Happy New Years to one and all…  except to that one person, yea, you know who you are. 

Anyway…  A couple of quotes:

What my years of business experience have taught me is that the key to competitiveness is innovation, and the key to innovation is people.  Taking care of people  therefore, is an essential way of taking care of business. (Randall Tobias, chairman of Eli Lilly)

The most important thing any company can do is hire the smartest people possible and then give them the resources to transform their ideas into reality.(Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft)

If people feel like they’re part of a workplace, then they’re going to have more resistance to leaving.  They’re not just leaving a job, theiy’re leafing a community, and it takes a little bit more of a tug for that to happen. (Richard Hadden, coauthor of Contented Cows Give More Milk)

If you don’t understand that you work for your mislabeled “subordinates,” then you know nothing of leadership. (Dee Hock, founder of Visa). 

If you want a return on your investment in people, the first thing you’ve got to do is invest in them.  You hire them and train them and develop them - you do all the things that will cause them to have the skills and abilities and motivation to do an effective job.  You can’t sit there and say, “gosh, I don’t know why my people aren’t doing a good job,” when you haven’t put anything into it.  Nothing in, nothing out.  (Jeffrey Pfeffer, business professor at Stanford University)

Adults need meaningful work in the same way that children need interesting play, in order to fulfill themselves as persons. (Al Gini, philosopher)

You have to train your employees so they can leave, or else they’ll leave.(Marc Drizin, world class thinker)

Have a great new years!