Business In Washington - Business Operations Consulting

There is a great article in the Wall Street Journal (in the Startup Journal section) today – “Recommended Reading for Inspiring Leadership.”  The writer, Dana Mattioli, makes the point that being a successful entrepreneur means finding the strength and wisdom to overcome obstacles and persevere.  The article lists a number of sources others have found inspiring, including books, movies and a web site.

I couldn’t agree more with this premise!  Building a new business is sometimes a roller coaster, with serious highs and lows.  We all need ways to defeat the lows and keep climbing.  At Next Step, we frequently turn to books for inspiration as well as practical information in order to overcome those bumps in the road to success.  Our biggest problem is buying more books than we have time to read them, but we are working on that.  See some of our suggestions on our web site book list: www.nextstepsolutions.com/books.htm

Dennis frequently turns to quotations from a wide variety of luminaries, movers and shakers.  We include quotes in our e-newsletters and on our web site.  There are lots of reference books available for great quotes.  You can also find them on the web.    I just tried that, searching on Google for “leadership quotes”.  Google produced tons of great results!  Here are just a couple of quotes I found that inspire me and make me think.

“Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be led.”
- Ross Perot 

“…peace is the highest aspiration of the American People. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it, we will never surrender for it, now or ever.”

- Ronald Reagan

Kind of puts our business problems in perspective, doesn’t it?

Where do you turn for inspiration?  Please share your sources with us and our readers!