“Picking winners among the many young companies seeking money is a tough business, even for the most sophisticated investors. Indeed, most professionally run venture funds lose money. For individuals, it's pure folly. Buy a lottery ticket instead. Your chance of winning is likely to be higher.” RunningYoungWinningIndividualLosesChanceCompanyHigherPureToughSeekingWinnerFollyFundInvestorsSophisticatedTicketsVentureLotteryLottery Ticket Author:Steven Rattner
“My biggest fear is that we [Unilever company] at one point in time will not be able to attract the best and brightest [workers]. I don't worry so much about the business, the strategy. If we can continue to attract the best, I know they will ultimately figure out how to run the company in a very tough environment.” IfsKnowsRunningAbleCompanyWorryEnvironmentFiguresToughStrategyWorkersBiggest Fear Author:Paul Polman
“Eventually private enterprise will be able to send people into orbit, but I suspect initially it's going to have to be with NASA's help. Whether it's going to be a consortium or one entity remains to be seen. I could be wrong. I could be one of the old fogies! Rocket science is tough, and rockets have a way of failing. It happens. A company has to be willing to bear the risk of its rocket failing. It's a very large capital investment.” PeopleWayHelpingHappensAbleCompanyFailingRiskWillingBearsToughRemainsInvestmentEnterpriseSuspectsEntityRocketsNasaOrbitPrivate EnterpriseRocket ScienceCapital Investment Author:Sally Ride
“... you can think about that for everyone you hire: will I bet the future of this company on this single hire? And that's a tough bar.” ThinkingCompanyTeamToughBars Author:Sam Altman
“In fact, batteries haven't improved over the last 100 years as much as they would need to in order to make that happen. So I'm invested in a lot of battery companies - and there's a lot that exists I'm not in. They're all having a tough time achieving it.” NeedsYearsFactsHappensLastsOrderCompanyAchieveHavensToughTough TimesBatteries Author:Bill Gates
“I also think you have to be very careful. I mean, the heritage of our company is very strong, and building some of these businesses into leading players is extremely tough. You and I can both build a trading business, and it looks like you're doing OK, and it looks like I'm doing OK. But, really, I am, and you aren't. It comes down to the quality of clients, quality of systems, quality of risk controls.” ThinkingLooksMeanI CanStrongQualityCompanyPlayerRiskBuildingLike YouToughCarefulHeritageVery StrongClientsTrading Author:Jamie Dimon
“There are lots of small businesses in Britain that have a pretty tough time but many of them are also parts of supply chains, the leave side roll out JCB but that's one company, all the experts are saying the economy would take a big hit if we came out of the EU.” IfsBigsSidesCompanyEconomyToughChainsExpertsBritainSmall BusinessTough TimesSupply Chain Author:Frances O'Grady
“If you are a large company and you want to do something unique, you almost by definition have to tap onto the core business in some way. Otherwise you are going into a naked fight against startups, and that's just a tough place to be.” IfsWayWantFightingCompanyUniqueToughDefinitionsCoreNakedLarge Companies Author:Scott D. Anthony
“The sad truth is as difficult as the first mile can be for entrepreneurs, it is doubly tough inside most large companies as innovators can face some significant headwinds.” FirstsFacesDifficultCompanyTruth IsToughEntrepreneurMilesSignificantInnovatorsSad TruthLarge Companies Author:Scott D. Anthony
“Republican hawks like John McCain and Lindsey Graham who are very skeptical of [Rex Tillerson]. At the same time the Democrats will portray him as a climate criminal because he heads a big oil company. So, he'll be in for really tough confirmation hearings.” BigsCompanyRepublicanToughDemocratClimateHearingOilCriminalsSkepticalMccainHawksConfirmationOil CompaniesBig Oil Author:Rich Lowry
“[Simon Segars ] came by a few times.I told him, "If you understand the future of the internet of things that much, then you should add more engineers and go on the offensive." Simon had explained to analysts and others that he intended to do that sort of forward-looking investment, but he said it's tough for a listed company considering its share price falls if profits drop.” IfsShouldSaidFallCompanyShareGoes OnInternetToughAddInvestmentProfitEngineersConsideringOffensiveAnalystsShare Price Author:Masayoshi Son
“Well, well-run companies always have a focus on growth and the two lines, which includes profit. The key thing during, I think, tough times, is to make sure that you've covered the basis for when something, you know, essentially things taking longer, bad luck, adversity, other kinds of circumstances may occur. Make sure that you can monitor to win, it's potentially, you know, something is going to go wrong, monitor early enough, and then take appropriate action to essentially counteract that or shift your strategy or plan, even if in fact something is not working out as well as it is.” IfsThinkingKnowsWellsKindMayTwoEnoughFactsRunningActionWinningGrowthLinesCompanyFocusPlansKeysCircumstancesToughBasesAdversityLuckStrategyProfitWork OutAppropriateCoveredTough TimesBad LuckKey Things Author:Reid Hoffman
“We have to be pretty tough with mortgage companies and say you have got to give people the chance to work out their debts, sort out future mortgages.” PeopleGivingChanceCompanyToughWork OutDebtMortgage Author:George Osborne
“Building fast-growing, globally competitive companies is tough.” CompanyGrowingBuildingTough Author:Kevin O'Leary
“Credit card companies are jacking up interest rates, lowering credit limits, and closing accounts - and people who have made timely payments are not exempt. So even if you pay off your balance - and that's tough when interest rates are insanely high - there's a good chance your credit limit will be slashed, and that will hurt your FICO score.” PeopleIfsMadeInterestHurtChancePayCompanyBalanceLimitsToughAccountsRateCreditCardsScoreClosingPaymentCredit CardInterest RateTimelyGood Chance Author:Suze Orman
“We found that the most exciting environments, that treated people very well, are also tough as nails. There is no bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo... excellent companies provide two things simultaneously: tough environments and very supportive environments.” PeopleWellsTwoFoundCompanyEnvironmentToughExcitingEnvironmentalTreatedExcellentTwo ThingsNailsSupportiveRebellious Author:Tom Peters
“During the Depression, or back when we were fighting Hitler, people didn't have time to sue a company if the coffee was too hot. There were urgent, pressing problems. If you think you have it tough, read history books.” PeopleIfsThinkingBookProblemFightingCompanyGratitudeToughHotCoffeeUrgentBack WhenHistory BooksEspressoFunny Coffee Author:Bill Maher