“Why are we here? I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists solely to make money. Money is an important part of a companys existence, if the company is any good. But a result is not a cause. We have to go deeper and find the real reason for our being.” PeopleIfsThinkingImportantRealReasonCausesResultsExistenceCompanyAssumingDeeperMaking Money Author:David Packard
“...there is no more strategic issue for a company, or any organization, than its ultimate purpose. For those who think business exists to make a profit, I suggest they think again. Business makes a profit to exist. Surely it must exist for some higher, nobler purpose than that.” ThinkingPurposeBusinessExistenceCompanyIssuesHigherUltimateOrganizationEntrepreneurProfitStrategicNoble Causes Author:Ray Anderson
“Maybe we should be directing our anger elsewhere - like toward Wall Street. Why is it we never think of Big Business when we think of welfare recipients? Companies take more of our tax dollars, and in much more questionable ways, than do those who are trying to heat their apartments with a kerosene stove.” ThinkingWayShouldTryingBigsBusinessCompanyStreetsWallTaxesDollarsWelfareHeatElsewhereApartmentBig BusinessQuestionableStovesTax DollarsWelfare Recipients Author:Michael Moore
“Tobacco companies are legally operating entities in Australia. If the Government thinks that they should not make donations to political parties, well then they should ban them operating as legally structured entities in Australia.” IfsThinkingShouldWellsGovernmentPoliticalPartyCompanyAustraliaEntityPolitical PartiesTobaccoBansDonation Author:Julie Bishop
“I've been a professional athlete, I've directed films, I've run a company with 150 employees, and nothing compares to writing a screenplay. Just the second I think I know what I'm doing, the rug gets pulled out and I have no idea what I'm doing. Because there are so many problems to solve.” ThinkingKnowsWritingIdeasProblemRunningFilmCompanyAthleteSolveNo IdeaCompareEmployeeScreenplaysProfessional Athlete Author:Stacy Peralta
“I think the consumption of music is at an all-time high. But I think the ways that record companies are trying to monetize it is just all over the place. At the end of the day, music is in the clouds. Before, you could hold it, look at it, turn it around. Now, it's just in the air.” ThinkingWayTryingLooksEndsTurnsCompanyRecordsAirMusic IsCloudsAll TimeThe End Of The DayConsumptionRecord Companies Author:Jay-Z
“At college, I felt frustrated thinking three years was a long time and I just wanted a job but afterwards I was in employment the whole time. I got into a theatre company and started doing stand-up gigs for cash, so I lived hand-to-mouth, but there was always enough to pay the bills.” ThinkingYearsLongEnoughWholeHandsWantedJobsThreeFeltPayCompanyCollegeLong TimeMouthsBillsTheatreEmploymentThree YearsCashFrustratedGigs Author:Bill Bailey
“Companies can add value and simultaneously promote themselves if their product or service truly improves the lives of their customers. I mean really improve lives, not wishful thinking, rationalization. That's the acid test.” IfsThinkingMeanValuesCompanyProductsTestsAddCustomersAcidWishful Thinking Author:Guy Kawasaki
“I think you're peripatetic when you work in this industry. My husband and I are assuming the role of co-artistic directors at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2008. But as long as the film industry will have me, I will have it.” ThinkingLongFilmCompanyRolesIndustryDirectorsHusbandAssumingTheatreArtisticMy HusbandFilm IndustrySydney Author:Cate Blanchett
“I think the leadership of a company should encourage the next generation not just to follow, but to overtake. The duty of leadership is to put forward ideas, symbols, metaphors of the way it should be done, so that the next generation can work out new and better ways of doing the job. The complaint Gordon and I have is that we are not being overtaken by our staff. We would like to be able to say, "We can't keep up with you guys", but, it is not happening.” ThinkingWayShouldIdeasDoneAbleJobsGuyNextCompanyGenerationsDutyHappeningsMetaphorWork OutSymbolsStaffComplaintsNext GenerationBetter Ways Author:Anita Roddick
“People can be a fine substitute for other dogs. But I think that if they had to choose, dogs by and large would choose the company of other dogs.” PeopleIfsThinkingCompanyDogFineSubstitutes Author:Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
“Contrary to what you think, your company will be a lot more productive if you refuse to tolerate competition among your employees.” IfsThinkingCompanyCompetitionRefuseContraryEmployeeProductiveTolerate Author:Alfie Kohn
“No manufacturer, from General Motors to the Little Lulu Novelty Company, would think of putting a product on the market without benefit of a designer.” ThinkingLittlesCompanyProductsBenefitsDesignerNoveltyMotorGeneral Motors Book:Never Leave Well Enough Alone Source: Never Leave Well Enough Alone
“You don't have to wait for a record company to tell you that you're good or to sign you. You can put your music out on itunes, youtube, soundcloud, so it's kind of a plus, I think.” ThinkingKindWaitingCompanyRecordsPlusYoutubeRecord CompaniesItunesSoundcloud Author:Shanice
