Categories:
- Rallying the Team
- Personal Success
- Thoughts on Innovation
- Overcoming Challenges
- Conquering Fear
- Dealing with Failure
- Ins and Outs of Entrepreneurship
Overcoming Challenges
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
Design is an agent of change, which can help us to make sense of what is happening and to turn it to our advantage.
If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.
Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Nothing is easy. If you want to do nothing, that’s easy.
It’s so much easier to do something new than to do something well.
When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.
Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.
They say the secret of success is being at the right place at the right time, but since you never know when the right time is going to be, I figure the trick is to find the right place and just hang around.
I don’t try to reinvent the wheel. I just try to change the spokes.
I just invent, then wait until man comes around to needing what I’ve invented.
About right now is better than exactly wrong later.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
Success is easy if you think of it like rust: It’s inevitable if you keep at it.
It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop.
You have undertaken to cheat me. I won’t sue you, for the law is too slow. I will ruin you.
Make no little plans.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts.
Humility is the most underrated aspect of being an entrepreneur. Once your head gets too big, you’re cooked.
Good enough never is.
An entrepreneur is someone who shoots an arrow and then runs to move the target, so the arrow hits it.
Storms make trees take deeper roots.
Never get angry. Never make a threat. Reason with people.
Innovation is seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest.
Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.
The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss in enthusiasm.
I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow.
He that can’t endure the bad will not live to see the good.
One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.
It’s hard to teach a young dog old tricks.
We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.
There is nothing like writing to force you to think and get your thoughts straight.
It’s not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.
You miss 100% of the shots you never take.
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the entrepreneur adjusts the sails.
The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
If this is a blessing, it is certainly very well disguised.
Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.
Strategy – is figuring out what is the most important thing for your company and deciding to focus on it and say no to everything else.
There’s only one boss: the customer. He can fire everybody from the chairman on down simply by spending his money elsewhere.
If you don’t listen to your customers, someone else will.
If you presume, you are putting ‘P’ on your resume.
With Early Stage companies, it’s never one thing. It’s always one thing after another.
If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.
Be ready to revise any system, scrap any method, and abandon any theory, if the success of the job requires it.
To do a common thing, uncommonly well, brings success.
Choice is the enemy of decision.
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself.
As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.
The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.
There is great power in ignorance and naivete.
There’s no fun like work.
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
I believe that smart people working hard will eventually get lucky.
If you have no idea how something is supposed to be done, I guarantee you’ll be disruptive. Let what you don’t know become your greatest asset.
You want to learn from experience, but you want to learn from other people’s experience when you can.
Entrepreneurship exists in the tiny space between madness and genius; and, its journey requires a few cross border violations across both madness and genius to get to the final destination.
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.
I’m sure that you’re trying to challenge yourself to invent something new. That’s impossible.
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.
On ne règne sur les âmes que par le calme. (One leads by calm.)
We’re not trying to entertain the critics… I’ll take my chances with the public.
There is nothing so depressing as boundless optimism.
Focus on doing things that can’t hurt and might help. You’ll always be ahead.
You can’t innovate once.
To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
It’s nice to be nominated but it’s better to win.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I don’t have a lot of regrets.
Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you’re scared to death.
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.
In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning in indispensable.
I don’t know what the price is, but the price knows what the price is.
Deliberately obsolete your product. Do this by raising expectations for the category and ‘reinventing’ your brand in the eyes of the consumer. Nothing puts more pressure on a competitor.
Life is just one damned thing after another.
Small-minded people blame others. Average people blame themselves. The wise see all blame as foolishness.
Many things are improbable, only a few are impossible.
There is always a well-known solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.
Sleep on your big decisions and then be decisive.
Is anything more un-American than an empty shelf?
By the time you get really good at this, you’ll be dead!
Great advertising can make food taste better, can make your car run smoother.
Too many kings can ruin an army.
Simplicity is a virtue.
