James C. Collins Quotes
-
Leaders who led their organizations quietly and humbly, were much more effective than flashy, charismatic high profile leaders.
→ -
It occurs to me,Jim,that you spend too much time trying to be interesting. Why don't you invest more time being interested?" Collin's advice from John Gardner that he took to heart.
→ -
Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious-but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.
→ -
Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step.
→ -
If your company disappeared, would it leave a gaping hole that could not easily be filled by any other enterprise on the planet?
→ -
The start of the New Year is a perfect time to start a stop doing list and to make this the cornerstone of your New Year resolutions, be it for your company, your family or yourself. It also is a perfect time to clarify your three circles, mirroring at a personal level the three questions... 1) What are you deeply passionate about? 2) What are you are genetically encoded for - what activities do you feel just "made to do"? 3) What makes economic sense - what can you make a living at?
→ -
Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.
→ -
First figure out your partners, then figure out what ideas to pursue. The most important thing isn't the market you target, the product you develop or the financing, but the founding team.
→ -
Discipline should amplify creativity rather than stifle it.
→ -
I don't know where we should take this company, but I do know that if I start with the right people, ask them the right questions, and engage them in vigorous debate, we will find a way to make this company great.
→ -
Good is the enemy of great.
→ -
You can't manufacture passion or "motivate" people to feel passionate. You can only discover what ignites your passion and the passions of those around you.
→ -
People are not your most important asset....the right people are.
→ -
Great vision without great people is irrelevant.
→ -
How can we do better tomorrow than we did today?
→ -
The only way to deliver to the people who are achieving is to not burden them with the people who are not achieving.
→ -
Comparison, a great teacher once told me, is the cardinal sin of modern life. It traps us in a game that we can't win. Once we define ourselves in terms of others, we lose the freedom to shape our own lives.
→ -
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.
→ -
The greatest leaders build organizations that, in the end, don't need them.
→ -
A great company will have many once-in-a-liftetime opportunities.
→ -
If you have more than three priorities then you don't have any.
→ -
Creative leadership impact increases in your 50's. When I turn 50 I want to say, "Nice start!"
→ -
Indeed, the real question is not, "Why greatness?" but "What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?" if you have to ask the question, "Why should we try to make it great? Isn't success enough?" then you're probably int he wrong line of work.
→ -
Whether you prevail or fail depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.
→ -
Resilency, not perfection, is the signature of greatness.
→ -
A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable.
→ -
You need self-control in an out-of-control world.
→ -
...the question, Why try for greatness? would seem almost tautological. If you're doing something you care that much about, and you believe in its purpose deeply enough, then it is impossible to imagine not trying to make it great. It's just a given.
→ -
True leadership has people who follow when they have the freedom not to.
→ -
Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce sustained results. They are resolved to do whatever it takes to make the company great, no matter how big or hard the decisions.
→
Related Authors
-
Stephen Covey Author -
Seth Godin Author -
Peter Senge Author -
-
-
Jerry I. Porras Author -
Patrick Lencioni Writer -
Malcolm Gladwell Journalist -
Lawrence Bossidy Businessman -
-
Jorge Paulo Lemann Banker -
Michael Porter Professor -
Daniel Goleman Author -
Marcus Buckingham Author -
Ken Blanchard Author -
Peter Drucker Author -
Tom Peters Writer -
Michael Gerber Author -
Simon Sinek Author -
Jack Welch Author