My boss is quite a guy. He has the ability to look at complex problems and cut right to the heart of things. In addition to asking the kinds of questions that make you think he can peer directly into your mind, he is good at communicating strong concepts with cool metaphors.

Here's the list I've collected so far (these are my paraphrasings - not necessarily his words):

When they train horses, trainers make it easy for them to do the right things and harder to do the wrong things. It works with people, too.

Companies reward people for results - not activity. That's an important difference.

Babe Ruth is remembered for hitting lots of home runs, and for standing up at the plate and pointing to the bleachers beyond the outfield  - calling his shots. What people forget is that he didn't have a great batting average, and struck out a lot. There's something to learn from that.

Doing what's uncomfortable to serve the greater good makes all the difference.

Pretty cool stuff.

It seems like a couple of young fellows show up at my door every month or so "trying to earn points" by offering me overpriced magazine subscriptions. The pitch varies - sometimes, it's so they can earn money for college, sometimes it's job training, sometimes it's a program to help inner city youth learn responsibility and work their way out of their current situation (that last one is the most tempting one).

I don't know anything about them other than that the company on their paperwork is always from a city in Indiana, so there seems to be some connection. They seem to be from all over the country, though a few are from my local area. I don't need the magazines (especially at those prices), and their slick sales pitch makes me very suspicious for some reason - if they can talk that persuasively, seems like a more mainstream sales job should be attainable.

Anyone have any other insight or experience on this?