John Katzenbach Quotes & Sayings

Real teams don't emerge unless individuals on them take risks involving conflict, trust, interdependence and hard work. — John Katzenbach

All the time thinking he'd had no idea before this night how easy it was in this world to be hated. — John Katzenbach

Psychoanalysis teaches one thing, he thought: Nothing ever happens in a vacuum. A single bad act can have all sorts of repercussions. — John Katzenbach

One of the things I learned in my maddest years was that one could be in a room, with walls and barred windows and locks on the doors, surrounded by other crazy people, or even stuffed into an isolation cell all alone, but that really wasn't the room one was in at all. The real room that one occupied was constructed by memory, by relationships, by events, by all sorts of unseen forces. Sometimes delusions. Sometimes hallucinations. Sometimes desires. Sometimes dreams and hopes, or ambitions. Sometimes anger. That was what was important: to always recognize where the real walls were. (176) — John Katzenbach

Teamwork represents a set of values that encourage behaviors such as listening and constructively responding to points of view expressed by others, giving others the benefit of the doubt, providing support to those who need it, and recognizing the interests and achievements of others. — John Katzenbach

He recalled what Phillip Pryce had said about hatred forming the undercurrent to the legal proceedings, and thought there had to be a way to turn that rage around. He thought the best lawyer finds a way to harness whatever external force is directed at his client and take advantage of it. — John Katzenbach

Fun is only real and sustainable if it feeds off the team's purpose and performance aspirations. — John Katzenbach

Create delusion. Establish doubt. Feed paranoia. — John Katzenbach

The best game to play, he thought, is the game you don't realize you are playing. — John Katzenbach

Tommy was persuaded that the murder charge was buttressed by that antagonism, which, from the prosecution's viewpoint, was probably ninety percent of their case. The bloodstains, being absent from the bunk room on the night of the murder, the discovery of the knife - all these things when taken together painted a compelling portrait. It was only upon examining each separately that the supposition unraveled somewhat. — John Katzenbach

It was a difficult day. Disorienting. What is it they say? Death, divorce, and moving are the three most stressful events for your heart. And your psyche, too, I'll wager. — John Katzenbach

A nightmare is something you awaken from, Peter," she had said. "But thoughts and ideas that remain after its terrors have disappeared are something considerably worse. — John Katzenbach

Anonymity, he thought, is seductive. — John Katzenbach

A demanding performance challenge tends to create a Team. In any situation requiring a combination of multiple skills, experiences and judgments, a team inevitably gets better results than a collection of individuals. Teams provide the kind of responsiveness, speed, on-line customization and quality that is beyond the reach of individual performance. — John Katzenbach

I can no longer hear my voices, so I am a little lost. My suspicion is they would know far better how to tell this story. At least they would have opinions and suggestions and definite ideas as to what should go first and what should go last and what should go in the middle. They would inform me when to add detail, when to omit extraneous information, what was important and what was trivial. After so much time slipping past, I am not particularly good at remembering these things myself and could certainly use their help. A great many events took place, and it is hard for me to know precisely where to put what. And sometimes I'm unsure that incidents I clearly remember actually did happen. A memory that seems one instant to be as solid as stone, the next seems as vaporous as a mist above the river. That's one of the major problems with being crazy: you're just naturally uncertain about things. (9) — John Katzenbach

The woman in front of him seemed like the work of an artist who had taken the few lines that sketched out a teenager and added color and shape to create a full portrait. — John Katzenbach

Revenge serves to cleanse the heart and soul. It has been around since the first caveman climbed down out of a tree and bashed his brother over the head for some slight of honor. — John Katzenbach

Young men make mistakes. This is inevitable, in any profession. — John Katzenbach

What I was, isn't what I am. And what I am, isn't yet what I can be. — John Katzenbach

Belief is an odd thing for a defense counsel, Tommy. It is not necessary to believe in your client to defend him. Some would say that it is easier to not truly have an opinion, that the maneuverings of the law are only clouded by the emotions of trust and honesty. But — John Katzenbach

The same dynamics that promote performance also support learning and behavioral change. — John Katzenbach

A man without a past, he thought, can write any future. — John Katzenbach

If you see one dead body, it's awful and compelling and hard to tear one's eyes away. If you see a hundred they start to mean nothing. — John Katzenbach

Energy in the morning, determination at midday, hunger in the evening. — John Katzenbach

Dreams were important, unconscious riddles that mirrored the heart. — John Katzenbach

Once, he reminded himself, I studied hard to learn to save lives. Now I must educate myself in how to take one. — John Katzenbach

No one who is anyone anymore. — John Katzenbach

The neurotic rich, as one doctor he knew used to term his clientele. The worried well. — John Katzenbach

Still thinking of you.
Dr. S. — John Katzenbach

That truth is far stronger than death. — John Katzenbach

It is, he thought, the greatest luxury of our existence, no matter how miserable, that we don't know our allotted span of days. — John Katzenbach

In a place filled with fears, they were looking for the man who had none. — John Katzenbach

Overcoming barriers to performance is how groups become teams. — John Katzenbach