"Now is the time to prepare for our next harvest. We can't wait until harvest time to plant the seeds. We can't strike a bargain to plant seeds once we see whether the harvest is worth the effort. Harvest time will arrive whether we're ready or not. Now is the time to plant the seeds for the coming harvests."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "A Call to Action"

"Leaders develop and bring out the best in people. This dramatically expands the performance capacity of an organization. With a strong leadership foundation, management systems and processes, as well as technology and technical expertise, expand to their full potential."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "A Coach's Playbook for Leaders"

"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." — Eric Hoffer, American philosopher, Reflections on the Human Condition

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Always on the Grow"

"What I am going to be tomorrow is determined by what I am becoming today. If I continue to do what I've always been doing, I will continue to get what I've always been getting. To get somewhere else, I need to grow into someone else."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Always on the Grow"

"Continuous personal improvement means we often outgrow our own standards and what we previously thought was acceptable. A dull author once complained to William Dean Howells the 19th century editor of Atlantic Monthly (he encouraged a number of writers including Mark Twain and Henry James). 'I don't seem to write as well as I used to,' the mediocre writer grumbled. 'Oh yes you do...indeed you do,' Howells reassured him, 'It's your taste that is improving.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Blazing Our Own Improvement Path"

"We need to find the combination of reflection, networking, participating in learning events, training, discussions, taking on new assignments and responsibilities, experimenting — or whatever — that that keeps us stretching and growing."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Blazing Our Own Improvement Path"

"Continuous learning, growing, and developing helps us find the path that is personal and unique to us. Ways of doing things depend upon tools and techniques. There are no tools or techniques for ways of being. We all need to keep searching, growing, and developing those ways that are true to our inner selves and take us where we want to go."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Blazing Our Own Improvement Path"

"A timeless principle of inside out leadership is continuous personal growth. When U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., was hospitalized at the age of 92, President Roosevelt went to visit him. He found Holmes reading a Greek Primer. 'Why are you reading that?' the president asked. The great jurist replied, 'Why, Mr. President, to improve my mind.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Blazing Our Own Improvement Path"

"The faster the world changes around us, the further behind we fall by just standing still. If the rate of external change exceeds our rate of internal growth, just as the day follows night, we will surely be changed. To the change-blind with stunted growth, it will happen suddenly and seemingly 'out of the blue.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Change is Life"

"Change is life. Successfully dealing with change means choosing to continuously grow and develop. Failing to grow is failing to live."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Change is Life"

"We don't always get to choose the changes that come into our lives. But we do get to choose how to respond."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Change is Life"

"Change forces choices. If we're on the grow, we'll embrace many changes and find the positive in them. It's all in where we chose to put our focus. Even change that hits us in the side of the head as a major crisis can be full of growth opportunities — if we choose to look for them. "

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Change is Life"

"The Nobel Prize winning physicist, Albert Einstein, observed that we can't solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it. The same principle applies to influencing and leading people around us. I can't influence others to change what they're doing with the same behavior that contributed to their current behavior."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Changing Me to Change Them"

"It has been said that there are only two types of people who thrive on being recognized for their achievements: men and woman. (I guess that covers most of us!)"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Cheer Leaders Inspire Others"

"What stunts our personal growth and gets us stuck in a rut is when we refuse to hear any more of it. As a parent, boss, or appointed leader of some type, it's too easy to hide behind our position and avoid feedback."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Feedback to See How Others See Me"

"We should set goals and establish priorities. They should be as specific and measurable as we can make them. But with a longer-term Focus and Context (vision, values, and purpose), we need to see goals as vital learning points. Disciplined and effective goal setting means that at the end of the time frame we've set with every goal, we pause long enough to understand why we've hit or missed that goal."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Goal Setting Can Limit Our Flexibility and Learning"

"Asking and listening are fundamental to leadership. They are learnable skills. Whether we choose to develop them or not depends upon our values. Do we really care about the people we lead? Do we really think they have something useful to say?"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Good Feedback Benefits Both Giver and Receiver"

"We don't see the world as it is; we see the world as we are. If I am an unchanging stability seeker who just wants to maintain the status quo most change is a threat. If we're constantly seeking new challenges and opportunities to grow, most changes are an opportunity."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Growing at the Speed of Change"

"Most people see others as they are; a leader sees them as they could be. Leaders see beyond the current problems and limitations to help others see their own possibilities."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Growing Others into What They Could Be"

"Some people call change "progress" and celebrate the improvements that it brings. Others curse those same changes and wish for the good old days. Same changes, different responses."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Growing with Change"

"Peter Drucker defines a champion as "a monomaniac with a mission." It's a good way to describe the passionate, visionary leadership that an innovation needs if it's going to get someone to protect, nurture and fight for the resources to give the new idea a chance to try and prove itself. The more radical the change, the stronger, more forceful, and persistent its champion must be. Studies repeatedly show that most successful innovations were led by, often fanatical, champions."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Innovation Champions, Skunkworks, and Organization Learning"

