Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Confronting Reality – Doing What Matters to Get Things Right , (p. 232-233), Crown Business, 2004
…it’s basic human behavior for many, if not most, people to deny reality, and embrace unreality, when the reality is more than they can bear. Business is no exception, despite the tendency of businesspeople to consider themselves uncommonly realistic. People get in the habit of finding ways to confirm their own thinking, which in time create barriers to seeing the realities that differ from those they’re comfortable with.

Matthew 13:13-17
The New International Version
¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. ¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
” ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Robert Kegan
In Over Our Heads – The Mental Demands of Modern Life , (p. 147), Harvard University Press, 1994
Were Peter to tell us what it really felt like to be “Mr. President,” he might say something like this: “Honestly? It’s definitely a different ballgame! What game is it? Well, let’s see. I guess you could say that before I was president, I was playing a game of catch. Anderson would throw things at me and I’d catch them. I’d throw things back at him and he’d catch them. A good long game of catch. And now? Now I’d say I’m a juggler. There’s not one ball, there are five, and then there are ten, and then there are fifteen! People keep tossing more in to me to add to those I’m juggling. But I’m not throwing to anyone. I’m just throwing them into the air. As soon as I get them I just toss them back into the air. And my job as the juggler is to keep them all going up there, not let any of them drop to the ground.”

Exodus 18:17-26
The New International Version
¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. ¹⁹ Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. ²⁰ Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. ²¹ But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²² Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. ²³ If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

²⁴ Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. ²⁵ He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²⁶ They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Why Winning Streaks End, HarvardBusiness.org, 2/8/2010
All too often, long periods of continued success are undermined not by the competition but by self-inflicted wounds…

Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. Whenever someone feels on top over a long period of time, they are tempted to neglect the very fundamentals that helped them succeed in the first place. They might even start to feel that the rules don’t apply to them.

Success means that people or teams or organizations survive long enough to need maintenance, repairs, and reinvestment. Winners undergo natural aging processes, as people get older, slow down, leave. Facilities, tools, and bags of tricks get older, deteriorate, and run down. Newcomers might get less rigorous training while long-timers forget what they learned. As momentum runs down, people and buildings begin to look run down. Neglect takes on tangible physical manifestations, such as out-of-shape bodies or broken windows. Add to this the pressures in a recession to cut costs and defer expenditures.

Erosion begins by removing a process or discipline. Let’s defer those roof repairs for another year… Let’s cut out one practice; we already have so many… Let’s save time by eliminating the weekly team meeting… The Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster was said to be caused by engineers neglecting small portions of routine safety checks because they had done so before, and nothing had happened. Oops.

Whether you head a company, lead a good cause, or coach your children’s soccer teams, your job is to root out complacency.

Ezekiel 28:4-7
The New International Version
⁴ By your wisdom and understanding
you have gained wealth for yourself
and amassed gold and silver
in your treasuries.

⁵ By your great skill in trading
you have increased your wealth,
and because of your wealth
your heart has grown proud.

⁶ ” ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
” ‘Because you think you are wise,
as wise as a god,

⁷ I am going to bring foreigners against you,
the most ruthless of nations;
they will draw their swords against your beauty and wisdom
and pierce your shining splendor.

Lawrence H. Summers
Deficits May Alter U.S. Politics and Global Power, The New York Times, 2/8/2010
How long can the world’s biggest borrower remain the world’s biggest power?

Proverbs 22:7
The New International Version
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
The Third Chapter – Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50 , (p. 144), Sarah Crichton Books, 2009
We must develop a compelling vision of later life, one that does not assume a trajectory of decline after fifty but recognizes this as a time of potential change, growth, and new learning, a time when our “courage gives us hope.” Changes in life expectancy do not merely mean years added to the end, but an extension of the years of healthy and productive living.

II Timothy 4:6-7
The New International Version
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga
The McKinsey Mind , (p. 169), McGraw-Hill, 2002
Focus your client retention efforts on the long term. Base every decision on how it will affect the long-term relationship with your client. In the case of McKinsey, one of the most important elements of ensuring long-term successful relationships in the Firm’s ability to generate lasting change. For some time, implementation was considered McKinsey’s weak spot. As its clients became more sophisticated, the Firm realized that this couldn’t last. They took steps to improve not just their ability to devise a course of change but to make change happen.

I Thessalonians 3:9-10
The New American Standard Bible
For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account, as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?

Gary Vaynerchuk
Crush It! – Now Is The Time to Cash in on Your Passion , (p. 72), HarperCollins, 2009
I want to share with you the best business tweet of all time: “What can I do for you?”
You’ll be amazed at the response you get. You’re in business to serve your community. Don’t ever forget it.

Mark 10:45
The New International Version
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.