1. Labor is a cost; talent is an asset. You grow by leveraging assets, not by minimizing costs.
2. Don’t use people to do work; use work to develop people.
3. The most valuable things aren’t managed–they’re cultivated.
4. You don’t have employees and customers. You have people. Go all-in on people.
5. Miserable employees don’t create delighted customers.
6. If you can explain where you’re going and inspire other people to go with you, you’re leading. Otherwise, you’re supervising.
7. At maximum your employees will care about your business as much as they believe you care about them.
8. Developing your real list of core values takes at least 5-10 hours spread over 3-5 weeks.
9. If your employees’ safest option is to tell you what you want to hear, you’re doomed.
10. If your employees don’t feel trusted, they won’t behave trustworthily. Trust is granted, not earned.
Bonus: You have the best chance of fixing the problem if you are the problem. Pray that it’s you, not them.