Good to Great Quotes

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Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by James C. Collins
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Good to Great Quotes (showing 1-30 of 150)

“When [what you are deeply passionate about, what you can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine] come together, not only does your work move toward greatness, but so does your life. For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then, you might gain that rare tranquility that comes from knowing that you’ve had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time here on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

tags: business, inspirational

83 likes

“The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

tags: business

61 likes

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

52 likes

“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

41 likes

“Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

tags: inspirational, work-ethic

41 likes

“A company should limit its growth based on its ability to attract enough of the right people.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

tags: entrepreneurship

33 likes

“For, in the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

tags: inspirational

27 likes

“By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

tags: average

25 likes

“Letting the wrong people hang around is unfair to all the right people, as they inevitably find themselves compensating for the inadequacies of the wrong people. Worse, it can drive away the best people. Strong performers are intrinsically motivated by performance, and when they see their efforts impeded by carrying extra weight, they eventually become frustrated.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

23 likes

“Faith in the endgame helps you live through the months or years of buildup.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

16 likes

“The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

15 likes

“Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

13 likes

“Mediocrity results first and foremost from management failure, not technological failure.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

9 likes

“Indeed, the real question is not, “Why greatness?” but “What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?” If you have to ask the question, “Why should we try to make it great? Isn’t success enough?” then you’re probably engaged in the wrong line of work.”
― James C. Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

7 likes

“The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake.”