.
Craig Hall, real estate developer
Never see a lawyer without seeing a lawyer first.
The truth is, except for marrying one and having a lot of them as friends, I try to stay away from them.
T. Boone Pickens, energy billionaire
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. In the event you didn't plant one then, the second-best time is today.
I use this to highlight the need to adopt a meaningful energy policy that will actually begin to reduce foreign oil use, something every president and presidential candidate going back to Richard Nixon has promised.
Sam Wyly billionaire entrepreneur and author
In all aspects of our lives, each of us must choose between the trivial many and the vital few.
When the first company I founded, University Computing, became publicly owned, I got more than 100 letters and phone calls every day. I had to choose which were the vital few and focus my thoughts on them.
Ross Perot, Perot Systems
Corp. founder
The difference between winning and losing is quitting.
Morton Meyerson, entrepreneur
The point of living, and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come. - Peter Ustinov My grandparents wouldn't have left Russia to come to Texas if they believed in sitting still and kvetching. So I try look forward with optimism, believing we all can do better.
Ebby Halliday, Dallas Realtor
Don't drink. Don't smoke. Don't retire.
Liener Temerlin, chairman emeritus, Temerlin McClain
There is no such thing as overkill.
If you jump one hoop, jumping three probably would be better.
Stan Richards, The Richards Group
The only thing that matters is the work, the work, the work. If the work is terrific, everything else will take care of itself.
I sought my God whom I could not see.
I sought my soul. It eluded me.
I sought my brother, and I found all three.
Garrett Boone, co-founder, Container Store
Nothing is more common than a good idea. Nothing is less common than a good idea carried out. - Will Rogers
Valerie Freeman, chief executive, Imprimis Group Inc.
If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill
, director, Southern Methodist University's Caruth Institute for Owner-Managed Business
It's not the hand that's dealt you that's important. It's how you play the hand that's dealt you that's important.
Wanda Brice, executive director, the Women's Museum
When confronted with a mountain to move, start with one rock. - My motherWhen I feel almost paralyzed with the enormity of a project or a problem, I get started by completing one task or action. It always gives me the momentum to move on.
Gloria Campos, news anchor, WFAA-TV (Channel 8)
Winners never quit, and quitters never win. - My dad There have been a few trying times in my career when I wanted to quit, but I thought of all the people I would be letting down, particularly being a woman and a Latina in what was then a white male-dominated business.
Ruth P. Morgan, provost emeritus, Southern Methodist University
Use perceived bias as a spur to performance rather than as an excuse for disappointment.
, director, public relations, Adolphus hotel
Per aspera ad astra
This is a Latin phrase for "To the stars through difficulties." I had this printed on my very first business notepad to remind me that if I just stuck with it and surmounted the daily obstacles, I'd feel the exhilaration of touching the stars. On occasion, I have.
Brenda Jackson, senior vice president, Oncor
Electric Delivery Co.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and famous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. - Nelson Mandela
I keep his words in a prominent place in my office so I am reminded to do my best and to be respectful of others.
Eric Affeldt, chief executive, ClubCorp Inc.
Goodbye, said the fox. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
Tosawi Marshall, executive director, American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas
Religion is for people afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for people who have already been.
There is a difference between being religious and being spiritual. I am a spiritual person like my [Comanche] ancestors before me. It is something that resonates from the DNA of my soul, my being.
Ray Hunt, chief executive, Hunt Consolidated Inc.
A person's reputation is like his shadow; it is always longer or shorter than the real thing.
I read that some 30 to 35 years ago. It is a truth that someone always needs to keep in mind.
Don Chapman, director, Catapult Partners
For me there is only traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that has heart, and there I travel – looking, looking, breathlessly. - Carlos Castaneda
, The Teachings of Don Juan
It reminds me to keep my eyes up off the floor and my mind open to finding the joy in whatever is around me.
Bob Buford, author
At this stage of your life, it is your job to release and direct energy, not to supply it. - Peter Drucker
In the mid-1990s, Drucker used this to explain my aging to me. I find Peter's admonition fits almost everyone in life's second half.
Bob Beaudine, author
The real problem of finding your dream or achieving isn't about who you don't know but whom you've neglected.
