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…as a boss, you need trusted advisors, mentors, and followers who feel safe telling you when you are being a schmuck.

…learn the fine art of emotional detachment and indifference – don’t let their poison touch your soul.

Embarrassment and pride are perhaps the most powerful antidotes to asshole poisoning.

Because we so profoundly personalize success, we miss opportunities to lift others onto the top rung. We make rules that frustrate achievement. We prematurely write people off as failures.

…extraordinary achievement is less about talent than it is about opportunity.

Successful people don’t do it alone. Where they come from matters. They’re products of particular places and environments.

We mitigate when we’re being polite, or when we’re ashamed or embarrassed, or when we’re being deferential to authority.

We’re not omniscient. We don’t have crystal balls or time machines. All we have is our best assessment of an uncertain and changing landscape and the hope that we have honed our quitting skills enough to walk away when conditions turn against us.

There’s a well-known heuristic in management consulting that the right time to fire someone is the first time it crosses your mind.

…most managers are reluctant to terminate personnel, hanging on to them too long.