“I think that the good thing about working smaller and being a smaller company that doesn't have to make as much to make money back is that you don't have to worry about, well, critics like this and they'll tell people to buy it, but millions of people might say, 'Oh, well I'm not interested in that subject matter' and we're sunk.” PeopleThinkingWellsMatterMightCompanyMillionsWorrySubjectsGood ThingsCriticsMaking MoneyNot InterestedSubject MatterOh Well Author:Steve Gaynor
“Oil companies earned a permanent enemy in me when they messed with the electric car the first time around, and I think they continue to do a disservice in making it seem like fossil fuels are cheaper than they really are in terms of total cost.” ThinkingFirstsSeemsTermCompanyEnemyCarCostFirst TimeOilPermanentFuelElectricFossilsCheaperFossil FuelDisserviceOil CompaniesElectric Car Author:Chris Paine
“Under the current U.S. policy, because of this power struggle, American oil companies can't do business with Iran. So I think the ultimate goal of the U.S. administration in Iran is regime change, to put into power a pro-Western government that will eliminate the strategic challenge to U.S. interests and, at the same time, allow the lifting of sanctions and allowing American oil companies to do business with Iran.” ThinkingGovernmentGoalInterestChallengesCompanyStrugglePolicyUltimateWesternCurrentsOilAdministrationIranAllowingRegimesStrategicLiftingSanctionsUltimate GoalOil CompaniesPower StruggleRegime Change Author:Michael Klare
“There's something seriously wrong with Google. Technologically, they're brilliant, sensational. But morally, its management is completely adolescent. The company is so big and so arrogant, they do whatever they like, they think they are above the law.” ThinkingBigsLawCompanyManagementBrilliantArrogantGoogleSensationalAbove The Law Author:Max Mosley
“I think there are a lot of companies that are staying private longer. Much more of their growth is happening while they are on the private side. So their valuations are hitting $1 billion while they are still private more often.” ThinkingStillsSidesGrowthCompanyHappeningsBillionsStayingHittingValuation Author:David Sze
“There are three things you need to do as a CEO-founder. Think strategically, drive design, and drive technology. Some people who are really good at one can build a pretty foundational company. Most people who are very successful are good at two. But Jack is the only person in the Valley I've met who's all three. He's a first-rate strategist, a first-rate designer, and a first-rate technologist.” PeopleThinkingNeedsFirstsPersonsTwoThreeCompanyTechnologySuccessfulDesignMetsRateDesignerValleysFoundersCeoThree ThingsStrategist Author:Keith Rabois
“Founders should think of their company as a product and build it and shape it with the same passion and care.” ThinkingShouldCarePassionCompanyProductsShapesFounders Author:Roelof Botha
“I writhe when I see myself on the screen. I'm such a dreadfully clumsy hulking image. I say to myself, "Why doesn't he get off? Why doesn't he get off?" I mean, I look like such an idiot. Some fat awkward thing dredged up from some third-rate drama company. I must stop thinking about it, otherwise I shan't be able to go on working.” ThinkingLooksMeanAbleCompanyGoes OnDramaThirdsRateScreensFatsIdiotAwkwardClumsy Author:Peter Sellers
“I'm speaking to you from Silicon Valley, where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information. They're gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think that's wrong. And it's not the kind of company that Apple wants to be.” ThinkingWantTryingKindCompanySuccessfulInformationBuiltCustomersApplesValleysComplacencyProminentSiliconSilicon ValleySuccessful CompanyPersonal Information Author:Tim Cook
“I think what people love about the Steve Jobs story is not just the track record at Apple, but that comeback story, that he was thrown out of Apple, came back and built the company even greater. And that perseverance is so important in terms of entrepreneurship. And nobody is a better role model for that, for all entrepreneurs all over the world than Steve Jobs.” PeopleThinkingWorldImportantStoriesJobsTermCompanyRolesRecordsGreaterModelsBuiltEntrepreneurPerseveranceTrackEntrepreneurshipApplesThrownRole ModelsComebackTrack Record Author:Steve Case
“I think maybe 50 years ago people and businesses felt like they had to choose between maximizing profits and making customers happy or making employees happy, and I think we're actually living in a special time where everyone's hyperconnected, whether through Twitter or blogs and so on. Information travels so quickly that it's actually possible to have it all, to make customers happy through customer service, to make employees happy through strong company cultures, and have that actually drive growth and profits.” PeopleThinkingYearsCultureStrongFeltGrowthCompanySpecialInformationYears AgoProfitCustomersEmployeeBlogsCompany CultureMaximizingSpecial TimesActually Living Author:Tony Hsieh
“It is a good rule in life to be wary of the company of people who think of themselves in the third person, no matter how well justified they might seem to be in doing so.” PeopleThinkingWellsPersonsMatterSeemsMightCompanyThirdsJustifiedThird Person Book:Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts Source: Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts
“That's why the smartest companies use Common Lisp, but lie about it so all their competitors think Lisp is slow and C++ is fast.” ThinkingUseLyingCommonCompanyCompetitorsLisp Author:Erik Naggum