People have been taught, incorrectly, that mixing business and friends is taboo. The key to success is doing life – and business – with friends.
Hala Moddelmog, chief executive, Susan G. Komen for the Cure
There is a subtle difference between a mission and a promise. A mission is something you strive to accomplish – a promise is something you are compelled to keep. One is individual, the other is shared. When a mission and a promise are one and the same, that's when mountains are moved and races are won.
Mark Kane, owner, Entertainmart LLC
I was wrong.
Rather than make excuses, equivocate or issue general denials, I have required that my children, as well as my employees, simply say I was wrong. I was dead wrong. This utterance will typically put an end to any further discussion on the topic.
, owner, Dallas Mavericks
Today is the youngest you will ever be. Live like it. - My dadIt's a reminder never to think that I'm old. There is always someone older who wishes they were my age and regrets taking the vitality that comes with that age for granted.
Connie Beck, executive vice president, Comerica
Bank
Life is not a dress rehearsal.
This is a great reminder to enjoy the moment, not put off anything important to us, to know that we want to get the most of our life, etc.
Melissa Reiff, president, Container Store
At the moment of commitment the entire universe conspires to assist you. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
When we have made the choice to be clear-thinking and focused, the universe does conspire to assist. We persevere and succeed.
Naomi Pevsner, owner, Naomi Designs Inc.
Success is a journey and not a destination. - My father
This quote that he loved reminds me to live in the moment and to enjoy the journey just exactly as it unfolds. The highest peaks and the bumpy parts, too.
Angel L. Reyes III, Reyes Bartolomei Browne
It's better to dare mighty things, even if checkered by failure, than to end up someone who doesn't know victory or defeat.
This proves valuable to me every time my law firm takes on a big hairy new project. If I didn't remind myself that it's OK to fail, I wouldn't be able to stomach being an entrepreneur.
Gail Cooksey, president, Cooksey Communications
If you don't have time to do it right, when do you have time to do it over?
A good one to say to yourself when you get in a hurry. Works well for employees, too.
Jeff Sinelli, president, Sinelli Concepts Inc.
Get in the game, and the game will open up for you. - Paul Sinelli, my father
You must first make a commitment. Too many people sit on the sidelines talking, wishing, and never take action and hence never get in the game. Every time I put myself in a game, great things happen.
Russ Williamson, Texas director, Pfizer Inc
.
Always make the maximum effort.
This is my modification of a Vince Lombardi saying regarding the second effort.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn
Keep your nose to the grindstone.
Michael Boone, partner, Haynes and Boone LLP
Kick 'em when they're down but leave 'em laughing.
A few years ago I came up against a very unreasonable New York lawyer representing a company being acquired by our client. I picked up a big rubber band and put it around my head like a basketball player's headband. A few minutes later, I put on a second one, and a little later, a third one. I explained that I was trying to help him become a better negotiator. I told him I was putting one on each time he made an inappropriate negotiation request and promised to take one off each time he made a reasonable request. By looking at me across the table, he could tell how well he was doing. At one point, I put on four or five rubber bands at once, explaining that he had just made the worst request that I had ever heard in my entire legal career. The humor broke the tension, and we got the deal done.
Cappy McGarr, executive producer, Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize
Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand. - Mark Twain
I have a close friend whose teenage son was recently in a boating accident and has had multiple hand surgeries. We talk every day and cry about his son's situation, but we never end the call without a laugh or at least a smile. Laughter is medicine we all need.
Jim Hess, chief executive, Leapfrog HR Executives
Survival precedes success.
Many impressive/promising organizations, small and large, were not able to persevere long enough to be around when a difference-making opportunity knocked.
Dale Wamstad, restaurateur
Non lesse illegitimus de carborundum.
Pseudo Latin for Don't let the bastards grind you down. Don't worry about what your competitor is doing. Take care of your own business. That you can control.
Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, chief executive, Harwood International
Quality remains long after price is forgotten. - Stanley Marcus
It's my inspiration for Harwood International's vision: Yesterday we planned for today, today we plan for tomorrow.
Wendy Lopez, vice president, URS Corp.
Cash is king.
Cash gives you freedom to make the decisions without seeking permission from investors.
Karyl Innis, chief executive, Innis Co.
The skills that bring you to the table don't keep you at the feast.
