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.
JAMES C. COLLINSIn a world of constant change, the fundamentals are more important than ever.
More James C. Collins Quotes
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Genius of AND. Embrace both extremes on a number of dimensions at the same time. Instead of choosing a OR B, figure out how to have A AND B-purpose AND profit, continuity AND change, freedom AND responsibility, etc.
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We learned that a former prisoner of war had more to teach us about what it takes to find a path to greatness than most books on corporate strategy.
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Not all time in life is equal. How many opportunities do you get to talk about what your life is going to add up to with people thinking about the same question?
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Get involved in something that you care so much about that you want to make it the greatest it can possibly be, not because of what you will get, but just because it can be done.
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Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity…are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.
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I’ve never found an important decision made by a great organization that was made at a point of unanimity.
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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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If I were running a company today, I would have one priority above all others: to acquire as many of the best people as I could. I’d put off everything else to fill my bus. Because things are going to come back. My flywheel is going to start to turn.
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We are not imprisoned by circumstances, setbacks, mistakes or staggering defeats, we are freed by our choices.
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Change your practices without abandoning your core values.
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If you have more than three priorities then you don’t have any.
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You absolutely must have the discipline not to hire until you find the right people.
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Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.
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There is a sense of exhilaration that comes from facing head-on the hard truths and saying, “We will never give up. We will never capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a way to prevail.”
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In a truly great company profits and cash flow become like blood and water to a healthy body: They are absolutely essential for life but they are not the very point of life
JAMES C. COLLINS







