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Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity...are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.

James C. Collins

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James C. Collins
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: January 25
Author
Businessperson
Journalist
Writer
Boulder
Colorado
Motivated
Marketing
Build
Behinds
Behind
Fear
Left
Perpetuate
Mediocrity

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It's what you do before you are in trouble, so that you can be strong when people most need you.
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If I'm going really, really fast, I can do a page of finished text a day, on average.
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There is a sense of exhilaration that comes from facing head-on the hard truths and saying, We will never give up. We will never capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a way to prevail.
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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.
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Get keep right people.
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In a world of constant change, the fundamentals are more important than ever.
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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.
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To have a Welch-caliber C.E.O. is impressive.To have a century of Welch-Caliber C.E.O.'s all grown from the inside - well, that is one key reason why G.E. is a visionary company.
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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.
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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 int he wrong line of work.
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The only way to remain great is to keep on applying the fundamental principles that made you great.
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In a truly great company profits and cash flow become like blood and water to a healthy body: They are absolutely essential for life but they are not the very point of life
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The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is inconsistency.
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Mediocrity results first and foremost from management failure, not technological failure.
James C. Collins
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Comparison, a great teacher once told me, is the cardinal sin of modern life. It traps us in a game that we can't win. Once we define ourselves in terms of others, we lose the freedom to shape our own lives.
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In determing the right people, the good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience.
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Companies that change best over time know first and foremost what should not change.
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We are not imprisoned by circumstances, setbacks, mistakes or staggering defeats, we are freed by our choices.
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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.
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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.
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