We are in the business of taking care of people.  It doesn't matter if you're a doctor, a nurse, or a janitor or if you carry a leadership title, we all must champion and execute on the common goal of coming in every day to make sure we take care of our next patient.

-Dr. David Feinberg, former CEO of the UCLA Hospital System, quoted in Prescription for Excellence

Law Number XLV: One should expect that the expected can be prevented, but the unexpected should have been expected.

-Norman Ralph Augustine, Augustine's Laws 

 There are tons of aphorisms surrounding this topic: "expect the unexpected" is a particularly common one.  Or if you've come in contact with any of NASA's safety discussions (or heard it from Donald Rumsfeld), you know about the "unknown unknowns."  What this all boils down to is that risk presents itself to us in the form of what we know versus what we don't, what we expect and what we don't.

For many home-based workers, the chief advantage of the home office is that it lets them achieve a more equitable balance between work and family.  The key word here is balance.  

Once of your most difficult tasks will be to convince loved ones that you really are working.  Even the most considerate family and friends may suffer from the common misconceptions about home-based work--you're available any time and you can drop whatever you are doing.  Make it clear that you are earning your livelihood, not indulging in a hobby.

- Emily Post's The Etiquette Advantage in Business

Appreciation, recognition, encouragement: ARE.  Together they make up a cost-free, fully sustainable fuel, one that builds self-confidence  and self-esteem, boosts individual and team performance, and keeps an organization running cleanly and smoothly.  ARE is more powerful than the fuels that make engines roar and space shuttles soar, because it propels human energy and motivation.  And unlike costly, nonrenewable fuels like oil and gas, its supply is inexhaustible.  You can give out ARE all day long, at home and at work, and wake up the next morning with a full tank.  In fact, the more we use, the more there is, because every time people receive some ARE they discover more of their own internal supply and start giving away the overflow.

-Lee Cockerell, Creating Magic

A good hockey player plays where the puck is.  A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.

-Wayne Gretzky

The start of a new year is a great time to think about looking ahead.  This usually means making fresh goals, which is certainly something we've talked about in the past.  But it can also mean thinking about the concept of anticipation.  Being proactive.  Seeing the future.  However you care to think about it, it's all about using what you already know to predict what will happen next.  

We know from the latest neuroscience research that our brains are programmed to "catch" the other person's delight and happiness whenever we see a genuine smile.  So…wait until you've been introduced, then as you shake your new acquaintance's hand and say her name, you smile broadly.  Body-language-savvy alpha leaders know this trick - it's as if you and your name brought a smile to their face.

- Janine Driver, You Say More Than You Think