Management Quotes

“It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important."

2011-10-07T04:42:00.000+02:00

(Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011)
[BusinessWeek, Oct. 12, 2004]

“The system is that there is no system. That doesn’t mean we don’t have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that’s not what it’s about. Process makes you more efficient.

2011-10-07T04:40:00.001+02:00

(Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011)

“The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it. That’s somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That’s when you find out who you are and what your values are.

2011-10-07T04:34:00.001+02:00

(Steve Jobs)(1955 - 2011)
[Fortune, Jan. 24, 2000]

“I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on something, but working on Macintosh was the neatest experience of my life. Almost everyone who worked on it will say that. None of us wanted to release it at the end. It was as though we knew that once it was out of our hands, it wouldn’t be ours anymore. When we finally presented it at the shareholders’ meeting, everyone in the auditorium gave it a five-minute ovation. What was incredible to me was that I could see the Mac team in the first few rows. It was as though none of us could believe we’d actually finished it. Everyone started crying.”

2011-10-07T04:32:00.002+02:00

(Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011)
[Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

"That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

2011-10-07T04:31:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
BusinessWeek, May 25, 1998

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

2011-10-06T06:09:00.002+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true."

2011-10-06T06:08:00.002+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”

2011-10-06T06:06:00.001+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[1982, quoted in Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple, 1987]

“The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament.”

2011-10-06T06:05:00.002+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer Inc., May 1999]

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

2011-10-06T06:04:00.001+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998]

“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.”

2011-10-06T06:03:00.002+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993]

“We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them.”

2011-10-06T06:02:00.002+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[On Mac OS X, Fortune, Jan. 24, 2000]

“For something this complicated, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”

2011-10-06T05:58:00.003+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

“About creativity. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have."

2011-10-06T05:58:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people."

2011-10-06T05:57:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that."

2011-10-06T05:56:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

“We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.

2011-10-06T05:55:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

“I think it’s brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I’ve ever seen is called television — but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent.”

2011-10-06T05:54:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Rolling Stone, Dec. 3, 2003]

“Things don’t have to change the world to be important."

2011-10-06T05:53:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Wired, February 1996]

“These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I’m not downplaying that."

2011-10-06T05:51:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
[Wired, February 1996]

“The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t.

2011-10-06T05:49:00.000+02:00

Steve Jobs
[Wired, February 1996]

“It takes these very simple-minded instructions—‘Go fetch a number, add it to this number, put the result there, perceive if it’s greater than this other number’––but executes them at a rate of, let’s say, 1,000,000 per second. At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.”

2011-10-06T05:47:00.002+02:00

Steve Jobs
[Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

"Love may not make the world go round, but I must admit that it makes the ride worthwhile."

2011-10-04T04:36:00.002+02:00

(Sean Connery)

"Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs."

2011-09-25T05:56:00.000+02:00

(Confucius)

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well."

2011-09-21T04:56:00.000+02:00

(Saint Exupery)

"Quality is free, but only to those who are willing to pay heavily for it."

2011-09-20T00:36:00.000+02:00

(Philip Crosby)
(1926 2001, American business philosopher and writer on quality)

"No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."

2011-09-10T06:07:00.000+02:00

(Abraham Lincoln)

"What you cannot enforce, do not command."

2011-09-06T01:06:00.001+02:00

(Sophocles)

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."

2011-09-05T02:56:00.002+02:00

(Oscar Wilde)

"Professionalism means consistency of quality."

2011-08-23T11:36:00.000+02:00

(Frank Tyger)

(Brooklyn-born Trenton (NJ) Times editorial cartoonist, humorist, columnist and Promotion Manager, earning him the nickname of "Mr. Times" amongst his colleagues and the Trenton community.)

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well."

2011-08-23T01:35:00.001+02:00

(Saint Exupery)

"It is impossible to imagine anything which better becomes a ruler than mercy."

2011-08-20T11:31:00.002+02:00

(Seneca)

"He who has learned how to obey will know how to command."

2011-08-09T01:07:00.001+02:00

(Solon)

"The greater a man is in power above others, the more he ought to excel them in virtue. None ought to govern who is not better than the governed."

