"Joel believes that most people see their work as a four-letter word and must therefore be tightly controlled, threatened, or bribed with incentives before they will work hard enough. He prides himself on being a tough manager who rolls up his sleeves and digs deep into operational details. He exercises tight control with policies, directives, and rules. His mood swings cause the team's emotional tone to wildly gyrate from high to low with much time being spent figuring out how to read him and avoid his wrath. Joel's main tool for influencing behavior on his team is through punishment and 'shooting down people who haven't done their homework.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "A Tale of Two Managers: Command versus Commitment"

"Denise sees possibilities in people. She believes that people want to take pride in their work and be part of a winning team. She has learned that motivation or morale problems are usually rooted in leaders failing to engage people in the broader aims and ideals of the organization. As more people search for meaning in their lives and in their work, this disconnect creates much of the frustration and lack of purpose found in so many workplaces today. Denise works hard at connecting people to her organization's vision, values, and purpose. Denise's high energy and optimistic attitude sets a strong and positive emotional tone throughout her organization. People are inspired to face tough problems with confidence and teamwork."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "A Tale of Two Managers: Command versus Commitment"

"A reliable indicator of management's failure to impassion people and foster their commitment is absenteeism. When I was a kid I didn't enjoy school very much. So I was sick a lot. Once I found my life work and pursued career choices that really turned me on, my health improved miraculously. In more than 30 years, I have taken fewer than five sick days."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "A Tale of Two Managers: Command versus Commitment"

"Leadership charisma and energy flow directly from our personal passion and commitment. These determine how others respond to our influence and leadership efforts."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Beyond "Near-Life Experiences""

"The depth of our commitment determines the length of our persistence in overcoming resistance. The deeper our commitment, the deeper the reservoir of self-discipline and willpower we have to draw from."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Beyond "Near-Life Experiences""

"To be passionate about our work, it needs to be moving us ever closer to expressing who we truly are. The more closely who we are is aligned with what we do, the deeper is our passion and commitment. When we love what we do, we never have to work again."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Beyond "Near-Life Experiences""

"Real improvements in customer service start with providing superior service and support to the employees themselves."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Customer Satisfaction is a Reflection of Employee Satisfaction"

"Good and bad habits are tiny daily choices that accumulate. Each choice is a small wire that is woven together with hundreds of other little choices. Eventually these wires form a strong cable. Like a child that grows a tiny amount each day, our tiny choices accumulate without much notice. By the time we realize we have either a good or a bad habit, the habit has us."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Discipline Can Be Habit Forming"

"If we want people on our team or in our organization to behave like business partners, we need to treat them that way. We need to treat them like responsible adults and give them a deep and continuous understanding of what's going on in the business."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Education and Communication Build Commitment"

"The leadership vacuum found in many organizations often shows up in how managers try to buy passion and commitment. They push rather than pull. They manage rather than lead. This saps passion and reduces the "commitment culture" so vital to high performance."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Empowerment Through Passion and Commitment"

"Managers often will try to solicit ideas using various formalized approaches, such as suggestion boxes. These are rarely effective. A disgruntled staff member once put a sign on a suggestion box that summed up the consensus view of this approach: 'Please don't put any more ideas in here. The handle is broken and it won't flush.' Instead, the organization needs to focus on the leadership values of partnership, participation, and involvement. Without these values there is no system that can foster the communication necessary to keep ideas flowing."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Engagement is an Inside Job"

"'Companies that adopt employee involvement measures such as work teams and employee participation in decision making, are likely to find significant rewards on their bottom line,' says a report produced by the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. They found that the average return on sales was 8.3% among low-involvement companies versus 10.4% among high-involvement firms. Stock price appreciation was 21% versus 44%."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Engagement is an Inside Job"

"A study of franchise systems found that one of the greatest differentiators among the most successful franchisees was 'a belief that employees deserve trust, enjoy responsibility and offer meaningful contributions to the business.' One of the study's researchers concluded, 'The managers who involve their employees were much more successful in the performance of their franchise than those who distrust employees and exclude them from decisions.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Engagement is an Inside Job"

"Visioning creates passion. The clearer and more compelling the vision, the stronger the passion. And the more likely we are to hang in there during the inevitable downs and defeats as we reach for our dreams. Visioning or picturing my preferred future has been my greatest source of energy and focus."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "How Visioning Helped My Passion and Persistence"

"If you're going to be an effective energy leader, then your work can't be work. You need a job that isn't a job, it's a joy. When you love what you're doing, you never have to go to work again."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Just a Job or a Source of Deeper Joy and Meaning?"

"I am often asked how I develop the discipline to research, prepare, write, etc. What discipline? That's assuming I have to force myself to do this work. On the contrary, my problem is disciplining myself to not let my work completely take over my life. That's because my work is highly aligned with my life purpose, vision, and values. So I am not working today, I am using this day to move one step closer to fulfilling a major part of why I exist."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Just a Job or a Source of Deeper Joy and Meaning?"

"Strong leaders engage people's hearts. They build ever-deeper passion and commitment. The key leadership word is "care." When we care about our work, we will often be harder on ourselves than anyone else would dare to be. When we really care about the customers we serve, we'll go out of our way to ensure that each "moment of truth" (contact with customers) is as positive as we can make it. When we care about making our organization successful, we'll go above and beyond our job to do whatever it takes to be part of a winning team. When we care about our products or services, we'll do whatever it takes to continue feeling proud of what we do."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Leaders Foster Individual Passion for Change and Improvement"

"Passionate leaders have the energy and drive needed to push and pull their teams and organizations forward. This rousing passion is the energy source that powers the technology, systems, and processes that boost personal, team, and organization performance to ever-higher levels."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Passionate Leaders Rally People to the Cause"

"Studies of Nobel Prize winners have shown that their intelligence levels are average. However, their tenacity and persistence is well above normal. They hang in there with research and doggedly following a theory long after many of their colleagues have moved on to what looks like more promising research paths."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Persistence Goes the Distance"

"Years ago, I worked in a company with an emotionally intelligent CEO. A favorite motto of his was: 'If you love what you're doing, you never have to work again.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Test Your Career Health"

"Enthusiasm is a word that comes from ancient Greek meant "having the god within." Enthusiasm, passion, and love are key drivers in our lives. When we connect with our inner spirit we feel the most intensely alive. During these moments, our inner voice whispers, "this is the real me."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "The Power of Passion"

"Artist, writers, and performers often talk about finding their voice. Their art becomes an expression of that inner self. The people with the deepest and most meaningful lives are those who have found and use their inner voice. Their life sings from their soul."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "True to Our Souls"