Built to Last is about how you take a company with great results and turn it into an enduring great company of iconic stature.
JAMES C. COLLINSWe must reject the idea… Well-intentioned, but dead wrong… That the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become “more like a business.” Most businesses… Like most of anything else in life… Fall somewhere between mediocre and good.
More James C. Collins Quotes
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Our findings do not represent a quick fix, or the next fashion statement in a long string of management fads, or the next buzzword of the day, or a new ‘program’ to introduce. No!
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A great company will have many once-in-a-liftetime opportunities.
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Creative leadership impact increases in your 50’s. When I turn 50 I want to say, “Nice start!”
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The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive.
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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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By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.
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Not every financial company toppled during the 2008 crisis, and some seized the opportunity to take advantage of weaker competitors in the midst of the tumult.
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You 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.
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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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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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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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Creativity dies in an indisciplined environment.
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In an ironic twist, I now see Good to Great not as a sequel to Built to Last, but more of a prequel. Good to Great is about how to turn a good organization into one that produces sustained great results.
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If you have more than three priorities then you don’t have any.
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Profit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life.
JAMES C. COLLINS







