Lee Iacocca Quotes
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I guess I invented extended warranties, because that's all we had to sell at Chrysler in those days.
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It pains me to see my old company, which has meant so much to America, on the ropes. But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got through it, and I believe they can do it again. [...] Let's face it, if your car breaks down, you're not going to take it to the White House to get fixed. But, if your company breaks down, you've got to go to the experts on the ground, not the bureaucrats.
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People say to me, ''You were a roaring success. How did you do it?'' I go back to what my parents taught me. Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make something happen.
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I'd really love to meet the guy I'm supposed to be. I'd hire him in a second.
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Over the years, many executives have said to me with pride: 'Boy, I worked so hard last year that I didn't take any vacation.' I always feel like responding, "You dummy. You mean to tell me you can take responsibility for an eighty-million-dollar project and you can't plan two weeks out of the year to have some fun?
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Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.
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If I had to sum up in a word what makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.
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There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog, waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there.
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He was eccentric. He was no prince in his social attitudes and his politics. But Henry Ford's mark in history is almost unbelievable.
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One of the things the government can't do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.
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Never rest on your oars as a boss. If you do, the whole company starts sinking.
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I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.
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Any supervisor worth his salt would rather deal with people who attempt too much than with those who try too little.
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We believe the combination of these two companies will produce very powerful synergies and puts us on a solid platform from which we should be able to realize our full growth potential.
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I was at Ford for 32 years. I went to Chrysler in 1978, four or five months after I got canned by Henry Ford.
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Most people are looking for security, a nice, safe, prosperous future. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's called the American Dream.
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If I Had To Sum Up In One Word The Qualities That Make Up A Good Manager, I'd Say Decisiveness.
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It's a good thing god doesn't let you look a year or two into the future, or you might be sorely tempted to shoot yourself.
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I have always found that if I move with seventy-five percent or more of the facts that I usually never regret it. It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy.
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If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.
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I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.
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In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else.
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If we screw it up, start over. Try something else.
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I gotta tell ya, with our $2.4 billion in profits last year, they gave me a great big bonus. Really, it's almost obscene.