2011-08-08T03:58:00.002+02:00

(Publius Syrus)

"Charm is a way of getting the answer 'yes' without having asked any clear question."

2011-08-04T02:26:00.000+02:00

Albert Camus
(1913-1960)

"One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory."

2011-08-01T02:22:00.000+02:00

(Rita Mae Brown)
(Born November 28, 1944, American writer, best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle)

"One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent."

2011-07-18T04:28:00.000+02:00

(Napoleon Bonaparte)

"I light my candle from their torches."

2011-07-16T02:51:00.000+02:00

(Robert Burton)

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

2011-07-05T15:19:00.000+02:00

(George Patton)

"Vivacity, leadership, must be had, and we are not allowed to be nice in choosing. We must fetch the pump with dirty water, if clean cannot be had."

2011-07-01T06:51:00.003+02:00

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

"If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully."

2011-06-24T10:42:00.000+02:00

(Thomas Fuller)
(1608 – 16 August 1661, English churchman and historian)

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

2011-06-23T04:19:00.002+02:00

(Proverbs 29:18)

"The measure of a man is what he does with power."

2011-06-21T16:08:00.002+02:00

(Greek Proverb)

"Always mistrust a subordinate who never finds fault with his superior."

2011-06-20T20:23:00.000+02:00

(John Churton Collins)
(1848 – 1908, English literary critic)

"Never give an order that can't be obeyed."

2011-06-19T23:27:00.002+02:00

(General Douglas MacAuthur)

"God has not called me to be successful. He has called me to be faithful."

2011-06-16T03:55:00.000+02:00

(Mother Theresa)

"A bold onset is half the battle."

2011-06-15T19:48:00.000+02:00

(Giuseppe Garibaldi)
(Italian freedom fighter: 1807 - 1882)

"A bold onset is half the battle."

2011-06-08T15:55:00.003+02:00

(Giuseppe Garibaldi)

"An army of lions commanded by a deer will never be an army of lions."

2011-06-07T01:32:00.002+02:00

(Napoleon Bonaparte)

"Any one can hold the helm when the sea is calm."

2011-06-04T16:26:00.003+02:00

(Publilius Syrus)
(Latin writer, 1st century BC)

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

2011-06-03T05:51:00.002+02:00

(Martin Luther King, Jr) (from Christian Leadership World)

"Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure."

2011-06-01T00:26:00.001+02:00

(Earl Wilson)

"Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction."

2011-06-01T00:25:00.003+02:00

(Al Bernstein)

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure."

2011-06-01T00:25:00.001+02:00

(Mark Twain)

"Success comes in cans, failure in can'ts."

2011-06-01T00:24:00.001+02:00

(Unknown)

"It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final."

2011-06-01T00:23:00.001+02:00

(Roger Babson)

"Eighty percent of success is showing up."

2011-06-01T00:22:00.001+02:00

(Woody Allen)

"I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom."

2011-06-01T00:21:00.001+02:00

(General George S. Patton)

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm."

2011-06-01T00:20:00.002+02:00

(Sir Winston Churchill)

"You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong."

2011-06-01T00:20:00.000+02:00

(Warren Buffett)

"A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."

2011-06-01T00:19:00.001+02:00

(Bob Dylan)

"Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success."

2011-06-01T00:18:00.001+02:00

(Dale Carnegie)

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

2011-06-01T00:05:00.001+02:00

(Harold R McAlindon)

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it."

2011-05-31T23:58:00.000+02:00

(Theodore Roosevelt)

"Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too."

2011-05-31T23:45:00.000+02:00

(Robert Half)

"Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, sermons and soda water the day after."

2007-06-12T22:07:00.000+02:00

(Lord Byron)

(from a napkin at Journees de la Presse, hotel Méridien Montparnasse, Paris, France)

"Managers are born on the job. Leaders are born when they are seven."

2007-06-02T22:39:00.000+02:00

(Gert Van Mol)

"He who has never learned to obey can not be a good commander."

2007-05-11T15:52:00.001+02:00

(Aristotle)

"The history of the world is but the biography of great men."

