Snippets: Good to Great

In contrast to the very I-centric leaders of the comparison leaders, we were struck by how the good-to-great leaders didn’t talk about themselves.… When pressed to talk about themselves, they’d say things like, “I hope I’m not sounding like a big shot.” … Those who worked or wrote about the good-to-great leaders continually used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings; and so forth.… The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly normal people quietly producing extraordinary results. (27-28)

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't