Favorite Quotes/Stories

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

- Calvin Coolidge

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena: whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

- Teddy Roosevelt

As in science and the arts, business achievement derives from open minds and fresh ideas. We once ask Michael S. Dell, founder, chairman, and chief executive office of Dell Computer Corporation, if he had dreamed of a future in technology when he was young. He confessed that he had not. But he did recall receiving inspiration from something he saw as a small boy being driven to school. The car passed many new buildings under construction in Houston, his hometown. Each had flags flying out front of them. It was Dell's youthful ambition to own such a building with a flagpole. When we inquired if Dell had what he wanted, Dell answered, "Yes, and I've got three flagpoles." His far-fetched childhood ambition had come true.

- James Champy
Chairman
Perot Systems Consulting Practice

"Of course innovation is risky. But so is stepping into the car to drive to the supermarket for a loaf of bread. All economic activity is by definition 'high risk.' And by defending yesterday - that is, not innovating - is far more risky than making tomorrow."

- Peter Drucker
from Innovation and Entrepreneurship (1985)

An interviewer visiting Thomas Edison at his laboratory asked, "What are the rules you want me to observe while I am here?"
"Hell! There aren't any rules around here!" replied Edison. "In this laboratory, we're trying to accomplish something."

"Somehow over the years, folks have gotten the impression that Wal-Mart was something I dreamed up out of the blue as a middle-aged man," he wrote near the end of his life, "and that it was just this great idea that turned out into an overnight success. Like most overnight successes, it was about 20 years in the making."

- Sam Walton
Founder of Wal-Mart