Regardless if you’re a small business owner, corporate executive or new employee climbing the corporate ladder, everyone needs some inspiration. From motivating you to take risk and leading others to networking and achieving your goals, here are some words of wisdom from a few of our top leaders in business to get inspired.
1.What makes networking work is that it sets up win-win situations in which all parties involved get to take something home. Networking is a sharing process. Until you understand that, you won’t have much of a network. –Black Enterprise Founder and Publisher Earl G. Graves Sr.
2.Sell to their needs–not from yours.–Black Enterprise Founder and Publisher Earl G. Graves Sr.
3.Hotness to me is scary. I don’t want to be hot. I just want to be a staple. I want to be something that’s trusted.–
Bankable Productions CEO Tyra Banks4.I know many members of our community steer clear of Wall Street because of the perception that the stock market is risky, but I am convinced the biggest risk of all is not taking one. –Ariel Capital Management L.L.C./Ariel Mutual Funds President Mellody Hobson
5.I believe in destiny. But I also believe that you can’t just sit back and let destiny happen. A lot of times, an opportunity might fall into your lap, but you have to be ready for that opportunity. You can’t sit there waiting on it. A lot of times you are going to have to get out there and make it happen. –Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks CEO Spike Lee
6.”Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”
-— Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American female astronaut
7.You can’t be a hero and a victim at the same time. –Black Enterprise Magazine Editor-in-Chief Derek T. Dingle
8.To have a successful career, you have to approach it as an entrepreneur, even if you are working for someone else. Your career is your own private business. You have to market yourself and your abilities and knowledge just as you would a product or service.–Black Enterprise Founder and Publisher Earl G. Graves Sr.
9.Whenever I think about an issue, I always argue the opposite side of it. So, when I ultimately decide on a course of action, I’ve already been through all the conceivable scenarios, and I’m going to go for it.–American Express Co. CEO Kenneth I. Chenault
10.I have no patience with people who want to tell me what’s wrong. I only want to hear from the person who first tells me the solution and then fills me in on the problem. I don’t want to hear that your basement is flooded. I want to hear that you’ve found the number to the cleanup company. Then tell me why you’re calling them.–Black Enterprise Founder and Publisher Earl G. Graves Sr.
11,Recognize that being one of the only black people in an organization, or just in a meeting, automatically makes you very visible. Use this to help yourself. Look at it as an opportunity, and leverage that opportunity by making a visible contribution.–American Express Co. CEO Kenneth I. Chenault
12.Dedicate yourself to a core set of values. Without them, you will never be able to find personal fulfillment, and you will never be able to lead effectively.–American Express Co. CEO Kenneth I. Chenault
13.It’s a fact of life that progress is almost exclusively generated through people. If you’re not sensitive to the needs of people within your organization, or with whom you have to deal, you’re not going to be effective.–TLC Beatrice International Foods Founder & CEO Reginald F. Lewis (1942-1993)
14.”I am where I am because of the bridges that I crossed. Sojourner Truth was a bridge. Harriet Tubman was a bridge. Ida B. Wells was a bridge. Madame C. J. Walker was a bridge. Fannie Lou Hamer was a bridge.” – Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul