James C. Collins Quotes

Resilency, not perfection, is the signature of greatness.

If you have more than three priorities then you don't have any.

Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.

The difference between a good leader and a great leader is humility.

Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.

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

The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconstancy. The signature of greatness is a disciplined and consistent focus on the right things.

Great vision without great people is irrelevant.

People are not your most important asset....the right people are.

Managing your problems can only make you good, whereas building your opportunities is the only way to become great.

All companies have a culture, some companies have discipline, but few companies have a culture of discipline. When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don' t need excessive controls. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance.

Building a visionary company requires one percent vision and 99 percent alignment.

The only way to deliver to the people who are achieving is to not burden them with the people who are not achieving.

Look, I don't really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to take it someplace great.

Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats...

The critical question is not whether you'll have luck, but what you do with the luck that you get.

The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.

Discipline is consistency of action.

Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don't have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don't have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.

The greatest leaders build organizations that, in the end, don't need them.

You absolutely must have the discipline not to hire until you find the right people.

In the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then you might gain that great tranquility that comes from knowing that you've had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.

Change your practices without abandoning your core values.

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.

Leaders who led their organizations quietly and humbly, were much more effective than flashy, charismatic high profile leaders.