“One of the most important things for any leader is to never let anyone else define who you are. And you define who you are. I never think of myself as being a woman CEO of this company. I think of myself as a steward of a great institution.” ThinkingImportantCompanyLeaderInstitutionsImportant ThingsWho You AreCeoBeing A WomanStewards Author:Ginni Rometty
“We must not fall into the mistake of thinking that it is America that trades with Taiwan or Europe that trades with Asia. The truth is that it is American companies that trade with Taiwanese companies.” ThinkingAmericaFallMistakeCompanyTruth IsEuropeTradeAsiaTaiwan Author:Margaret Thatcher
“War is like a game of chess ... but with this little difference, that in chess you may think over each move as long as you please and are not limited for time, and with this difference too, that a knight is always stronger than a pawn, and two pawns are always stronger than one, while in war a battalion is sometimes stronger than a division and sometimes weaker than a company. The relative strength of bodies of troops can never be known to anyone.... Success never depends, and never will depend, on position, or equipment, or even on numbers, and least of all on position.” ThinkingMayLittlesLongTwoWarSometimesBodyMovingGamesDifferencesNumbersCompanyKnownPositionDependsPleaseStrongerChessDivisionRelativeTroopsEquipmentKnightsPawns Author:Leo Tolstoy
“I imagine you will always be pinched for money, for time, for a place to work. But I think you will do it. And believe me, it is not a new problem. You are in good company...Your touch is the uncommon touch; you will speak only to the thoughtful reader. And more times than once you will ask yourself whether such readers really exist at all and why you should go on projecting your words into silence like an old crazy actor playing the part of himself to an empty theater.” ThinkingShouldBelieveProblemActorsAsksSpeakSilenceCompanyImagineCrazyGoes OnReaderEmptyTheaterThoughtfulMore TimeBelieve In MeUncommonGood Company Author:Wallace Stegner
“Toronto's likable, but it could be a lot more, as I think Montreal is, lovable. What we need more than anything, I think, is a great pedestrian promenade. Pick a busy streetscape, close it to cars forever, and it will fill with people enjoying nothing more than the pleasure of their own company.” PeopleThinkingNeedsEnjoyPleasureCompanyForeverCarPicksBusyTorontoLovablePedestriansMontrealPromenade Author:Andy Barrie
“The mind is a vagrant thing.... Thinking is not analogous to a person working in a laboratory who invents something on company time.” ThinkingMindPersonsCompanyLaboratoryVagrants Author:Daniel J. Boorstin
“I think where Playground is heading is deeper into that marriage between stage, film and television, with the increasing number of people in the film business working in television, obviously something that we were very influential in starting and doing at HBO. And I think that that's the focus of where I see the company moving forward, continuing to explore that intersection of all that talent.” PeopleThinkingFilmMovingNumbersCompanyFocusStageTalentTelevisionStartingDeeperMoving ForwardContinuingInfluentialHeadingsPlaygroundsIntersectionsHboFilm And Television Author:Colin Callender
“I think that to a great degree, reggae companies have become very corporate and so maybe some don't have that freedom to say whatever they want to say.” ThinkingWantCompanyDegreesCorporateReggae Author:Stevie Wonder
“Well, my motivation behind Tesla is really to do as much good as possible for the environment and the electric-vehicle revolution. I think there is still a lot of work to do and if we were to sell to a big company, I'm not sure it would progress at the same pace.” IfsThinkingWellsStillsBigsMotivationBehindsCompanyEnvironmentProgressRevolutionSellsNot SurePaceVehicleElectricBig CompaniesTeslaElectric Vehicles Author:Elon Musk
“I think there's a need for somewhat of a mindset change. We need to have a consistent external focus. We've always had the research labs. We've always had the resources to be innovative, and we've been innovative in a number of businesses. But, in any big company, you have to constantly push people to look at markets and customers, rather than look internally at themselves.” PeopleThinkingNeedsLooksBigsNumbersCompanyFocusResearchResourcesCustomersMindsetConsistentInnovativeLabsBig Companies Author:Jeffrey R. Immelt
“Think today's interest rates are high? The Pilgrims borrowed $7000 from a London company of 70 investors in 1620, and devoted the next 23 years to repaying it at 43 percent.” ThinkingYearsTodayNextInterestCompanyPercentRateLondonInvestorsDevotedBorrowedPilgrimInterest RateRepaying Author:L. M. Boyd
“Each year we go to the Cannes film festival and I tend to have all my friends pile in the back of my car and we'll drive from London. The poor production company think they're only putting me up and suddenly they've got eight people sleeping on my hotel room floor.” PeopleThinkingYearsFilmSleepPoorRoomsCompanyCarMy FriendsProductionsEightLondonHotelFestivalsHotel RoomsFilm FestivalsCannesCannes Film Festival Author:Jeremy Irvine
“If companies don't know that they can run out of money, they won't be thinking of ways not to run out of money.” IfsThinkingKnowsWayRunningCompany Author:Bill Gross