The things we fear most in organizations–fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances–are the primary sources of creativity.

“Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.”

“Opportunities dont happen. You create them.”

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

“In a world thats changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”

“In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions.” 

“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.”

“The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.”

“They told me computers could only do arithmetic.”

“Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.”

“Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.”

“You can’t make anything viral, but you can make something good.”

“Success isnt just about what you accomplish in your life; its about what you inspire others to do.”

“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: It was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not …
Continue reading John Kenneth Galbraith

“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure–It is: Try to please everybody.”

“You don’t need to have a 100-person company to develop that idea.”

“Many of lifes failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

“Paying attention to simple little things that most men neglect makes a few men rich.”

“Stay self-funded as long as possible.”

“We’re all working together; that’s the secret.”

 “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

“Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.”

“Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had no title or position.”

What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed.”

“Dont be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

“Those who try to lead the people can only do so by following the mob.”

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” 

“When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problem gets solved. It is true on the battlefield, it is true in business, and it is true in life.”

“I am reminded how hollow the label of leadership sometimes is and how heroic followership can be.”

Nothing works better than just improving your product.”

“One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”

“Information technology is at the core of how you do your business and how your business model itself evolves.”

 “Almost all quality improvements come via simplification of design, manufacturing … layout, processes, and procedures.”

“The golden rule for every business man is this: ‘Put yourself in your customer’s place.”

Corporate executives and business owners need to realize that there can be no compromise when it comes to ethics, and there are no easy shortcuts to success. Ethics need to …
Continue reading Vivek Wadhwa

“Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you.”

Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”

“If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

“A cowardly leader is the most dangerous of men.”

“It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.”

“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better.”

“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”

“Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don’t tell.”

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.”

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they dont quit.”

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

“Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it!”

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.”

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”

“Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.”

“A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.”

“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come indirectly through accident, except the phonograph. No, when I have fully decided that a result …
Continue reading Thomas Edison

“See things in the present, even if they are in the future.”

“Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems.”

“Doing what is right isn’t the problem. It is knowing what is right.”

“If you’re not sure where you are going, you’re liable to end up someplace else.”

“There is only one boss; The Customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult.”

“Look everywhere you can to cut a little bit from your expenses. It will all add up to a meaningful sum.”

“It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself.

 “Don’t blow off another’s candle for it won’t make yours shine brighter.” 

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

“Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths.”

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Dont wish it were easier; wish you were better.”

“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”

“Leadership is an action, not a position.”

“Have the end in mind; and every day make sure you’re working towards it”

Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.”

 “Don’t ever let your business get ahead of the financial side of your business. Accounting, Accounting, Accounting. Know your numbers.”

Fortunes are built during the down market and collected in the upmarket.”

The things we fear most in organizations–fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances–are the primary sources of creativity.

“Real leadership is leaders recognizing that they serve the people that they lead.”

“If you’re interested in the living heart of what you do, focus on building things rather than talking about them.”

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

“Business has only two functions; Marketing and Innovation.”

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

“He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.”

“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid …
Continue reading Ray Goforth

“I want to put a ding in the universe.”

“So often, people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.”

“Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.” 

“Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” 

“Leadership is an ever-evolving position.”

  “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.”

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”

 “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.

“Get a mentor in the applicable field if you’re at all unsure of what you’re looking for.”

“Leadership is unlocking peoples potential to become better.”

“He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.”