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The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconstancy. The signature of greatness is a disciplined and consistent focus on the right things.

James C. Collins

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James C. Collins
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: January 25
Author
Businessperson
Journalist
Writer
Boulder
Colorado
Right
Signature
Things
Signatures
Chronic
Disciplined
Mediocrity
Consistent
Greatness
Focus
Inconstancy

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Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.
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The secret to a successful retirement is to find your retirement sweet spot. The sweet spot is where your passions, what you do best, and what people will pay you to do overlap.
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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.
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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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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.
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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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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.
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By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.
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Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity...are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.
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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.
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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.
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Consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems, when people filter the brutal facts from you.
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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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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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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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How can you succeed by helping others succeed? We succeed at our very best only when we help others succeed.
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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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In a world of constant change, the fundamentals are more important than ever.
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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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The only way to deliver to the people who are achieving is to not burden them with the people who are not achieving.
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