Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
You can't be all things to all people.
Strategic thinking rarely occurs spontaneously
Sound strategy starts with having the right goal
Sound strategy starts with having the right goal.
Without a goal analytics is aimless and worthless.
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.
Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity.
The company without a strategy is willing to try anything.
Strategy 101 is about choices: You can't be all things to all people.
The chief strategist of an organization has to be the leader - the CEO.
Strategy is choice. Strategy means saying no to certain kinds of things.
Change brings opportunities. On the other hand, change can be confusing.
A strategy delineates a territory in which a company seeks to be unique.
Companies operating in urban communities have a tremendous ripple effect.
Finally, strategy must have continuity. It can't be constantly reinvented.
Efforts to preserve all industries will lower the national standard of living.
Good leaders need a positive agenda, not just an agenda of dealing with crisis.
A target should go with every goal. A target is the value that defines success.
In the vast majority of businesses, there is simply no such thing as “the best.”
There's a fundamental distinction between strategy and operational effectiveness.
Operational effectiveness and strategy are both essential to superior performance.
The best CEOs I know are teachers, and at the core of what they teach is strategy.
If a strategy meets a goal: It's working. If a strategy meets a target: It's a success.
The essence of strategy is that you must set limits on what you're trying to accomplish.
Risk is a function of how poorly a strategy will perform if the 'wrong' scenario occurs.
The ability to change constantly and effectively is made easier by high-level continuity.
Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different.
The underlying principles of strategy are enduring, regardless of technology or the pace of change.
Ultimately, health care fails the most basic test. It's not organized around the needs of the patient.
The U.S. is facing a structural competitiveness problem that is leading to the weakest economy we have seen in generations.
If all you're trying to do is essentially the same thing as your rivals, then it's unlikely that you'll be very successful.
I'm really puzzled by why people in societies find it difficult to work collaboratively together with other people in societies.
If your goal is anything but profitability - if it's to be big, or to grow fast, or to become a technology leader - you'll hit problems.
Billions are wasted on ineffective philanthropy. Philanthropy is decades behind business in applying rigorous thinking to the use of money.
You can't have a healthy society unless you have healthy companies that are making a profit, that are employing people and that are growing.
Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.
America used to be a uniquely productive, low-cost place to do business. We had efficient infrastructure. We had limited regulation. We believed in the market.
So companies have to be very schizophrenic. On one hand, they have to maintain continuity of strategy. But they also have to be good at continuously improving.
Technology has given us this wonderful opportunity to have low energy costs. We have to seize that, rather than keep debating and discussing and fighting over it.
Strategy is about setting yourself apart from the competition. It's not a matter of being better at what you do - it's a matter of being different at what you do.
Companies understand that if their employees are sick, it's really expensive. So despite the rhetoric I hear, thank God employers are still in the health-care system.
The thing is, continuity of strategic direction and continuous improvement in how you do things are absolutely consistent with each other. In fact, they're mutually reinforcing.
I teach in the medical school, the School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, and the Business School. And it's the best perch... because most of my work crosses boundaries.
The purpose of the corporation must be redefined as creating shared value, not just profit per se. This will drive the next wave of innovation and productivity growth in the global economy.
Unfortunately, I'm an engineer. I'm always thinking about, what's the task and how do I get it done? And some of my tasks are pretty broad, and pretty fuzzy, and pretty funky, but that's the way I think.
Being an American doesn't mean that you're guaranteed a high wage. You have to be productive, and we have to create a very low-cost, efficient place to do business, and we've let all that slip in America.
As minorities and other immigrant groups become more important to our economy, the inner city is a crucible that gives us an early look at phenomena that are going to be spreading more broadly in the economy over time.
Health care historically has been a very siloed field that's organized around medical specialties - urology, cardiac surgery, and so forth - and around the supply of these specialty services. The patient is the ping-pong ball that moves from service to service.
In America, the problems of poverty and low income, particularly for minorities, are disproportionately focused in the inner cities. Shining a spotlight on the businesses growing in these communities is proof that any community has the potential for entrepreneurship.
Millennials are more aware of society's many challenges than previous generations and less willing to accept maximizing shareholder value as a sufficient goal for their work. They are looking for a broader social purpose and want to work somewhere that has such a purpose.