Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.
The challenge is not just to build a company that can endure; but to build one that is worthy of enduring.
True leadership has people who follow when they have the freedom not to.
Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.
Just because a company falls doesn’t invalidate what we can learn by studying that company when it was at its historical best.
Creativity dies in an indisciplined environment.
That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem.
The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake. The best people don’t need to be managed. Guided, taught, led-yes. But not tightly managed.
Be rigorous about your HR decisions. There is a difference between rigorous and ruthless.
Good-to-great companies set their goals and strategies based on understanding; comparison companies set their goals and strategies based on bravado.
Profit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life.
Those fortunate enough to find or create a practical intersection of the three circles have the basis for a great work life.
We are not imprisoned by circumstances, setbacks, mistakes or staggering defeats, we are freed by our choices.
Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step.
The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive.
There is a sense of exhilaration that comes from facing head-on the hard truths and saying, “We will never give up. We will never capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a way to prevail.”
Dreams make you click, juice you, turn you on, excite the living daylights out of you. You cannot wait to get out of bed to continue pursuing your dream. The kind of dream I’m talking about gives meaning to your life. it is the ultimate motivator.
Resilency, not perfection, is the signature of greatness.
The x factor of a great leader is humility combined with will.
The essence of profound insight is simplicity.