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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.

James C. Collins

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James C. Collins
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: January 25
Author
Businessperson
Journalist
Writer
Boulder
Colorado
Trouble
Strong
Need
Needs
People

More quotes by James C. Collins

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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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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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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
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The essence of profound insight is simplicity.
James C. Collins
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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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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
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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.
James C. Collins
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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.
James C. Collins
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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.
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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If you have a charismatic cause you don't need to be a charismatic leader.
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.
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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Good is the enemy of great.. The vast majority of good companies remain just that - good, but not great.
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
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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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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.
James C. Collins
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You can't manufacture passion or motivate people to feel passionate. You can only discover what ignites your passion and the passions of those around you.
James C. Collins
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The x factor of a great leader is humility combined with will.
James C. Collins
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True leadership has people who follow when they have the freedom not to.
James C. Collins