An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.
An overburdened, overstretched executive is the best executive, because he or she doesn't have the time to meddle, to deal in trivia, to bother people.
Be candid with everyone.
Change before you have to.
Control your own destiny or someone else will.
Don't manage - lead change before you have to.
Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.
Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.
Globalization has changed us into a company that searches the world, not just to sell or to source, but to find intellectual capital - the world's best talents and greatest ideas.
I was afraid of the internet... because I couldn't type.
I've learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success.
If GE's strategy of investment in China is wrong, it represents a loss of a billion dollars, perhaps a couple of billion dollars. If it is right, it is the future of this company for the next century.
If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete.
If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don't have to manage them.
My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too.
Strong managers who make tough decisions to cut jobs provide the only true job security in today's world. Weak managers are the problem. Weak managers destroy jobs.
The 1980s will seem like a walk in the park when compared to new global challenges, where annual productivity increases of 6% may not be enough. A combination of software, brains, and running harder will be needed to bring that percentage up to 8% or 9%.
The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important - and then get out of their way while they do it.
The Internet is the Viagra of big business.
The team with the best players wins.
We bring together the best ideas - turning the meetings of our top managers into intellectual orgies.
We've only been wealthy in this country for 70 years. Who said we ought to have all this? Is it ordained?
Willingness to change is a strength, even if it means plunging part of the company into total confusion for a while.
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