It's often the breakthrough idea that clears a path for important career growth.
Eknauth Persaud, chief executive, Ayoka LLC
Eat your own dog food.
You've got to follow the same process model that you provide your customers. This is the best way to understand your clients.
Emmitt Smith, chief executive, ESmith Legacy Inc.
It's only a dream until you write it down. Then it becomes a goal.
Pete Schenkel, former vice chairman, Dean Foods
Co.
You inspect what you expect. - The late Jack Evans, former Dallas mayor and CEO of Tom Thumb
Lynn Blodgett, CEO, Affiliated Computer Services Inc
.
I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. - Abraham Lincoln
In a letter he wrote to Horace Greeley in 1862, Lincoln wrote this about the importance of remaining flexible. I admire this quote because an unbending devotion to flexibility has been an asset in the last 18 months since the recession began to rear its head. Managing a Fortune 500 company requires leaders to be nimble, but the economic uncertainty challenging clients around the world is forcing executives to reach even deeper and maintain a flexible vigilance to meeting their clients' expectations but also leading a large enterprise.
Leadership
June Jones, head football coach, Southern Methodist University
You cannot manage men into battle.
You manage things. You lead people by conducting yourself in such a way that you will lift those around to a higher level of performance.
Carl Sewell, Sewell Automotive Cos.
Leadership is performance. - Peter Drucker
Ideas, plans, hopes and dreams are nice, but performance is really all that counts. The older I get, the clearer it gets that it is not about intentions, it's about results.
Paul Spiegelman, founder and chief executive, Beryl Cos.
The seven most important words in business: I don't know, what do you think? - J.W. Marriott
A leader may know the answers, but if he lets co-workers come up with answers and gives them credit, the company will reach its goals with an engaged, empowered workforce.
Mike Rawlings, chief executive, Legends Hospitality Management
There are simplifiers and complicators. Simplifiers always lead better.
If I want to communicate effectively, I can't get lost in the details.
Fear of failure
Ruth Fitzgibbons, principal, Richards Partners Public Relations
Success is never permanent. Neither is failure.
My late husband had a little sign on his desk that packed a wallop of wisdom in a few short words. That little saw is handy when you're either thinking you're the bees' knees or when you've just bombed spectacularly.
Helen Harkness, Career Design Associates Inc.
We change careers when our pain is greater than our fear.
I also connect with Helen Hayes' If you rest, you rust, since I plan to become a centenarian.
Melendy Lovett, president of education technology, Texas Instruments Inc.
Courage is about the management of fear, not the absence of fear. - Rudy Giuliani
I learned this saying from my former boss and mentor, Steve Leven. It has encouraged me to make courageous decisions and act boldly.
Homespun truths
Ed Pratt III, co-founder, Sunrise Equity Investors LLC
Always be humble. Always be frugal. Always be kind. And remember, it's a short trip from the penthouse to the poorhouse.
Life has a funny way of humbling you when you least expect it. How many examples have we seen in the last year with so many big-name companies going under or needing a government rescue to survive? How many executives of those companies can now tell you how short the trip really is?
Carol Reed, Reeds Public Relations Corp.
When someone is committing suicide, you don't have to kill them and Silence is the best substitute for brains.
Jerry Meyer, chairman, Walls Industries Inc.
Explain not – Friends don't expect it, and enemies won't believe it.
Carl Westcott, entrepreneur
You got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them. - Kenny Rogers
Over my career, I've closed a couple of businesses that were underperforming and had doubtful future prospects. I felt that we should take the loss, focus on our more promising prospects and live to fight another day.
Roland Dickey, Dickey's Barbecue Pit
We don't eat nothin' that wasn't bigger than we are when it died.
That's what's above the doors to the trailers that we Dickeys live in. We've leave all the fish and the chickens to others. As big as some members of my family are getting, that's getting harder and harder to live by. There's less and less things bigger than they are.
Jerry Clements, chairwoman, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
Pretty is as pretty does. - My mother
Without a good and decent heart, nothing on the outside matters. I've made a point of passing it on to my children.
Todd Wagner, billionaire philanthropist and entrepreneur
Pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered.
You should try to get what is coming your way, but not at the expense of the other side. Become hoggish, and it can come back to bite you.
