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Gary Hamel

Gary Hamel Quotes

Manager

Gary Hamel, born on January 1, 1954, is an outstanding management scholar and strategic consultant. He has extensive research and practical experience in the fields of corporate strategy and innovation. Hamel is renowned for his unique insights into strategic thinking and leadership, and his writings and consulting work have had a profound impact on global corporate management.

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Famous Gary Hamel Quotes

“Right now, your company has 21st-century Internet-enabled business processes, mid-20th-century management processes, all built atop 19th-century management principles.”

Leadership Management Management And Leadership Management Theory Knowledge Work

Book:Future of Management

Source: Future of Management

“Innovation is the only insurance against irrelevance.”

Innovation Irrelevance

Author:Gary Hamel

“people are all there is to an organization”

People Organization

Author:Gary Hamel

“The biggest barriers to strategic renewal are almost always top management's unexamined beliefs.”

Belief Management Barriers Renewal Strategic Top Management

Author:Gary Hamel

“The fact is, society is made more hospitable by every individual who acts as if 'do unto others' really was a rule.”

Ifs Made Facts Individual Do Unto Others

Author:Gary Hamel

“Trust is not simply a matter of truthfulness, or even constancy. It is also a matter of amity and goodwill. We trust those who have our best interests at heart, and mistrust those who seem deaf to our concerns.”

Heart Matter Seems Interest Concern Deaf Goodwill Truthfulness Mistrust Constancy Deafness Amity Best Interests At Heart

Author:Gary Hamel

“A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance.”

Purpose Sacrifice Inspire Innovation Perseverance Noble

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“Top-down authority structures turn employees into bootlickers, breed pointless struggles for political advantage, and discourage dissent.”

Political Turns Struggle Authority Advantage Structure Employee Dissent Pointless Discouraging Top Down

Author:Gary Hamel

“An uplifting sense of purpose is more than an impetus for individual accomplishment, it is also a necessary insurance policy against expediency and impropriety.”

Purpose Individual Policy Uplifting Accomplishment Expediency Impetus Insurance Policy

Author:Gary Hamel

“Most of us understand that innovation is enormously important. It's the only insurance against irrelevance. It's the only guarantee of long-term customer loyalty. It's the only strategy for out-performing a dismal economy.”

Long Important Term Economy Innovation Strategy Customers Loyalty Performing Long Term Guarantees Customer Loyalty Irrelevance

Author:Gary Hamel

“The real damper on employee engagement is the soggy, cold blanket of centralized authority. In most companies, power cascades downwards from the CEO. Not only are employees disenfranchised from most policy decisions, they lack even the power to rebel against egocentric and tyrannical supervisors.”

Real Decision Company Policy Cold Authority Employee Rebel Engagement Ceo Blanket Employee Engagement Egocentric Cascade Supervisors Disenfranchised

Author:Gary Hamel

“An enterprise that is constantly exploring new horizons is likely to have a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent.”

Talent Advantage Enterprise Horizon Exploring Competitive Advantage Retaining New Horizons

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“As human beings, we are the genetic elite, the sentient, contemplating and innovating sum of countless genetic accidents and transcription errors.”

Humans Human Beings Errors Accidents Elites Contemplating Transcription

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“Businesses fail when they over-invest in what is at the expense of what could be.”

Failing Expenses

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“Fact is, inventing an innovative business model is often mostly a matter of serendipity.”

Matter Facts Models Innovative Inventing Serendipity Business Models

Author:Gary Hamel

“I am an ardent supporter of capitalism - but I also understand that while individuals have inalienable, God-given rights, corporations do not.”

Individual Given Rights Capitalism Corporations Supporter Ardent

Author:Gary Hamel

“I don't know whether the universe contains any evidence of intelligent design, but I can assure you that thousands of everyday products do not.”

Knows I Can Universe Design Products Evidence Intelligent Everyday Intelligent Design

Author:Gary Hamel

“In a well-functioning democracy, citizens have the option of voting their political masters out of office. Not so in most companies.”

Wells Political Company Democracy Masters Citizens Office Voting

Author:Gary Hamel

“In a world of commoditized knowledge, the returns go to the companies who can produce non-standard knowledge.”

