“A culture truly changes only when a new way of operating has been shown to succeed over some minimum period of time.” “A guiding coalition made up only of managers—even superb managers who are wonderful people—will cause major change efforts to fail.” “A guiding coalition with good managers but poor leaders will not succeed. A
“All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that time line by removing the non-value-adding wastes.” “Ask ‘why’ five times about every matter.” “Costs do not exist to be calculated. Costs exist
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.” “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” “Character
“All of us profit from being corrected – if we’re corrected in a positive way.” “And like most other overnight successes, it was about twenty years in the making. ” “Capital isn’t scarce; vision is.” “Celebrate your successes. Find some humor in your failures.” “Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.”
“Above all, success in business requires two things: a winning competitive strategy, and superb organizational execution. Distrust is the enemy of both. I submit that while high trust won’t necessarily rescue a poor strategy, low trust will almost always derail a good one. “ “Admission of ignorance is often the first step in our education.”