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It took Einstein ten years of groping through the fog to get the theory of special relativity, and he was a bright guy.
James C. Collins
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James C. Collins
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: January 25
Author
Businessperson
Journalist
Writer
Boulder
Colorado
Took
Theory
Groping
Special
Relativity
Guy
Einstein
Years
Fog
Perseverance
Bright
Ten
More quotes by James C. Collins
We 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.
James C. Collins
I've never found an important decision made by a great organization that was made at a point of unanimity. Significant decisions carry risks and inevitably some will oppose it. In these settings, the great legislative leader must be artful in handling uncomfortable decisions, and this requires rigor.
James C. Collins
It occurs to me,Jim,that you spend too much time trying to be interesting. Why don't you invest more time being interested? Collin's advice from John Gardner that he took to heart.
James C. Collins
Most people will look back and realize they did not have a great life because it's just so easy to settle for a good life.
James C. Collins
A great company will have many once-in-a-liftetime opportunities.
James C. Collins
The critical question is not whether you'll have luck, but what you do with the luck that you get.
James C. Collins
Companies that change best over time know first and foremost what should not change.
James C. Collins
If we allow the celebrity rock-star model of leadership to triumph, we will see the decline of corporations and institutions of all types. The twentieth century was a century of greatness, but we face the very real prospect that the next century will see very few enduring great institutions.
James C. Collins
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
It is more important to know who you are than where you are going, for where you are going will change as the world around you changes.
James C. Collins
Smart people instinctively understand the dangers of entrusting our future to self-serving leaders who use our institutions, whether in the corporate or social sectors, to advance their own interests.
James C. Collins
Not one of the good-to-great companies focused obsessively on growth.
James C. Collins
Mediocrity results first and foremost from management failure, not technological failure.
James C. Collins
Growth! is not a Hedgehog Concept. Rather, if you have the right Hedgehog Concept and make decisions relentlessly consistent with it, you will create such momentum that your main problem will not be how to grow, but how not to grow too fast.
James C. Collins
I am completely Socratic.
James C. Collins
The inner experience of fallure is totally different than failure. Going to fallure means 100% commitment - you leave nothing in reserve, no mental or physical resource untapped, you never give yourself a psychological out. Failure means making a decision to let go, to be less than 100% committed, when confronted by fear, pain and uncertainty.
James C. Collins
The essence of profound insight is simplicity.
James C. Collins
Good is the enemy of great. And that's one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.
James C. Collins
We are not imprisoned by circumstances, setbacks, mistakes or staggering defeats, we are freed by our choices.
James C. Collins
Managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great.
James C. Collins
