Not to innovate is the single largest reason for the decline of existing organizations. Not to know how to manage is the single largest reason for the failure of new ventures.
Managers are agents of transformation, converting the workforce in developed countries from one of manual workers to one of highly educated knowledge workers.
Every enterprise is a learning and teaching institution. Training and development must be built into it on all levels – training and development that never stop.
The enterprise, by definition, must be capable of producing more or better than all the resources that comprise it.
People alone of all the resources can grow and develop.
Business enterprise is an organ of society. There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.
Providing more desirable products, services, and customer experiences is vital to the continued existence of any business. And that is INNOVATION.
Leadership is all about getting results.
The most probable assumption is that no currently working ‘business theory’ will be valid 10 years hence.
You must accept that if the computer is a tool, it is the job of tool user to know what to use it for.
You cannot prevent a major catastrophe, but you can build an organization that is battle-ready, where people trust one another. In military training, the first rule is to instill soldiers with trust in their officers – because without trust, they won’t fight.
Trust is congruence between what you say and what you do.
Luck never built a business. Prosperity and growth come only to the business that systematically finds and exploits its potential.
No financial man will ever understand business because financial people think a company makes money. A company makes shoes, and no financial man understands that. They think money is real. Shoes are real.
The critical question is not “How can I achieve?” but “What can I contribute?”
All good strategy eventually degenerates into work.
The relevant question is not simply what shall we do tomorrow, but rather what shall we do today in order to get ready for tomorrow.
When it rains manna from heaven, some people put up an umbrella. Others reach for a big spoon.
For the first four years, no new enterprise produces profits. Even Mozart didn’t start writing music until he was four.
Promotion should not be more important than accomplishment, or avoiding instability more important than taking the right risk.