Don Soderquist Quotes

I believe that leadership skills are transferable and can be taught.

The role of the leader, then, is to paint a picture of that vision in such a way that those he or she is leading will embrace it and make it their own. In that way, all of the energies of the organization are focused on the same objective. That's when vision happens.

Vision is the beginning point of any great endeavor. Vision is a picture of how we would like tomorrow to look—or, put another way, how we would like ourselves to look tomorrow. Every good leadership book identifies vision as an essential characteristic of a leader, and every good leader has learned his or her responsibility to create and communicate a vision. But the danger is that talk of a vision has become so prevalent—maybe even so commonplace—that many leaders take the process and discipline out of vision-casting for granted.

I was—and am—deeply concerned about the deterioration in ethical standards in our country; the blurring of right and wrong; the dilution of the biblically-based values that made our nation great. It was apparent to me that significant moral erosion was taking place rapidly in every corner of our modern culture—education, politics, sports, entertainment, churches and families.

High expectations are a powerful driving force, helping you become better than you already are. Sometimes you need to go one step further and step out on faith, even when you don't have history or research to predict success. As the biblical writer said: 'Now faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see' (Heb. 11:1). Yes, past performance is the greatest predictor of future performance—but if we lived by that credo alone, no one would do anything bold and new. Sometimes we need good, old-fashioned faith.

Striving for excellence means never being satisfied—always doing things to keep improving, even if it means changing everything we do. It means we never feel that we have arrived. We don't believe our press clippings. We don't get complacent and pat ourselves on the backs. We talk about what we could have done better. We believe that we can achieve extraordinary results when we strive for excellence in all we do.

Complacency is the mortal enemy of growth and continued success. It is easy to take success for granted and presume that because we have been successful in the past, success will continue to be our friend in the future. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that you have to work harder the more successful you become—your competitors have learned from your success and are all out to beat you.

It doesn't matter what business you are in, it is essential that the primary motivation and driving force behind everything you do is based on the impact it will have on your customer.

We not only worked hard—but we had a lot of fun doing it. We never saw the dynamics of work and fun as incompatible. If you're going to spend a large percentage of your waking hours at work, why not enjoy it?