"Mark Twain, once said, "name the greatest of all inventors. Accident." He was right. Most innovations and breakthroughs come from mistakes, serendipity, false starts, set backs, and misapplications. Many innovations were unplanned and unexpected."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Innovation Through Accidents and "Controlled Chaos""

"Reading is my single biggest personal development catalyst. I started getting up 45 minutes earlier to exercise and then read personal development or spiritual material, pray and meditate for over almost two decades now. It's proven to be one of the best habits I ever developed for starting my day with more energy and constant refocus on my life's highest priorities."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Interested in Leadership, or Committed to Becoming a Leader?"

"Reading is my single biggest personal development catalyst. I started getting up 45 minutes earlier to exercise and then read personal development or spiritual material, pray and meditate for over almost two decades now. It's proven to be one of the best habits I ever developed for starting my day with more energy and constant refocus on my life's highest priorities."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Interested in Leadership, or Committed to Becoming a Leader?"

"If I am not working hard to continually improve my leadership skills because I wasn't "born with natural talent" then I am either copping out, misinformed, or both. I am unknowingly or knowingly choosing to be a "reasonable" thermometer manager that follows the crowd rather than an "unreasonable" thermostat leader blazing my own trail."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Leaders are Made, not Born"

"Managers often use a "one size fits all" approach and try to "mass grow" people. Leaders, however, work closely with their team members to customize their growth and development."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Leaders Give People Space to Grow"

"So much of what a manager does makes it difficult for people to get their work done. "I am from head office and I am here to help you" sends the snicker meter over the red line in many organizations. Too often managers have made it harder for people on the frontlines to get their job done. Strong coaches start by building agreement or buy-in to roles and goals. Then they flip things around and serve their teams and organizations."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Leaders Handle Performance Problems"

"An old adage asks, "How am I expected to soar with the eagles when I'm surrounded by a bunch of turkeys?" This is a common victim statement, often heard from underperforming managers. Leaders see people as they could be – as eagles in training. Managers simply see them as turkeys. Research shows that both get what they expect."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Leaders Have Great Expectations"

"Successful leaders understand the difference between things and people in an organization. They know that it's important to manage things, but that it’s even more important to lead people."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Leaders Invest in Growing and Developing People"

"The more the world changes, the more leadership principles stay the same. Leadership principles are timeless. And they apply to all, no matter what role we play in society or organizations."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Looking Back to Look Ahead"

"To master or thrive on change, we need to embrace perpetual growth and development, continuous learning, and constant improvement. That's the stuff true change leadership is made of."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Mastering Change Through Continuous Growth, Learning, and Improvement"

"Too many managers believe that their place on the organization chart gives them power. They are in control. They are the boss. Their attitude seems to be 'I am really easy to get along with once you learn to do as I say.'"

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Might is No Longer Right"

"I am too lazy to look for things. I much prefer to know where things are and find them the first time I look. Personal systems take time - and especially discipline - to set up, consistently use, and maintain. But like investments in training or quality improvement, investments of time in personal systems pay back many times their costs by saving huge amounts of time later."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "My Approach to Personal Time Management and Organization"

"Develop the habit of continually stretching outside your comfort zone a bit at a time. It will never go back to its original size. You might try analyzing a problem in a new way, developing a new skill, meeting new people who operate at the performance level you're aspiring to, watching or listening to an educational television or radio program, or making that tough phone call right off the top."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Personal Improvement Planning Pathways and Pitfalls (Part One)"

"If we can't manage our time and discipline ourselves, to devote at least ten percent of our time to personal improvement, we won't grow into ever-stronger leaders. We could easily become a victim of the changes swirling around us. We need to get control of our time, priorities, and destiny. We need do it soon. Tomorrow is arriving much quicker than it used to."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Personal Improvement Planning Pathways and Pitfalls (Part Two)"

"Reviewing, assessing, celebrating, and refocusing is an important check and jumping off point in our improvement journey. If we do it well, we'll redirect and reenergize ourselves and others to continue learning, changing, and improving."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "Review, Assess, Celebrate, and Refocus: Personal Pathways and Pitfalls"

"Only a mediocre person is always at his or her best. If you are getting very comfortable with your expertise and skill levels, your learning may have leveled out."

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

"I call it The Law of Improvement Displacement — short-term performance pressures drive out long term improvement activities. The growth, development, and performance of many organizations, teams, and people is severely stunted by their failure to recognize and overcome this natural law."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "The Law of Improvement Displacement"

"Highly effective leaders are in love with the organization, community, or team that they work or live in. Their love is expressed in a deep desire to see that organization, community, or team grow to its full potential. Leaders love the people they work with enough to contribute to their growth and development."

- from Jim Clemmer's article, "The Many Faces of Love"