2007-05-08T15:54:00.000+02:00

(Thomas Carlyle)

"A leader is a deal in hope."

2007-05-07T15:53:00.000+02:00

(Napoleon Bonaparte)

"The real leader has no need to lead-- he is content to point the way."

2007-05-05T15:51:00.000+02:00

(Henry Miller)

"Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."

2007-05-03T15:50:00.000+02:00

(Dwight D. Eisenhower)

"The whole thing here is the organization. Whatever we accomplish belongs to our entire group, a tribute to our combined effort."

2007-05-02T15:47:00.000+02:00

(Walt Disney)

"I have a blind faith in the policy that quality, tempered with good judgment and showmanship, will win out against all odds."

2007-05-01T15:46:00.000+02:00

(Walt Disney)

"Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work it until it's done and done right."

2007-04-28T15:46:00.000+02:00

(Walt Disney)

"You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream."

2007-04-26T15:45:00.000+02:00

(Walt Disney)

"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way."

2007-04-24T19:40:00.002+02:00

(Abraham Lincoln)

"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion."

2007-04-23T12:20:00.000+02:00

(Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame)

"If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission."

2007-04-22T12:22:00.000+02:00

(Admiral Grace Hopper)

"The most important quality in a leader is that of being acknowledged as such."

2007-04-21T12:22:00.000+02:00

(Andre Maurois)

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

2007-04-20T12:23:00.000+02:00

(Eleanor Roosevelt)

"Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table."

2007-04-19T12:25:00.000+02:00

(Hubert H. Humphrey)

"The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way."

2007-04-18T12:27:00.000+02:00

(Henry Miller)

"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 much else, is the essence of leadership."

2007-04-18T12:26:00.000+02:00

(John Kenneth Galbraith, U.S. economist “The Age of Uncertainty”)

"It's amazing how many cares disappear when you decide not to be something, but to be someone."

2007-04-17T12:29:00.000+02:00

(Coco Chanel)

"Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint."

2007-04-16T12:29:00.000+02:00

(Lewis H. Lapham)

I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

2007-04-15T12:30:00.000+02:00

(Bishop Desmond Tutu)

There is no such thing as a perfect leader...

2007-04-14T12:32:00.000+02:00

There is no such thing as a perfect leader either in the past or present, in China or elsewhere. If there is one, he is only pretending, like a pig inserting scallions into its nose in an effort to look like an elephant.

(Liu Shao-ch'i)

People ask the difference...

2007-04-14T12:31:00.000+02:00

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . . The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.

(Theodore Roosevelt)

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.

2007-04-13T12:33:00.000+02:00

(Katharine Hepburn)

E pluribus unum. (Out of many, one.)

2007-04-12T12:34:00.000+02:00

E pluribus unum. (Out of many, one.) - Motto for the Seal of the United States. Adopted 20 June 1782, recommended by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, 10 Aug. 1776, and proposed by Swiss artist Pierre Eugene du Simitière.
It had originally appeared on the title page of the Gentleman's Journal (Jan. 1692).

In organizations, real power and energy is...

2007-04-11T12:35:00.000+02:00

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.

(Margaret Wheatly, Leadership and the New Science)

Excellence is not an accomplishment. It is a spirit, a never-ending process.

2007-04-10T12:38:00.000+02:00

(Lawrence M. Miller)

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with the important matters.

2007-04-10T12:36:00.000+02:00

(Albert Einstein)

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you.

2007-04-09T12:48:00.000+02:00

(Max DePree)

The quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization.

2007-04-09T12:37:00.000+02:00

(Fred Fiedler & Martin Chemers, Improving Leadership Effectiveness)

A friend of mine characterizes leaders simply like this: "Leaders don't inflict pain. They bear pain."

2007-04-08T12:50:00.000+02:00

(Max DePree)

Every organization must be prepared to abandon everything it does to survive in the future.

2007-04-08T12:49:00.000+02:00

(Peter Drucker)

Ah well! I am their leader, I really ought to follow them!

2007-04-07T12:50:00.000+02:00

(Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin)

A new leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless ... someone's got to make a wake up call.

2007-04-06T12:52:00.001+02:00

(Warren Bennis)