When young men and young women are beginning life…
When young men and young women are beginning life, the most important period, it is often said, is that in which their habits are formed. That is a very important period. But the period in which the ideals of the young are formed and adopted is more important still. For the ideal with which you go forward to measure things determines the nature, so far as you are concerned, of everything you meet.
–Henry Ward BeecherLabor to keep alive in your breast that little spark…
Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.
–George Washington, First President of the United States of America
The people who work for GE do so because…
The people who work for GE do so because they want to be about something that is bigger than themselves. People want to work hard, they want promotions, they want stock options. But they also want to work for a company that makes a difference, a company that’s doing great things in the world.
–Jeffrey Immelt Chairman and CEO, General Electric
For the last five decades, most thinkers…
For the last five decades, most thinkers have described business success in terms of competition. We talk about market share and competitive advantage, we use dozens of sports metaphors–all about winning and losing. The other line of thought–serving customers–has never had the intellectual cachet or hot press of the competition model. But the truth is, the customer service model is more profoundly right than the competitive model. For economists, the role of competition is to improve value to the customer. For business people, the only guaranteed way to win against competitors is to do a better job serving customers. In both views, customer acceptance is the cause; competitive success is the second-order effect.
–Charles Green coauthor, The Trusted Aduisor
I’ve owned, managed, consulted more than 100…
I’ve owned, managed, or consulted with more than 100 businesses–from runaway winners to outright dogs. One thing the winners have in common is they all remember the exact moment they knew they had made it big. In nearly every case, that moment came when they ‘bagged their first Elephant’–won their first customer big enough to provide the cash flow and profits they had craved. Then refreshed and replenished, they could finally realize their dreams, finesse their products and services, hire more people, and capture even bigger Elephants.
–Frank Felberbaum