"Or put it another way: What you focus on is what you get. You’ve heard the expression, ‘Go looking for trouble and that’s what you’ll find’?"
"Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment."
"Because you love to. It’s not a strategy, it’s a way
of life. And when you do,”he added with a big grin,“ then very, very
profitable things begin to happen."
"The First Law determines how valuable you are,” Nicole continued. “In other words, your potential success, how much you could earn. But it’s the Second Law that determines how much you actually do earn."
"Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”
"I was brought up with a belief that there are two types of people in the world. There are people who get rich, and there are people who do good. My belief system said you’re one or the other, you can’t be both."
"Your life works the same way,”she said.“ You just make it up. Being broke and being rich are both decisions. You make them up, right up here. She tapped her finger to her temple. “Everything else is just how it plays out.”"
"They are the three universal reasons for working. Survive—to meet your basic living needs. Save—to go beyond your basic needs and expand your life. And serve—to make a contribution to the world around you."
"Survive, save and serve. Joe let the three words roll around in his mind as Pindar continued the story of Rachel."
"Because if you place the other person’s interests first, your interests will always be taken care of. Always. Some people call it enlightened self-interest. Watch out for what other people need, with the faith that when you do, you’ll get what you need."
"Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first."
"That reason is this: I care more about my wife’s happiness
than I do about my own. All I’ve ever wanted to do since the
day I met her is make her happy. And here’s the truly
remarkable thing—she seems to want the same thing for me."
"There was something else I’d learned over those years, and that was how to be a friend. How to care. How to make people feel good about themselves. And that, my friends, is something the marketplace wants very much—always has, always will."
"Reaching any goal you set takes ten percent specific knowledge or technical skills—ten percent, max. The other ninety plus percent is people skills."
"As long as you’re trying to be someone else, or putting
on some act or behavior someone else taught you, you have no
possibility of truly reaching people. The most valuable
thing you have to give people is yourself. No matter what you think you’re
selling, what you’re really offering is you."
"The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving."
Contributed by Bob Burg and John David Mann
The
Go-Giver, Expanded Edition: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
