Bill Walsh quotes:

Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise, and nothing is more lame than a cookie-cutter compliment.

Writers' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call.

If any sort of error is inexcusable, it's an incorrect phone number. One of the cardinal rules of copy editing is that every phone number published must be checked.

Writing headlines is a specialty - there are outstanding writers who will tell you they couldn't write a headline to save their lives.

Machines aren't replacing proofreaders at all. Copy editors, who proofread and much, much more, use spellcheck as a tool but read every word that appears in the paper

A harsh reality of newspaper editing is that the deadlines don't allow for the polish that you expect in books or even magazines

A harsh reality of newspaper editing is that the deadlines don't allow for the polish that you expect in books or even magazines.

I'm not one of those "omg texting kids rite bad" alarmists. I just think there's an interesting nexus where the Internet itself hastened language change when it comes to Internet terms.

Writers' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call

To a winner, complacency and overconfidence can be destructive. To losers, desperation and despondency are just as harmful.

When you stand and overcome a significant setback, you'll find an increasing inner confidence and self-assurance that has been created by conquering defeat. Absorbing and overcoming this kind of punishment engenders a sober, steely toughness that results in a hardened sense of independence and a personal belief that you can take on anything, survive and win.

Machines aren't replacing proofreaders at all. Copy editors, who proofread and much, much more, use spellcheck as a tool but read every word that appears in the paper.

Strong leaders don't plead with individuals to perform.

The more you know about English, the less you're likely to think there are unbreakable "rules" for a lot of things.

Act like a VIP and become a VIP

People thrive on positive reinforcement. They can take only a certain amount of criticism and you may lose them altogether if you criticize them in a personal way... you can make a point without being personal. Don't insult or belittle your people. Instead of getting more out of them you will get less

Concentrate on what will produce results rather than on the results, the process rather than the prize.

Writers' bedtimes vary, but few have been spared the shock of a copy editor's early wake-up call."

"Extra effort," in whatever form it takes (mental, physical, emotional), cannot be sustained without eventual damage and diminishing returns. There has to be a very acute awareness on your part as to the level of exertion and the toll it's taking on those you lead.

Used properly a hashtag can be really cool. Hashtags provide an opportunity for sly editorial comment, for parallel and perpendicular trains of thought, in the limited space that Twitter and, to some extent, Facebook provide.

One of the common traits of outstanding performers-coaches, athletes, managers, sales representatives, executives, and others who face a daily up/down, win/lose accounting system-is that a rejection, that is, defeat, is quickly forgotten, replaced eagerly by pursuit of a new order, client, or opponent.

Good talent with bad attitude equals bad talent,

I caution against beginning or ending a quotation with ellipses

I caution against beginning or ending a quotation with ellipses.

The culture precedes positive results. It doesn't get tacked on as an afterthought on your way to the victory stand. Champions behave like champions before they're champions: they have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.

Champions behave like champions before they are champions

If you see players who hate practice, their coach isn't doing a very good job.

My theory is that, just like with omitting a final comma in a list when not essential for meaning, publishers are trying to save paper and ink or pixels on-screen.

When I give a speech at a corporate event, I often ask those in attendance, 'Do you know how to tell if you're doing the job?' As heads start whispering back and forth, I provide these clue: 'If you're up at 3 A.M. every night talking into a tape recorder and writing notes on scraps of paper, have a knot in your stomach and a rash on your skin, are losing sleep and losing touch with your wife and kids, have no appetite or sense of humor, and feel that everything might turn out wrong, then you're probably doing the job.'

Invest in great relationships, they will pay a lifetime of dividends.

Many people erroneously think they have only one chance to succeed, and if they miss that chance, they are doomed to failure. In fact, most people have several opportunities to succeed.

Your path and purpose will become crystal clear when you begin to trust your vision.

Afford each person the same respect, support, and fair treatment you would expect if your roles were reversed. Deal with people individually, not as objects who are part of a herd-that's the critical factor.

