Frances Hesselbein

“Move beyond the old assumptions, practices, and language that can be barriers to equal access.”

“One of the management imperatives in the '90s is managing diversity. Whatever the organization, when the constituents of that organization look at the board and management staff, they need to find themselves.”

“In my life, I don't have roadblocks and obstacles. I might have something you would call a 'challenge.' I throw that out the window, and I call that a wonderful opportunity.”

“I had read everything Peter Drucker ever wrote.”

“When I choose what I do, I ask, 'Does it make a difference?'”

“Management is the set of skills that can help get things done. Unfortunately, its practice is too often a bag of manipulative tricks to advance someone's own interests, which creates cynicism.”

“Good leaders make people's strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.”

“I lost my son in late 2011. He had been totally incapacitated from his neck down for the last eight years of his life, but his mind was alive and brilliant in those years. He even wrote a book, 'Allegheny Mountain,' lying at home in his hospital bed.”

“An exceptional career is one that provides an opportunity to serve. It is a satisfying career in which you can't wait to get up in the morning to begin! You have a sense of purpose and mission. You know why you do what you do. It is a response to a call to serve. Once we do that, everything flows positively.”

“In 1976, I was invited to interview for the CEO position of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.”

“I did not want to take a troop. I was the mother of a little boy. I knew nothing about little girls.”

“Donors do not reward good intentions.”

“We see change as a challenge, not as a threat.”

“Dispirited, unmotivated, unappreciated workers cannot compete in a highly competitive world.”

“There's something exhilarating about being in the mountains and talking about management and the future with Peter Drucker.”

“When you see a roadblock or challenge as an opportunity, it is amazing how you are already halfway there.”

“Not long after I was married, World War II began. My husband John volunteered for the Navy and was sent to Pensacola for training as a Naval Combat Air Crew photographer. It seemed a strange assignment for a young newspaper editor and writer, already exempt, but off he went, saying goodbye to our 18-month-old Johnny and me.”

“A single person doesn't change an organization, but culture and good people do.”

“Girl Scouts helps girls make decisions that are right for them and offer support.”

“Selling cookies is usually a girl's first exposure to the world of business. She learns how to meet the public, talk about a product, sell the product, and is responsible for collecting money, giving change, and delivering the product. That's quite a business venture for a 7-year-old.”