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Companies that change best over time know first and foremost what should not change.

James C. Collins

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James C. Collins
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: January 25
Author
Businessperson
Journalist
Writer
Boulder
Colorado
Foremost
Companies
Company
Change
Best
Firsts
First
Time

More quotes by James C. Collins

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Managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great.
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Good is the enemy of great.. The vast majority of good companies remain just that - good, but not great.
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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.
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Those fortunate enough to find or create a practical intersection of the three circles have the basis for a great work life.
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The critical question is not whether you'll have luck, but what you do with the luck that you get.
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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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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.
James C. Collins
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The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change. The signature of mediocrity is inconsistency.
James C. Collins
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Don't take care of your career. Take care of your people. They will take care of your career.
James C. Collins
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In an ironic twist, I now see Good to Great not as a sequel to Built to Last, but more of a prequel. Good to Great is about how to turn a good organization into one that produces sustained great results. Built to Last is about how you take a company with great results and turn it into an enduring great company of iconic stature.
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.
James C. Collins
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How can you succeed by helping others succeed? We succeed at our very best only when we help others succeed.
James C. Collins
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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.
James C. Collins
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The people who don't have a great life are the ones who settle for a good one.
James C. Collins
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Genius of AND. Embrace both extremes on a number of dimensions at the same time. Instead of choosing a OR B, figure out how to have A AND B-purpose AND profit, continuity AND change, freedom AND responsibility, etc.
James C. Collins
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If you have a charismatic cause you don't need to be a charismatic leader.
James C. Collins
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Not one of the good-to-great companies focused obsessively on growth.
James C. Collins
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First figure out your partners, then figure out what ideas to pursue. The most important thing isn't the market you target, the product you develop or the financing, but the founding team.
James C. Collins
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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
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A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable. A visionary company doesn't simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement it does both to an extreme.
James C. Collins