Most Popular Business Quotes
Henry Cloud - In business, everybody always thinks it is about finding the ‘right’ idea, or the ‘right’ plan. The truth is that there are five ‘right’ ideas or plans. The real issue is getting oneself and others to be able to execute it and negotiate all of the people issues along the way.
Henry Cloud - The twin sister to autonomy and freedom is responsibility and accountability. You cannot have one with out the other. If someone is given an area of responsibility, not only must they be set free to do it, they must also be held accountable for what they do. Accountability clarifies freedom. In the teams and companies where you see boundary confusion, power struggles, control, over-reaching of one’s line of responsibility, you will also see lapses in accountability as well.
Scott D. Anthony - Companies often want to make decisions based on "the number," or a precise estimate of a project's financial potential. When companies only consider a single scenario, they almost always feel as if they have to be conservative, leading them to prioritize "sure things" in known markets over risky ventures in new markets.
While that approach might be reasonable when a company is launching a modest line extension into a known market, a new-to-the-world solution could unfold in infinite ways. It might be worth investing in a project that appears to have negative NPV, on average, if a modest investment can highlight whether outsize returns are possible. Further, if you don't invest in the long term, you increase the odds that you will fall behind existing and emerging competitors in the next economic cycle. A company that ranks all of the projects in its innovation portfolio by NPV might unintentionally stop working on projects with the greatest long-term growth potential.
Mark W. Johnson - Rather than think of white space as external — as some indistinct but desirable land outside your company's walls — I suggest that it's more productive to view it as an internal signpost — as a way to map your company's ability to address new opportunities or threats. So by white space, I mean "market opportunities your company may wish — or need — to pursue that it cannot address unless it develops a new business model."
Mike Michalowicz - Great leaders defend, protect and help their team. They know their most important job is to make everyone else’s job easier. And they gladly do the dirtiest of the dirty work when it supports the achievement of team goals. When you show you are willing to get in there and get dirty, you are demonstrating to them that you are humble, and you are one of them.
Henry Cloud - I always try to go hard on the issue and soft on the person.
Richard Kleinert, Emily Stover DeRocco, Atanu Chaudhuri and Robert Maciejewski - High-performing companies align people management practices to the corporate culture (“cultural fit”) and to the business strategy and long-term objectives of the organization (“strategic fit”). This tight coupling of internal practices, culture and strategy remains unique for each organization and is difficult for competitors to imitate. While rivals can poach a few employees or can try to mimic some strategic moves, rarely will they be able to penetrate the lattice of internal fit, cultural fit and strategic fit.
Peter Drucker - Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.
Frederick Funston, Stephen Wagner and Henry Ristuccia - One of the greatest challenges for any enterprise is to discuss constructively how it might fail so that it can act to prevent such failure.
Frederick Funston, Stephen Wagner - The idea of holding open a portfolio of strategic options runs counter to conventional strategy-setting approach, in which leaders try to select a single “maximizing” strategy that drives the greatest returns. However, a maximizing strategy is usually highly tailored to current circumstances – and thus, no matter how well it may work in the short term, is apt to fail when circumstances inevitably change.
Henry Cloud - In business, everybody always thinks it is about finding the ‘right’ idea, or the ‘right’ plan. The truth is that there are five ‘right’ ideas or plans. The real issue is getting oneself and others to be able to execute it and negotiate all of the people issues along the way.
Henry Cloud - The twin sister to autonomy and freedom is responsibility and accountability. You cannot have one with out the other. If someone is given an area of responsibility, not only must they be set free to do it, they must also be held accountable for what they do. Accountability clarifies freedom. In the teams and companies where you see boundary confusion, power struggles, control, over-reaching of one’s line of responsibility, you will also see lapses in accountability as well.
Scott D. Anthony - Companies often want to make decisions based on "the number," or a precise estimate of a project's financial potential. When companies only consider a single scenario, they almost always feel as if they have to be conservative, leading them to prioritize "sure things" in known markets over risky ventures in new markets.
While that approach might be reasonable when a company is launching a modest line extension into a known market, a new-to-the-world solution could unfold in infinite ways. It might be worth investing in a project that appears to have negative NPV, on average, if a modest investment can highlight whether outsize returns are possible. Further, if you don't invest in the long term, you increase the odds that you will fall behind existing and emerging competitors in the next economic cycle. A company that ranks all of the projects in its innovation portfolio by NPV might unintentionally stop working on projects with the greatest long-term growth potential.
Mark W. Johnson - Rather than think of white space as external — as some indistinct but desirable land outside your company's walls — I suggest that it's more productive to view it as an internal signpost — as a way to map your company's ability to address new opportunities or threats. So by white space, I mean "market opportunities your company may wish — or need — to pursue that it cannot address unless it develops a new business model."
Mike Michalowicz - Great leaders defend, protect and help their team. They know their most important job is to make everyone else’s job easier. And they gladly do the dirtiest of the dirty work when it supports the achievement of team goals. When you show you are willing to get in there and get dirty, you are demonstrating to them that you are humble, and you are one of them.
Henry Cloud - I always try to go hard on the issue and soft on the person.
Richard Kleinert, Emily Stover DeRocco, Atanu Chaudhuri and Robert Maciejewski - High-performing companies align people management practices to the corporate culture (“cultural fit”) and to the business strategy and long-term objectives of the organization (“strategic fit”). This tight coupling of internal practices, culture and strategy remains unique for each organization and is difficult for competitors to imitate. While rivals can poach a few employees or can try to mimic some strategic moves, rarely will they be able to penetrate the lattice of internal fit, cultural fit and strategic fit.
Peter Drucker - Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.
Frederick Funston, Stephen Wagner and Henry Ristuccia - One of the greatest challenges for any enterprise is to discuss constructively how it might fail so that it can act to prevent such failure.
Frederick Funston, Stephen Wagner - The idea of holding open a portfolio of strategic options runs counter to conventional strategy-setting approach, in which leaders try to select a single “maximizing” strategy that drives the greatest returns. However, a maximizing strategy is usually highly tailored to current circumstances – and thus, no matter how well it may work in the short term, is apt to fail when circumstances inevitably change.