The knowledge that we consider knowledge proves itself in action. What we now mean by knowledge is information in action, information focused on results.
Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.
Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right.
It takes far less energy to move from first-rate performance to excellence than it does to move from incompetence to mediocrity.
Do first things first, and second things not at all.
People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.
We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: If you’ve got ambition and smarts, you can rise to the top of your chosen profession, regardless of where you started out.
If there is any one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time.
People in any organization are always attached to the obsolete – the things that should have worked but did not, the things that once were productive and no longer are.
Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.
The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction and malperformance.
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
Great wisdom not applied to action and behavior is meaningless data.
Marketing is not a function, it is the whole business seen from the customer’s point of view.
Don’t try to innovate for the future. Innovate for the present!
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.
The building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
In areas where they are simply incompetent, smart executives don’t make decisions or take actions. They delegate.
It’s up to you to carve out your place, to know when to change course, and to keep yourself engaged and productive during a work life that may span some 50 years.