James C. Collins Quotes
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Companies that change best over time know first and foremost what should not change.
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Good is the enemy of great. That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem
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If I'm going really, really fast, I can do a page of finished text a day, on average.
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Not every financial company toppled during the 2008 crisis, and some seized the opportunity to take advantage of weaker competitors in the midst of the tumult.
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Most businesses -- like most of anything else in life -- fall somewhere between mediocre and good. Few are great. When you compare great companies with good ones, many widely practiced business norms turn out to correlate with mediocrity, not greatness. So, then, why would we want to import the practices of mediocrity into the social sectors?
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A culture of discipline is not a principle of business, it is a principle of greatness.
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It is better to first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive.
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Core values = The organization’s essential and enduring tenets – a small set of general guiding principles, not to be confused with specific cultural or operating practices, and not to be compromised for financial gain or short-term expediency.
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I am completely Socratic.
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I can just let my curiosity wander unleashed.
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The most effective leaders of companies in transition are the quiet, unassuming people whose inner wiring is such that the worst circumstances bring out their best. They're unflappable, they're ready to die if they have to. But you can trust that, when bad things are happening, they will become clearheaded and focused.
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Just because a company falls doesn't invalidate what we can learn by studying that company when it was at its historical best.
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p. 73
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Those who built the visionary companies wisely understood that it is better to understand who you are than where you are going - for where you are going will almost certainly change