The Mind of the Leader Quotes

“A good leader must understand what makes a good life and how to help people find that. A leader’s job is not to provide a paycheck and benefits: It’s about helping people be truly happy and find meaning in their work and life. When a leader succeeds with this, it unlocks real performance.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“External initiatives and perks never truly motivate people for the long term. Instead, only internal drivers—such as meaningful engagement, connectedness, and feeling valued—can engage employees on the deeper level needed for long-term commitment and productivity.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“Leadership today is about unlearning management and relearning being human.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“El punto de partida del conocimiento de uno mismo es el mindfulness. En un entorno de trabajo confuso y distraído, la atención y la conciencia (las dos características centrales del mindfulness) son las cualidades principales para la eficacia del rendimiento mental y para una autogestión efectiva.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, La mente del líder: Cómo liderarte a ti mismo, a tu gente y a tu organización para obtener resultados extraordinarios

“We’re chasing pleasure in new business successes, more praise, and better pay, hoping it will make us happy. But it doesn’t. It just puts us on the treadmill of wanting more and more. This is not to say pleasure is wrong. Pleasure is great. It adds flavor to life. But pleasure is like eating honey from the blade of a knife. It tastes great, but if we’re not careful, we may hurt ourselves by craving more. And never mistake it for happiness.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“Approximately 40 percent of CEOs are MBAs.2 Many large-scale studies have found that leadership based solely on MBA-trained logic is not enough for delivering long-term sustainable financial and cultural results, and that it often is detrimental to an organization’s productivity. In one study, researchers compared the organizational performance of 440 CEOs who had been celebrated on the covers of magazines like BusinessWeek, Fortune, and Forbes. The researchers split the CEOs into two groups—those with an MBA and those without an MBA—and then monitored their performance for seven years. Surprisingly, the performance of those with an MBA was significantly worse.3 Another study published in the Journal of Business Ethics looked at the results of more than five thousand CEOs and came to a similar conclusion.4”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“To lead others effectively, we must learn to open our mind and avoid mental rigidness and judgment.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“The question: What is the purpose of business? Nand’s answer: “Business is the creator and preserver of civilization.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“In an extensive longitudinal experiment, researchers found that doing acts of kindness for others consistently makes people happier than focusing on themselves.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“Thomas Davenport, author of The Attention Economy, wrote: “Understanding and managing attention is now the single most important determinant of business success.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“As an ancient Chinese proverb says, “Observe your thoughts as they become actions. Observe your actions as they become habits. And observe your habits as they shape your life.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“Wisdom without compassion is ruthlessness, compassion without wisdom is folly.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results

“Based on this research, we have conclusively found that three mental qualities stand out as being foundational for leaders today: mindfulness (M), selflessness (S), and compassion (C). Together, we call these foundational skills MSC leadership.”
― Rasmus Hougaard, The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results