World Company Produce Return Standards

Author:Gary Hamel

“In an ideal world, an individual's institutional power would be correlated perfectly with his or her value-add. In practice, this is seldom the case.”

World Would Be Values Individual Practice Cases Ideals Add Ideal World

Author:Gary Hamel

“It's important to remember that innovators in business don't always get a platform.”

Important Remember Platforms Innovators

Author:Gary Hamel

“Like a child star whose fame fades as the years advance, many once-innovative companies become less so as they mature.”

Years Children Stars Company Fame Mature Fades Innovative

Author:Gary Hamel

“Management innovation is going to be the most enduring source of competitive advantage. There will be lots of rewards for firms in the vanguard.”

Source Advantage Innovation Management Rewards Endure Firm Competitive Advantage Vanguard

Author:Gary Hamel

“Obviously, you don't have to be religious to be moral, and beastly people are sometimes religious.”

People Sometimes Religious Moral Beastly

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“Online hierarchies are inherently dynamic. The moment someone stops adding value to the community, his influence starts to wane.”

Moments Values Community Influence Online Hierarchy Adding Value

Author:Gary Hamel

“When a politician bends the truth or a CEO breaks a promise, trust takes a beating.”

Break Politician Promise Ceo

Author:Gary Hamel

“You can't build an adaptable organization without adaptable people - and individuals change only when they have to, or when they want to.”

People Want Inspirational Individual Change Inspiring Organization Adaptability Adaptable

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“Remarkable contributions are typically spawned by a passionate commitment to transcendent values such as beauty, truth, wisdom, justice, charity, fidelity, joy, courage and honor.”

Joy Values Justice Honor Commitment Charity Passionate Contribution Remarkable Fidelity Transcendent

Author:Gary Hamel

“An adaptable company is one that captures more than its fair share of new opportunities. It's always redefining its 'core business' in ways that open up new avenues for growth.”

Way Opportunity Growth Company Share Fairs Core Capture Avenues New Opportunity Fair Share Adaptable Redefining

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“As human beings, we are the only organisms that create for the sheer stupid pleasure of doing so. Whether it's laying out a garden, composing a new tune on the piano, writing a bit of poetry, manipulating a digital photo, redecorating a room, or inventing a new chili recipe - we are happiest when we are creating.”

Writing Humans Bits Human Beings Pleasure Rooms Stupid Creating Garden Piano Tunes Digital Sheer Organisms Recipes Inventing Composing Chili

Author:Gary Hamel

“At the heart of every faith system is a bargain: on one side there is the comfort that comes from a narrative that suggests human life has cosmic significance, and on the other a duty to yield to moral commands that can, in the moment, seem rather inconvenient.”

Humans Heart Moments Seems Sides Moral Duty Comfort Command Narrative Human Life Significance Yield Cosmic Bargains Inconvenient

Author:Gary Hamel

“Building human-centered organizations doesn't imply a return to the paternalistic, corporate welfare practices of the 19th century. Most of us don't want to be nannied.”

Want Humans Practice Century Building Return Organization Corporate Welfare 19th Century

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“I live a half mile from the San Andreas fault - a fact that bubbles up into my consciousness every time some other part of the world experiences an earthquake. I sometimes wonder whether this subterranean sense of impending disaster is at least partly responsible for Silicon Valley's feverish, get-it-done-yesterday work norms.”

World Sometimes Done Facts Half Consciousness Wonder Responsible Faults Yesterday Miles Disaster Valleys Bubbles Norm Earthquakes Silicon Get It Done Silicon Valley Andrea

Author:Gary Hamel

“I'm a capitalist by conviction and profession. I believe the best economic system is one that rewards entrepreneurship and risk-taking, maximizes customer choice, uses markets to allocate scarce resources and minimizes the regulatory burden on business.”

Believe Use Choices I Believe Risk Economic Resources Rewards Conviction Burden Customers Profession Entrepreneurship Capitalist Scarce Risk-taking Economic Systems Scarce Resources

Author:Gary Hamel

“I'm not one of those professors whose office is encased floor-to-ceiling with books. By the way, I think academics do this to intimidate their visitors.”

