You will be remembered, in the long haul, for the quality of your work, not the quantity of your work. No one evaluates Picasso based on the number of paintings he churned out.
If timing ain’t everything, it’s damn close.
Screw-ups are the mark of excellence.
We are no doubt in the Great Age of the Brand.
Remember: You are the only human being in the world who can help this particular customer at this particular moment in time.
We’re going to see leadership emerge as the most important element of business – the attribute that is highest in demand and shortest in supply.
Musing on the phrase ‘waste of time.’ So much more complex than it appears. Many ‘wastes of time’ small talk, daydreaming are imperatives.
It’s not enough to be close to the customer. You’ve got to be glued to the customer.
Dot the i’s, cross the t’s, answer the phones promptly, send out errorless invoices, and in general never forget that the devil is in the details.
OLD: Be No.1 or No.2 in Your Market. NEW: Find a Niche, Create Something New.
Don’t let the vision be shot through with holes, but be damn sure some of your best and brightest are shooting at it – with bazookas as well as sniper’s rifles.
And remember: Everything in business is a paradox. To be excellent, you have to be consistent. When you’re consistent, you’re vulnerable to attack. Yes, it’s a paradox. Now deal with it!
What is my personal strategy for the next 10 hours? Who can I talk with or what can I volunteer for to learn something new?
I don’t believe in holy writ. Buy fifty books or twenty-five books, take three weeks off, read them and make up your own theory. The fact that you end up literally burning twenty-two out of twenty-five books is beside the point.
Treat the customer as an appreciating asset.
Quite simply, no matter how hard you try, no matter how “open” you are, you’ll end up surrounded by “yes people.” It’s hard not to believe people who are repeating your own ideas. Resist the temptation.
The widespread availability of information is the only basis for effective day-to-day problem solving, which abets continuous improvement programs.
TRUST, not technology, is the issue of the decade.
Appreciation, applause, approval, respect – we all love it!
My real bottom-line hypothesis is that nobody has a sweet clue what they’re doing. Therefore you better be trying stuff at an insanely rapid pace. You want to be screwing around with nearly everything. Relentless experimentation was probably important in the 1970s-now it’s do or die.