The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in

by Robin Sharma

Push risk. Hug change. Go for your biggest opportunities. And each time you do, your inner leader is fed more fuel. And soon you’ll arrive at place where anything is possible.

Lucky people don’t get lucky. Lucky people create lucky. And they do this by taking bold risks and seizing excellent opportunities. Staying on the beginner slopes is foolish if you want to become an expert skier. You need to move up to the tougher runs. And

‘This time, like all times, is a good time, if we know what to do with it,’ observed Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Leading Without a Title has so much to do with being a light in a dark and turbulent world.

Your words can show people possibilities they never knew existed. Your words can make people feel happier about themselves. Your words can activate people to break through their limiting behaviors—and work brilliantly during the most stressful days. Look, Blake, if someone’s making a lot of mistakes, the common way of dealing with them is to say, ‘You’re not doing a good job, and things better improve.’ But that kind of communication discourages people. Yes, be candid and clear. Of course, be a strong leader. But why not say ‘I appreciate that you’re putting in a lot of effort and I’d like to share some of the opportunities I see for you to take your performance to its next level’? Most businesspeople speak so negatively. They fall into the trap of thinking that they need to use tough talk to get big results. But you’ll get so much more speaking encouragingly.

Leaders Without a Title are truly impeccable with the words they use. They don’t gossip. They don’t complain. They don’t condemn. And they never swear. The only words they try their best to use each day are those that inspire, engage, and elevate.”

No point in spending your days climbing a series of mountains, only to realize that in the end you scaled the wrong ones.

‘When it’s dark enough, you can see the stars,’

“The fact is, avoiding deciding is a decision. Standing frozen and blind-sided amid change is a decision. Doing nothing is a decision. Always be in movement. Never stand stuck.

Don’t make a habit of reacting to challenges at work, dude. Become a master at responding to them.

One of my personal commitments is to be surrounded with only good, passionate, and positive people who make me feel happy. I can tell he’s one of my tribe.

An enterprise is nothing more than a human venture that brings people together around some marvelous dream that inspires them to express the fullest of their talents and contribute rich value to those they serve.

You spend the best hours of the best days of the best years of your life among those you work with. Doesn’t it make sense to really get to know them and have superb relationships with them? You’ll make friends. You’ll feel a sense of belonging. You’ll have a feeling of an encouraging community all around you.

Isaac Newton once said: ‘If I have seen more than others, it’s because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.’ I am all I am because of the people who worked with me as we climbed the mountaintop together and built out that great company.

Blood, sweat, and tears are necessary to reach dreams, hopes, and joys.

“Greatness on the outside begins within,”

Lead yourself first. Only then will you get to a place as a person where you can lead other people.

The time to think about your legacy and how you want to be remembered is not on your last day, but now.

In our world we define our success by the things we have rather than by the people we’ve become.

if your focus is on making money, it’s off doing great work—the very thing that will make you more money.”

“What is my true nature, Jet?” “You knew it when you were a little kid. When you were really young, society hadn’t taught you to deny your dreams, stifle your genius, and smother your passion. Back then, you weren’t afraid to take some risks, learn new things, and be completely comfortable being exactly who you are. As a little kid, you were still deeply aware of your natural leadership powers. You were still awake to the call on your life to make your mark, to realize big things, and to live life as a glorious adventure. But as you got older, something terrible happened: the world around you started to do its job on you. The programming of your parents, your peers, and society began to shut you down to your absolute best. The messages of the mob taught you not to be an original. To dim down your vision. To play small with your days.”

And remember that greatness is an inner event with outer consequences.

But because we’ve been brainwashed into doubting our magnificence and taught to stay small versus dream big, we’ve lost a sense of who we truly are. We really have disconnected with our essential nature. We’ve buried our best underneath layers of insecurity, doubt, and fear. You were born awesome, Blake. Own that truth!”

As you expand personally, you’ll experience destruction of your old self.

breakthroughs into all the good things waiting for us can’t happen without breakdowns of all the old structures that are limiting us.”

Each one of us has a stained-glass window through which we perceive everything. This is nothing more than a filter through which we run all outer experiences.” “What’s the stained-glass window made up of, Jet?” I asked, deeply fascinated by what I was hearing. “It’s made up of all the beliefs, rules, and ways of being taught to you by your parents, teachers, peers, and every other influence that has shaped you from the moment you were born. And it’s forged from every conversation you’ve ever had with every person you’ve ever met and by every experience. All of that has created a story that you’ve sold to yourself on how the world works and how you get to show up in it. Remember, we see the world not as it is but as we are. So if your stained-glass window is a mess, your life will become a mess.

“Most people’s thinking really isn’t thinking. It’s actually nothing more than the unconscious repetition of the thoughts they’ve been regurgitating since they were little kids.

every action you take is the child of a thought. What I mean by that is that your thinking drives your behavior and your behavior gives you your outcomes. So world-class work is obviously the result of world-class thinking.”

“Even one bad thought is like a germ in your mind that attracts more germs to it. Before a person knows it, their mind’s become infected. They can’t see clearly. And they can’t think straight. They start seeing all that’s wrong versus all that’s right. The infection causes them to look for problems rather than to offer solutions. That sickness forces them to stop innovating, refrain from excellence, and deny their greatness. The disease makes them behave like victims instead of perform as leaders.

‘A winner is a winner before he’s become a winner.’

only hurt people hurt people.”

‘When we are young we sacrifice our health for wealth. But when we become old and wise, we become willing to sacrifice every bit of our wealth for just a day of good health.’

Do something every day to improve your lifestyle.

this day—and every day until the last of your days—is nothing more than a platform for heroic possibility.

it’s become more popular to be popular than to be ethical, brave, and good.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”