Most individuals distort reality based on their history, culture, and personality. Very few individuals see reality perfectly. That is why teams are so important. If we all speak candidly and don’t withhold facts, thoughts, feelings, or sensations, it greatly increases the probability that collectively we can see reality more accurately.

— Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Klemp, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

The principle of the alignment of authority and responsibility suggests that it is a bad idea to give one person the power to make decisions that others have to follow without having to personally live with the consequences.

— Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres, Extreme Programming Explained

Those who talk should do and only those who do should talk…

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Skin in the Game

What a man sees depends both upon what he looks at and also upon what his previous visual-conceptual experience has taught him to see.

— Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Every single person with whom you work has a vastly different set of needs. Fulfilling these needs is one way to make them content and productive. It is your full-time job to listen to these people and mentally document how they are built. This is your most important job. I know the senior VP of engineering is telling you that hitting the date for the project is job number one, but you are not going to write the code, test the product, or document the features. The team is going to do these things, and your job is managing the team.

— Michael Lopp, Managing Humans