The best CEOs in our research display tremendous ambition for their company combined with the stoic will to do whatever it takes, no matter how brutal (within the bounds of the company’s core values), to make the company great.
JAMES C. COLLINSYou must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
More James C. Collins Quotes
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Discipline is consistency of action.
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…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.
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The only acceptable goals are measurable,” but that’s actually an undisciplined statement. Lots of goals-beauty, quality, life change, love-are worthy but not quantifiable. But you do have to be able to tell if you’re making progress.
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A visionary company doesn’t simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme.
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You not only want to win a gold medal at the Olympics, you not only can see yourself standing there on the podium, but you can also feel the goose bumps as your national anthem is played; the tears are in your eyes. (That’s how real a dream can be and should be)
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By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.
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A great company will have many once-in-a-liftetime opportunities.
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Change your practices without abandoning your core values.
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I can just let my curiosity wander unleashed.
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The only way to deliver to the people who are achieving is to not burden them with the people who are not achieving.
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Whether you prevail or fail depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you.
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People are not your most important asset….the right people are.
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The inner experience of fallure is totally different than failure. Going to fallure means 100% commitment – you leave nothing in reserve, no mental or physical resource untapped, you never give yourself a psychological out.
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The greatest leaders build organizations that, in the end, don’t need them.
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The challenge is not just to build a company that can endure; but to build one that is worthy of enduring.
JAMES C. COLLINS