Top 135 Quotes & Sayings by James C. Collins - Page 3

If your company disappeared, would it leave a gaping hole that could not easily be filled by any other enterprise on the planet?

Get keep right people.

Indeed, the real question is not, "Why greatness?" but "What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?" if you have to ask the question, "Why should we try to make it great? Isn't success enough?" then you're probably int he wrong line of work.

A great company will have many once-in-a-liftetime opportunities.

Those fortunate enough to find or create a practical intersection of the three circles have the basis for a great work life.

It took Einstein ten years of groping through the fog to get the theory of special relativity, and he was a bright guy.

The best CEOs in our research display tremendous ambition for their company combined with the stoic will to do whatever it takes, no matter how brutal (within the bounds of the company's core values), to make the company great. Yet at the same time they display a remarkable humility about themselves, ascribing much of their own success to luck, discipline and preparation rather than personal genius.

I am not failing - I am growing! Do you have the ability to reframe failure as growth in order to achieve your goals?

Some managers are uncomfotable with expressing emotion about their dreams, but it's the passion and emotion that will attract and motivate others.

Consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems, when people filter the brutal facts from you.

A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable.

To have a Welch-caliber C.E.O. is impressive.To have a century of Welch-Caliber C.E.O.'s all grown from the inside - well, that is one key reason why G.E. is a visionary company.

Throw leaders into an extreme environment, and it will separate the stark differences between greatness and mediocrity.

If we allow the celebrity rock-star model of leadership to triumph, we will see the decline of corporations and institutions of all types. The twentieth century was a century of greatness, but we face the very real prospect that the next century will see very few enduring great institutions.

If you have a charismatic cause you don't need to be a charismatic leader.