Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
This book has been my priceless companion for the last 9 months or so in my new job as a Lean Software Development Manager. It is full of little gems regarding self-awareness, how and when to ask powerful questions and how to assess a situation within a team. Basically, this is a wonderful toolbox for anyone involved in a software organisation change initiative. Not that I am doing everything right now, but I surely would have made many more mistakes without it.
Talking about self-awareness, Lyssa Adkin includes this great quote : “Between stimulus and reaction there is character” by an author I’ve forgotten. Since the book is in my office and I don’t have it with me at home to check, I’ve looked up the internet to find the author.
I could not find any and the closest I found was this wonderful piece by Viktor Frankl. Both are quotes that are so profound that they basically have me thinking for the last few days so I couldn’t wait to share them today in Les Citations Du Dimanche).
#hypertextual 
“Between stimulus and reaction there is character”
Thanks for sharing this very thoughtful quote, Cecil. Trés appreciée …
Thanks, Cecil. I am honored and thrilled by this blog post. While writing the Coaching Agile Teams book it was my greatest hope that it would be a companion for people. To hear that it has been your priceless companion is priceless for me, too.
Jon > Yes indeed. I really liked this book. Alongside the ones of Esther Derby and Michelle Sliger/Stacia Broderick, these are gems in the Agile curriculum.
Lyssa > Isn’t internet a great place ? Thank you very much for your comment, it’s a honor for #hypertextual to have you here. Yes : your book is a great companion for whoever is leading an agile initiative. And Lord knows how invaluable it is to have such great advices and insights at hand when sailing through these troubled times. Thank you for this book.
The actual quote from the book is one from James Hunter (I guess its is this one and not that one). It is pretty similar to Frankl’s and goes like this :
There is a world between stimulus and response. This is where character lives.
I love this dynamic and real time definition of character.