Chip Conley

“Companies and leaders are role models - not just with the business community - but in the broader world.”

“People don't realize how much control they do have. The more you can show them this control, the easier it is to tap back into the creative side of the brain that allows people to see possibilities and options.”

“Conventional wisdom suggests the primary motivator for entrepreneurs is money or wealth creation and, in fact, much of the political debate tends to center around what kind of tax or regulatory policy changes will turn corporate suits into small business adventurers overnight.”

“Someone could be amazing at what they do, but if you don't like them, why bother hiring them?”

“Once you know the emotional building blocks of anxiety, you can influence them.”

“I know that when I attached my sense of identity a little too closely to my work that I might be distracting myself from feelings of unworthiness. It wasn't the number of hours I worked or how bloodshot my eyes were that defined the difference. It was something internal.”

“My life is scattered and busy. I think of my home as a resort. When I step through the door, I feel relaxed. I almost feel like I've taken a vacation.”

“Feeling good about your life, but not expressing a heartfelt 'thank you,' is like wrapping a gift for someone and never giving it to them.”

“Every five years, I like to do a big birthday party. I had my 45th birthday with 75 friends in Marrakesh, Morocco.”

“When I started my hotel company, Joie de Vivre, at the age of 26, I saw this venture as my ticket to freedom.”

“Bali is one of my favorite places in the world. In one of my past lives, I believe I was living on the island of Bali.”

“Great leaders help their people see how they can directly impact the company's objectives and their own personal goals.”

“Organizations that can diminish fear are those that are able to motivate, create, and innovate.”

“When people get into that fight-or-flight place, then they move away from the creative centers of their brain.”

“When any of us thinks of ourselves as a role model - whether that's as a parent being observed by their kids or a leader under the microscope of their followers - it creates a natural stepping up of how we carry ourselves and what we expect from ourselves.”

“Isn't it ironic that pay, perks, and benefits all cost your company at the bottom line, but authentic recognition, especially when it's most unexpected, costs very little and gives the most impressive return on investment?”

“Daniel Goleman has proven that two-thirds of the success in business is based upon our Emotional Intelligence as opposed to our IQ or our level of experience. As we look for the next crop of future CEOs, maybe it's time for America's corporations to start interviewing grads from the psychology master's programs rather than the M.B.A. programs.”

“I'd done my time in corporate America, from McDonald's making shakes to Morgan Stanley making deals and, yet, I felt awfully constrained by the uniform - not just my clothes, but how I felt I needed to conform - that a traditional job required me to wear.”

“Business principles are only as good as the practices that back them up.”

“The intersection of psychology and business is typically seen as being as congested, stressful, and emotionally barren as a peak commute traffic day on the L.A. freeways. But, thankfully, we live in an era in which neuroscientists are teaching us about the malleability of our brain and the emotionally contagious nature of our workplaces.”