For me the starting point for everything - before strategy, tactics, theories, managing, organizing, philosophy, methodology, talent, or experience - is work ethic. Without one of significant magnitude, you're dead in the water.

The ability to help the people around me self-actualize their goals underlines the single aspect of my abilities and the label that I value mostâ??teacher.

Failure is part of success, an integral part. Everybody gets knocked down. Knowing it will happen and what you must do when it does is the first step back.

Strength of will - is essential to your survival and success. The competitor who won't go away, who won't stay down, has one of the most formidable competitive advantages of all. In evaluating people, I prize ego. It often translates into a fierce desire to do their best and an inner confidence that stands them in good stead when things really get rough. Psychologists suggest that there is a strong link between ego and competitiveness. All the great performers I've ever coached had ego to spare.

The minute you step away from the negative people in your life you will instantly see the beauty in your horizon.

There is another side [to ego] that can wreck a team or an organization. That is being distracted by your own importance. It can come from your insecurity in working with others. It can be the need to draw attention to yourself in the public arena. It can be a feeling that others are a threat to your own territory. These are all negative manifestations of ego, and if you are not alert to them, you get diverted and your work becomes diffused. Ego in these cases makes people insensitive to how they work with others and it ends up interfering with the real goal of any group efforts.

Your enthusiasm becomes their enthusiasm; your lukewarm presentation becomes their lukewarm interest in what you're offering.

The [best] coaches... know that the job is to win... know that they must be decisive, that they must phase people through their organizations, and at the same time they are sensitive to the feelings, loyalties, and emotions that people have toward one another. If you don't have these feelings, I do not know how you can lead anyone. I have spent many sleepless nights trying to figure out how I was going to phase out certain players for whom I had strong feelings, but that was my job. I wasn't hired to do anything but win.

You can only succeed when people are communicating, not just from the top down, but in complete interchange. Communication comes from fighting off my ego and listening.

If your why is strong enough you will figure out how!

The absolute bottom line in coaching is organization and preparing for practice.

Innovation involves anticipation. It is having a broad base of knowledge on your subject and an ability to see where the end game is headed. Use all your knowledge to get their first. Set the trend and make the competition counter you

Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise.

Everybody's got an opinion. Leaders are paid to make a decision. The difference between offering an opinion and making a decision is the difference between working for the leader and being the leader.

Consistent effort is a consistent challenge.

Flying by the seat of your pants precedes crashing by the seat of your pants.

Consistent motivation usually comes from a consuming desire to be able to perform at your best under pressure, namely, the pressure produced by tough competition. If a player needed me to light a fire under him by turning the other team into a demon, he was lacking something I couldn't give him.

Your attitude will unlock the mystery of success you seek!

We all know gifs are pronounced "jifs," right? Their creator says so, damn it!

The dash helps to indicate that the two thoughts are intimately related, and it's less stodgy than a semicolon, which would have performed the same function (and who talks in semicolons?).

Find a great mentor who believes in you, your life will change forever!

By instinct we-leaders-want to run hard all the time; by intellect we know this is not possible. Reconciling those two positions in the context of leadership is an ongoing challenge.

A burro is an ass. A burrow is a hole in the ground. As a journalist you are expected to know the difference.

We have a lot of players in their first year. Some of them are also in their last year.

Calculated risks are part of what you do, but the idea that something completely crazy will work just because it's completely crazy is completely crazy.

Everybody isn't everybody.

Commit yourself to something you have a passion for.

There is a weird phenomenon where technology seems to be getting dumber in some ways as it gets smarter.

Victory is produced by and belongs to all.

If I have any talent, it's in the artistic end of football. The variation of movement of 11 players and the orchestration of that facet of football is beautiful to me.

I have a sense of humor. I usually come off as very serious, but I definitely have a dry sense of humor.

I often think about the class differences involved in "jobs" vs. "careers."

The proper use of commas is often more art than science.

90 percent of the time the terms are misused or unnecessary. Not every image obtained from a computer is a screen shot.

As the leader, part of the job is to be visible and willing to communicate with everyone