Famous Quotes & Sayings

Thomas J. Watson

You don't hear things that are bad about your company unless you ask. It is easy to hear good tidings, but you have to scratch to get the bad news.

Thomas J. Watson

Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?

Thomas J. Stanley

Building a business is like building a home. If the foundation rests on an unstable setting or is constructed with subpar materials, it doesn't matter if the rest of the home is perfect. It will never be a joy to its owner

Raymond Loewy

Between two products equal in price, function and quality, the one with the most attractive exterior will win.

Victor Kiam

You should think of your customers as partners, or better still, family.

Victor Kiam

The closer you get to your ultimate customer, the more you learn about your business.

Victor Kiam

You can hype a questionable product for a little while, but you'll never build an enduring business.

Victor Hugo

Inspiration and genius -one and the same.

Robert Fritz

It's not what the vision is, it's what the vision does.

Robert Frost

The only way around is through.

Robert Frost

The worst disease which can afflict executives in their work is not, as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it's egotism.

Robert Bly

The best presenters have conversations with their audiences.

Rita Mae Brown

A deadline is negative inspiration. Still, it's better than no inspiration at all.

Timothy Geithner

And I think it's a prudent, responsible way, given the scale of the emergency, the scale of the damage still facing America, that we finance these additional support for the unemployed as well as the support for small business. We think there's a good case for doing it now. We want to do it in an overall fiscally responsible way.

Tom Peters

If the other guy is getting better, then you'd better be getting better faster than the other guy is getting better... or you're getting worse.

Tom Peters

Like it or not - and often we don't - power is a pervasive phenomenon. From midnight decisions in the Oval Office that risk the lives of young Americans to quarrels over the kitchen table, power is part of every human equation. Yes, it can be - and often is - abused, in business as in all arenas of endeavor. But it can also be used to do great good for great numbers. And as a career-building tool, the slow and steady (and subtle) amassing of power is the surest road to success.

Tom Peters

Treat the customer as an appreciating asset.

Tom Peters

WORK ON YOUR STORY! He/she who has the best story wins! In life! In business! The White House!

Tom Peters

Train everyone lavishly. You can't overspend on training.

Tom Peters

My half-baked reading of history is that we continue to go through these waves of entrepreneurial explosion followed by merger mania and consolidation. Out of that come big sluggish companies that eventually collapse under the weight of what they've created, and are killed off by the next wave of entrepreneurs.

Tom Peters

Champions are pioneers, and pioneers get shot at. The companies that get the most from champions, therefore, are those that have rich support network so their pioneers will flourish. This point is so important it's hard to overstress. No support systems, no champions. No champions, no innovations.

Tom Peters

Don't 'tolerate' mistakes. Embrace them!

Tom Peters

Anybody who is an entrepreneur is a person who essentially has impaired judgment. The odds of success are zilch. This valley is loaded to the gills with a whole lot of totally insane people who honest to God believe that they can be the next Bill Gates or the next Scott McNealy. And that is genuinely stupid.

Tom Peters

You are who you go to lunch with! Break bread with cool and you will become more cool. Conversely: break bread with dull and well, you can figure it out.

Tom Peters

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!

Tom Peters

Community. A friend started a real estate brokerage a few years ago. By the time she'd added her second employee, she was a pillar of her 35,000-person community. No rule says that only the local banker or car dealer can organize the program to raise supplemental funds for the public library or send the high school band on a well-earned special trip. Participating in community affairs, with time more than dollars, is good business from day one. It gets your name around, adds to your distinctiveness, and, best of all, makes you an attractive employer (which is the key to sustained success).

Tom Peters

Formula for success: Underpromise and overachieve.

Tom Peters

Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.

Tom DeMarco

Organizational busy work tends to expand to fill the working day.

Steve Ross

You can't operate a company by fear, because the way to eliminate fear is to avoid criticism. And the way to avoid criticism is to do nothing..

Stephen Covey

If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting.

Stephen Covey

Management works in the system; leadership works on the system.

Stephen Covey

A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.