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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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James C. Collins
Age: 66
Born: 1958
Born: January 25
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Just because a company falls doesn't invalidate what we can learn by studying that company when it was at its historical best.
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If you have a charismatic cause you don't need to be a charismatic leader.
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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.
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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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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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Mediocrity results first and foremost from management failure, not technological failure.
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True leadership has people who follow when they have the freedom not to.
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The essence of profound insight is simplicity.
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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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The only way to remain great is to keep on applying the fundamental principles that made you great.
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I see the Baldrige process as a powerful set of mechanisms for disciplined people engaged in disciplined thought and taking disciplined action to create great organizations that produce exceptional results.
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Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step.
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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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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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Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.
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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.
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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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Discipline should amplify creativity rather than stifle it.
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By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.
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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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