Robert S. Kaplan Quotes

A mere 7% of employees today fully understand their company's business strategies and what's expected of them in order to help achieve company goals.

Process improvement programs are like teaching people how to fish. Strategy maps and scorecards teach people where to fish.

Consistent alignment of capabilities and internal processes with the customer value proposition is the core of any strategy execution.

Without strong visionary leadership, no strategy will be executed effectively.

It bears repeating: you don't have to be good at everything.

Managing risk is very different from managing strategy. Risk management focuses on the negative-threats and failures rather than opportunities and successes.

Screening out peer pressure and conventional wisdom. It is so powerful, that most of us aren't even aware of how much it is influencing our decisions.

If you're the smartest person in the room, it can sometimes be hard to learn to delegate - the person to whom you're delegating will do the task worse than you would - and it will annoy you!

As a leader, it is often better to ask the right questions and listen than to have all the answers.

The better strategy is to focus on strengths and surround yourself with people who can complement your skills. However, you have to first do the analysis.

Authenticity is critical to leadership. That means trying to be yourself - this involves some self-disclosure, admitting what you don't know and being willing to ask questions.

Business and leadership is about the future. What worked five years ago is unlikely to work tomorrow.

Vision and priorities should precede actions. Actions should be judged through the prism of how the firm adds value and the key competencies it seeks to build.

To help people with the struggle, I have to reveal my own struggles.

There's a step that leaders need to take; they've got to understand themselves.

You're changing, the world is changing, and your hopes and aspirations are regularly being updated. That's why I say this is a life long struggle - for everybody.

Personal relationships are often based on affection - professional relationships can have affection but they must have mutual understanding, trust and respect.