Thinking Way Book Office Professors Ceilings Intimidating Visitors

Author:Gary Hamel

“In most companies, the formal hierarchy is a matter of public record - it's easy to discover who's in charge of what. By contrast, natural leaders don't appear on any organization chart.”

Matter Easy Natural Company Leader Records Organization Contrast Formal Hierarchy

Author:Gary Hamel

“It doesn't matter much where your company sits in its industry ecosystem, nor how vertically or horizontally integrated it is - what matters is its relative 'share of customer value' in the final product or solution, and its cost of producing that value.”

Matter Values Company Share Products Industry Cost Solutions Finals Educational Customers Relative What Matters Integrated Ecosystems

Author:Gary Hamel

“Most companies don't have the luxury of focusing exclusively on innovation. They have to innovate while stamping out zillions of widgets or processing billions of transactions.”

Company Innovation Billions Luxury Transactions Processing

Author:Gary Hamel

“Over the centuries, religion has become institutionalized, and in the process encrusted with elaborate hierarchies, top-heavy bureaucracies, highly specialized roles and reflexive routines.”

Process Roles Century Heavy Bureaucracy Hierarchy

Author:Gary Hamel

“What's true for churches is true for other institutions: the older and more organized they get, the less adaptable they become. That's why the most resilient things in our world - biological life, stock markets, the Internet - are loosely organized.”

World Church Internet Institutions Organized Our World Resilient Adaptable

Author:Gary Hamel

“In the age of revolution you have to be able to imagine revolutionary alternatives to the status quo. If you can't, you'll be relegated to the swollen ranks of keyboard-pounding automatons.”

Ifs Age Able Imagine Revolution Alternatives Revolutionary Status Quo Keyboards Swollen

Author:Gary Hamel

“The best innovations - both socially and economically - come from the pursuit of ideals that are noble and timeless: joy, wisdom, beauty, truth, equality, community, sustainability and, most of all, love. These are the things we live for, and the innovations that really make a difference are the ones that are life-enhancing. And that’s why the heart of innovation is a desire to re-enchant the world.”

World Heart Joy Desire Community Differences Ideals Innovation Noble Pursuit Making A Difference Sustainability Timeless

Author:Gary Hamel

“Our biggest challenge is how to create a self-renewing company.”

Self Challenges Company

Author:Gary Hamel

“Organizational structures of today demand too much from a few, and not much at all from everyone else.”

Today Too Much Demand Structure Organizational Organizational Structure

Author:Gary Hamel

“All too often, legacy management practices reflexively perpetuate the past - by over-weighting the views of long-tenured executives, by valuing conformance more highly than creativity and by turning tired industry nostrums into sacred truths.”

Long Past Views Creativity Practice Industry Management Sacred Tired Legacy Executives

Author:Gary Hamel

“During the ten years I lived in the U.K., I frequently attended an Anglican church just outside of London. I enjoyed the energetic singing and the thoughtful homilies. And yet, I found it easy to be a pew warmer, a consumer, a back row critic.”

Years Found Easy Church Ten Singing Critics London Enjoyed Consumers Thoughtful Energetic

Author:Gary Hamel

“Truth be told, there are lots of companies that provide exemplary phone support. DirecTV, Virgin America and Apple are a few that regularly exceed my expectations.”

America Company Support Truth Is Expectations Phones Apples Virgins Exceed Exemplary Truth Be Told

Author:Gary Hamel

“Most of us do more than subsist. From the vantage point of our ancestors, we live lives of almost unimaginable ease. Here again, we have innovation to thank.”

Innovation Live Life Ease Ancestor Unimaginable Vantage Point

Book:What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Source: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

“A titled leader relies heavily on positional power to get things done; a natural leader is able to mobilize others without the whip of formal authority.”

Done Able Natural Leader Authority Rely Formal Things Done Whips

Author:Gary Hamel

“Power has long been regarded as morally corrosive, and we often suspect the intentions of those who seek it.”

Long Intention Suspects

Author:Gary Hamel

About the Author

Born: January 1, 1954
Known for: Manager
Quotes: 103

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Books & Sources

What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable InnovationRelated source material

Competing for the FutureRelated source material

Future of ManagementRelated source material

The Future of ManagementRelated source material

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