24 Quotes by David Maister

Professional is not a label you give yourself – it’s a description you hope others will apply to you.

Believe passionately in what you do, and never knowingly compromise your standards and values. Act like a true professional, aiming for true excellence, and the money will follow.

What you do with your billable time determines your current income, but what you do with your non-billable time determines your future.

Your task as a leader is to help others to succeed, not to strive only for your own success. If I don’t trust your motives, nothing else will matter -because my primary concern is your integrity.

Left untended, knowledge and skill, like all assets, depreciate in value surprisingly quickly.

Truly visionary and successful companies have discovered that there is no conflict between the pursuit of profit and having a pursuit beyond profit.

A true professional feels no pressure to run up a client’s bill, knowing that any reduction in revenues caused by being efficient will be more than recompensed by the reputation earned for being honest and trustworthy.

If your clients aren’t actively telling their friends about you, maybe your work isn’t as great as you think it is.

Don’t get stampeded by what people around you value. The task is to figure out what YOU value – and value highly enough to throw yourself into with unqualified passion.