James C. Collins Quotes
Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.
Managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great.
The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake. The best people don't need to be managed. Guided, taught, led-yes. But not tightly managed.
The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.
Don't take care of your career. Take care of your people. They will take care of your career.
Focusing solely on what you can potentially do better than any other organization is the only path to greatness.
We are not imprisoned by circumstances, setbacks, mistakes or staggering defeats, we are freed by our choices.
The only way to remain great is to keep on applying the fundamental principles that made you great.
It is more important to know who you are than where you are going, for where you are going will change as the world around you changes.
Good is the enemy of great. And that's one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.
For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.
Profit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life.
Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats...
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 culture of discipline is not a principle of business, it is a principle of greatness.
That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem.
Mediocrity results first and foremost from management failure, not technological failure.
The drive for progress doesn't wait for the external world to say "It's time to change."
The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is inconsistency.
The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconstancy. The signature of greatness is a disciplined and consistent focus on the right things.
A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable.
Most people will look back and realize they did not have a great life because it's just so easy to settle for a good life.
The critical question is not whether you'll have luck, but what you do with the luck that you get.
A company should limit its growth based on its ability to attract enough of the right people.
The challenge is not just to build a company that can endure; but to build one that is worthy of enduring.
It occurs to me,Jim,that you spend too much time trying to be interesting. Why don't you invest more time being interested?" Collin's advice from John Gardner that he took to heart.
Not all time in life is equal. How many opportunities do you get to talk about what your life is going to add up to with people thinking about the same question?
In a truly great company profits and cash flow become like blood and water to a healthy body: They are absolutely essential for life but they are not the very point of life
How can you succeed by helping others succeed? We succeed at our very best only when we help others succeed.
First figure out your partners, then figure out what ideas to pursue. The most important thing isn't the market you target, the product you develop or the financing, but the founding team.
Good-to-great companies set their goals and strategies based on understanding; comparison companies set their goals and strategies based on bravado.