Above all, innovation is not invention. It is a term of economics rather than of technology.
Systematic change requires a willingness to look on change as an opportunity.
All companies are service companies; some also manufacture products.
The only real difference between one organization and another is the performance of its people.
Conductors do not know how the oboe does its work, but they know what the oboe should contribute.
Business exists to supply goods and services to customers and economic surplus to society, rather than to supply jobs to workers and managers or even dividends to shareholders.
Quality of character doesn’t make a leader, but the lack of it flaws the entire process.
The dilemma of modern society: the conflict between the need for capital formation at a high rate and the popular condemnation of interest and dividends as “unearned income” and “capitalist,” if not as sinful and wicked.
The Welfare State, which begun in Imperial Germany for the truly indigent and disabled, has now become “everybody’s entitlement” and an increasing burden on those who produce.
Effective innovations start small. They are not grandiose. They try to do one specific thing.
Management must take the lead in making obsolete its own products and services rather than waiting for a competitor to do so.
The new always looks so puny-so unpromising-next to the reality of the massive, ongoing business.
We can ill afford to have activities conducted as “non-profit,” that is, as activities that devour capital rather than form it, if they can be organized as activities that form capital, as activities that make a profit.
The healthier a new venture and the faster it grows, the more financial feeding it requires.
If you have more than five goals, you have none.
As a manager you’re paid to be uncomfortable. If you’re comfortable, it’s a sure sign you’re doing things wrong.
The essence of management is to make knowledge productive.
The ultimate resource in economic development is people. It is people, not capital or raw materials that develop an economy.
Working with people is difficult, but not impossible.
Tomorrow always arrives. It is always different. And even the mightiest company is in trouble if it has not worked on the future. Being surprised by what happens is a risk that even the largest and richest company cannot afford, and even the smallest business need not run.