Abilene

Going to Abilene Everyone on a team should know about the Abileneparadox. The Abilene Paradox is a phenomenon in whichthe group ends up doing something that no one thinks is agood idea. This happens because no oneexpresses his or her true opinion. Everyone agrees,thinking that the other person really wants to do it.

In political disasters throughout history, such as the Bay of Pigs invasion, those involved often took foolish stepsbecause they had mistaken impressions of others' wishes.How can your team keep from "going to Abilene" ?

Rules For Success.
Rule 1: Define what you want.
Rule 2: Inform someone special of your commitment.
Rule 3: Consciously choose your attitudes.
Rule 4: Don't let failure deter you.
Rule 5: Make problems small by taking them apart piece by piece.
Rule 6: Give yourself deadlines.
Rule 7: Turn work into play.
Rule 8: Associate with people who motivate you.
Rule 9: So do something today!

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he Fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:
Primary:· Be proactive
·Begin with the end in mind
·Put first things first
Secondary:
·Think win/win
·Seek first to understand, then to be understood· Synergize
·Sharpen the saw

Analyze the facts before making key decisions:

On June 25th, 1876, General George ArmstrongCuster received information that a significant number of Indians were gathering at Little BigHorn. Without analyzing the facts, he decided to ride out with 250 men to "surround" almost 3000 Indians... this was a serious mistake.

Bill Russell, who I think is absolutely amazing, told the following story and his moral is one that I try to live byevery day: and is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player to ever play the game.

He tells a story,"When I was in the 11th grade, I was cut from thejunior varsity basketball team (really smart coach!). Our varsity coach then approached me and asked me to play on the varsity team. "I just got cut from the JV Team," I said, His answer: "I'm not coaching the JV." The moral of this story is to go with your instincts you may just be right.

Keeping up is always easier than catching up.

Don’t hold a $1000 meeting to solve a $100 problem.

If you think education is expensive, wait till you see what ignorance costs you.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make them all yourself.

The greatest mistake an athlete can make is to be afraid of making a mistake.

Never let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.

If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.

“You never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.”

Always Maintain a Positive Attitude
Many years ago, a large American shoe manufacturer sent two sales reps out to different parts of the Australian outback to see if they could drum up some business among the aborigines. Sometime later, the company received telegrams from both agents. The first one said, "No business here...natives don't wear shoes." The second one said, "Great opportunity” here...natives don't wear shoes"!

In October of 1962, President John Kennedy: quoted this poem in a speech he gave in Chicago:
Bullfight critics row on row
Crowd the enormous plaza full,
But one is there who knows,
And he is the one who fights the bull

Mistake Is NOT a Dirty word
"When there is fear of failure, there will be failure."
--General George Patton
"Don't be afraid of failure. Be more afraid of not trying." --General Colin Powell
"Success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection." --Soichiro Honda, Founder, Honda Motors
Yesterday’s solutions are today’s mistakes, and today’s mistakes are tomorrow’s innovations.

Mistakes are opportunities for learning. After all, how can they improve if they don’t learn from their mistakes?
If you know the enemy and yourself, your victory is certain. If you know yourself but not the enemy, your chances of winning and losing are equal. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. -Sun Tzu(500 B.C.), The Art of War

One hundred years from now
It will not matter
What kind of car I drove,
What kind of house I lived in
How much money I had in my bank account,
Nor what my clothes looked like.
But one hundred years from now
The world may be a little better
Because I was important
In the life of a child.

Inflexibility-is the worst human failing:
your can learn to check impetuosity, you
can overcome fear thorough confidence
and laziness through discipline, but
rigidity of the mind allows for no
antidote. It carries the seeds of it own
destruction.------Once an Eagle-Anton Myrer