214 Quotes by James C. Collins

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.

Greatness is an inherently dynamic process, not an end point. The moment you think of yourself as great, your slide toward mediocrity will have already begun.

First Who... Then What. We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage “People are your most important asset” turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.

The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake.

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.

The good-to-great companies did not focus principally on what to do to become great; they focused equally on what not to do and what to stop doing.

Far more difficult than implementing change is figuring out what works, understanding why it works, grasping when to change, and knowing when not to.

The good-to-great companies made a habit of putting their best people on their best opportunities, not their biggest problems. The comparison companies had a penchant for doing just the opposite, failing to grasp the fact that managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great. There is an important.

Don’t take care of your career. Take care of your people. They will take care of your career.