That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there you can move mountains.
IBM's long-standing mantra is 'Think.' What has always made IBM a fascinating and compelling place for me is the passion of the company and its people to apply technology and scientific thinking to major societal issues.
In America we have so many movies and so much media about the Islamic world the sub-continental world but it's not a conversation it's a monologue. It's always from one point of view. 'If we don't tell our own stories no one will tell them' is my mantra.
I have a mantra in my head that there will always be another meal. I can put my fork down knowing there will be good things in my future!
Stop being conned by the old mantra that says 'Leaders are cool managers are dweebs.' Instead follow the Peters Principle: Leaders are cool. Managers are cool too!
For the last 20 years of my life I've had the mantra to do amazing parts with amazing people in amazing projects so I'm attracted to good story writing and character and good people. That's what I'm always searching for and I don't think that's ever going to change.
I get in trouble when I say things like 'I'm attracted to violence.' I was a pretty angry kid and I got into military history largely as a way to vent my own anger. As I got older it narrowed down to a more specific focus on individual violence. I'm just trying to understand where it came from.