Top 33 Quotes & Sayings by Thomas J. Watson

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American businessman Thomas J. Watson.

Last updated on September 18, 2024.

Thomas John Watson Sr. was an American businessman who served as the chairman and CEO of IBM. He oversaw the company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956. Watson developed IBM's management style and corporate culture from John Henry Patterson's training at NCR. He turned the company into a highly effective selling organization, based largely on punched card tabulating machines. A leading self-made industrialist, he was one of the richest men of his time and was called the world's greatest salesman when he died in 1956.

American - Businessman | February 17, 1874 - June 19, 1956

Source: Wikipedia

Once an organization loses its spirit of pioneering and rests on its early work, its progress stops.

Thomas J. Watson

A manager is an assistant to his men.

Thomas J. Watson

If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.

Thomas J. Watson

The best way to supervise your men is from their reports that they make out.

Thomas J. Watson

Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous - not just to some people in some circumstances - but to everyone all the time.

Thomas J. Watson

Treat each case as an individual case, and give every man an opportunity to earn just as much money as he is capable of earning.

Thomas J. Watson

Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use.

Thomas J. Watson

If you aren't playing well, the game isn't as much fun. When that happens I tell myself just to go out and play as I did when I was a kid.

Thomas J. Watson

To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business and your business in your heart.

Thomas J. Watson

Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people.

Thomas J. Watson

If you stand up and be counted, from time to time you may get yourself knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.

Thomas J. Watson

If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

Thomas J. Watson

Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops.

Thomas J. Watson

The great accomplishments of man have resulted from the transmission of ideas and enthusiasm.

Thomas J. Watson

You can be discouraged by failure, or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes, make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success - on the far side of failure.

Thomas J. Watson

Don't make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.

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. 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

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity.

Thomas J. Watson

All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think. The trouble is that men very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work.

Thomas J. Watson

Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.

Thomas J. Watson

The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer.

Thomas J. Watson

Every time we've moved ahead in IBM, it was because someone was willing to take a chance, put his head on the block, and try something new.

Thomas J. Watson

When asked how to achieve success more rapidly, came the quick reply, 'Double your failure rate'.

Thomas J. Watson

Loyalty saves the wear and tear of making daily decisions as to what is best to do.

Thomas J. Watson

It is a common mistake to think of failure as the enemy of success. Failure is a teacher-a harsh one, but the best. Pull your failures to pieces looking for the reason. Put your failure to work for you.

Thomas J. Watson

The way to succeed is to double your error rate.

Thomas J. Watson

If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.

Thomas J. Watson

It was courage, faith, endurance and a dogged determination to surmount all obstacles that built this bridge.

Thomas J. Watson

Do you want to succeed? Then, double you rate of failure. Success lies on the far side of failure.

Thomas J. Watson

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of "crackpot" than the stigma of conformity.

Thomas J. Watson

Success is on the far side of failure.

Thomas J. Watson

Failure is a teacher; a harsh one, but the best.

Thomas J. Watson

Top 33 Quotes & Sayings by Thomas J. Watson

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