1. Be proactive! Take charge. Assume responsibility. Use resourcefulness and initiative.

2. Have a clear vision of your end goal. Formulate and write down what contribution you would like to make to the overall goal. Spend an hour a week polishing your furmulation, discuss it with management and subordinates, and use it as a guide when making decisions. Take a long-term view.

3. Do what NEEDs to be done first. The goal should define what needs to be done today. Create a work plan for a week, a month, a year, 5 years, 10 years (the Roosevelt Plan). Don’t be a slave to circumstances. Before you take on anything, ask yourself: what is most important now? Divide all actions leading to goal achievement into 4 quadrants: urgent and important, not urgent and important, urgent and unimportant, not urgent and unimportant. 4. Think about winning together, in a win-win spirit. This is the key to motivating staff. Winning must be achieved by managers, employees, and customers. Treat employees like your best customers. Establish win-win agreements with employees.
5. First seek to understand, then to be understood. Learn to listen. One of the most difficult and important tasks of a manager is to establish feedback with employees.
6. Achieve synergy. Synergy is the essence of effective management, the culmination of all skills. The result of collective thought surpasses anything an individual can achieve—that is the goal of a good team. It is important for a manager to have a wide circle of contacts to see how others solve their problems.
7. Sharpen the saw. Invest in people. Reveal their talents, train them, and develop them. View people not as job descriptions, but as individuals.