Mary Brinegar, president and chief executive, the Dallas Arboretum
The louder he spoke of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons . - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Erin Botsford, chief executive, the Botsford Group
Confidence is the electricity that powers human achievement. With confidence you can do anything. ... Without it, you can do nothing.
Bronwyn Allen, president, High Profile Inc.
There are only good days or great days.
If you wake up in the morning – alive, healthy and get to see your family – at the bare minimum, it's going to be a good day.
Paul Bass, vice chairman, First Southwest Co.
If there's a will, try and get in it.
Larry Friedman, managing partner, Friedman & Feiger LLP
When in doubt, take the high road.
Social responsibility
Jim Keyes, chief executive, Blockbuster Inc.
Education IS freedom.
I saw this on a T-shirt on a student at my alma mater, Columbia University.
This is a simple, elegant truth – whether inspiring a young person to stay in school or reminding myself that the answer to a particularly challenging business problem lies in educating myself to make an informed decision.
Paige Flink, executive director, Family Place
If not me, who? If not now, when? - Parapharase of Rabbi Hillel; also attributed to Robert Kennedy
Larry North, fitness expert
Poor is a way of life, and broke is just a temporary state. - My father
Knowing this simple fact has influenced me to take risks, challenges and never be afraid to make mistakes.
Kathleen Mason, chief executive, Tuesday Morning Inc.
What you lose on the swings, you can pick up on the merry-go-round.
It means if you lose out one way, there's an opportunity to win another way.
Gene Street, restaurateur
There is a lot of good water in my commode, but I just can't drink it.
It's from my mom and dad. Anytime I've been approached with a "too-good-to-be-true, we'll-make-a-killing idea," I've used this phrase as a nice, plain, simple way to say, "I am not interested." I've used it several times with overseas investors whose interpreters had a little difficulty in explaining it.
Ike Vanden Eykel, partner, Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson PC
When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging.
My kids got very sick of hearing it.
Bobby Haas, Haas Wheat & Partners
When in doubt, make the more correctable mistake.
When you are in doubt between two choices, assume you'll guess wrong and take the path that causes the least damage when you seek to undo your choice. Not sure whether you should marry someone? Don't do it! Not sure whether to do a deal? Don't do it! I have used this pearl of wisdom with my daughters so often that it is now ingrained in the Haas family DNA.
Kim Askew, partner, K&L Gates LLP
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
My all-time favorite saying from Gandhi is posted on my office door, on my desktop and in the corner of my bedroom closet. My life has been spent in some pretty nontraditional roles for women. When the going gets tough, I frequently remind myself that this is the greater purpose for which I stand.
Michael Brown
, Nobel laureate, UT Southwestern Medical School
The most important decision facing any scientist is the choice of a spouse.
I tell all of our students: With an understanding partner, anything can be accomplished. I took my own advice when I married Alice 45 years ago, and I have benefited ever since.
Larry Lavine, restaurateur
BFC – Behavior is a function of consequence.
Most people do not take the time to thank others for an action that they would like repeated. People will respond to a positive remark much better than being told they did something wrong. This works with employees, your spouse, children and even your dog.
Susan Byrne, chairman, Westwood Holdings Group Inc.
Never try to catch an anvil in the air when you can pick it up off the ground.
My best rule for investing: Wait for the dust to settle before committing capital.
Ken Schnitzer, chairman, Park Place Dealerships
Keep doing what you've always done, and you'll keep getting what you've always gotten.
This is my Texas twist on Benjamin Franklin's "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Today's leaders should always be evaluating new ideas that ultimately will result in providing the best service or product to the client. When a company becomes stagnant in its processes, the result is a loss of innovation.
Roger Staubach, Jones Lang LaSalle
It takes a lot of unspectacular preparation to get spectacular results , which leads into There are no traffic jams on the extra mile.
Two of my favorite sayings go hand in hand. My coach switched me to quarterback in high school. I didn't really want to play quarterback, but I worked hard to be the best I could be, and it changed my life. I have always felt the same about business. If you go the extra mile, you are usually rewarded for it. Nothing comes easy.
Charles Terrell, insurance executive and former chairman of the Texas criminal justice system
Remember the Alamo.
It means: Don't get mad. Get even.
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