The meek shall inherit the earth – but not its mineral rights.
We was doin’ good till we blowed up!
The root function of language is to control the universe by describing it.
A smooth sea never made for a skillful sailor.
A leader’s job is to have all the questions. You have to be incredibly comfortable looking like the dumbest person in the room.
No amount of advertising can force any large number of people to buy things they do not want. Advertising can only create a new market for products which fill a genuine – though often unexpressed or latent – consumer want.
If you don’t have a business, what do you do for aggravation?
Leaders define reality and provide hope.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.
Try your best to make goodness attractive.
The impossible missions are the only ones that succeed.
Looking forward, people need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Change before you have to.
Learn to sell and you will never starve.
The job of tech transfer manager is to make something happen – without getting fired.
Adult humans are only a little more rational than five-year-olds.
The four most important words in business are ‘What do you think?’
First, they ignore you. Then, they laugh at you. Then, they fight you. Then, you win.
Smart MFs sound like Crazy MFs to Dumb MFs.
No matter what cohort you think you are part of, there is always a bell-shaped curve.
The most dangerous phrase in the language is ‘We’ve always done it this way.’
You can never complete the work, nor must you abandon it.
The simplest explanation is always the most likely.
Teach thy tongue to say: ‘I do not know.’
If you’re the smartest guy in the room, find another room.
I don’t want a lawyer who tells me what I can’t do. I hire a lawyer to tell me how to do what I want to do!
If I knew what I was going to do next, I wouldn’t do it.
For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
Purpose motivates employees better than profit. They are proud if they can say, ‘Our company is making the world cleaner, the food healthier.’
I would rather fail at something I love than succeed at something I hate.
Until we have an exit, we Angel investors are just donors.
More important than what disease the person has is what person has the disease.
Start working with your prospects as if they’ve already hired you.
The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.
Advertising is art serving capitalism.
Invention requires a long-term willingness to be misunderstood.
Complaining is not a strategy.
Religion either leads to a deeper reflection or a greater certainty.
Accommodate changing times but cling to unchanging principles.
Panic is not a strategy.
In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.
Nobody cares about your product, service or solution. All they care about is the difference you can make for their organization.
Angels who won’t conduct postmortems climb the ladder of success wrong by wrong.
Art is not optional, not decorative landscaping in front of the castle of civilization. It is no more or less important than philosophy, religion, economics, or psychology.
Knowledge of the oceans is more than a matter of curiosity. Our very survival may hinge upon it.
Too little confidence, and you’re unable to act; too much confidence, and you’re unable to hear.
When assessing ‘first mover advantage’ remember that mousetraps demonstrate the wisdom of being the second mouse.
Raising your first VC round can be like bobbing for piranhas.
Failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment.
I did not always think he was right, nor did he always think I was right. But we were each the person the other trusted.
Face-to-face contact will give you the edge over your competitors every time.
What is not possible is not to choose.
Problems don’t age well.
I worship entrepreneurs. They do more than anyone thinks is possible – with less than anyone thinks is possible.
Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.
Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.
After you ask a closing question, SHUT UP! The next person who speaks loses.
Interesting, if true.
Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget.
Mistakes … the portals of discovery.
Startup companies don’t do better just because you throw more money at them.
Wandering is an essential counterbalance to efficiency.
For some entrepreneurs it’s better to be never than late.
The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.
Don’t give up on your dream, but have a backup dream.
Think like an entrepreneur. Create like an innovator. Perform like a teammate.
Your faith needs to be greater than your fear.
Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.
Proving it will be a homerun ahead of the swing is impossible! You have to try for a hit first and sometimes it turns into a homerun.
Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.
Discovery is the process of simultaneously seeing things that everyone sees and thinking things that no one has thought.
If you can’t be kind, at least be vague.
Respect everyone, fear no one.
Expedite the inevitable.
Purpose is not the sole pursuit of profits, but the animating force for achieving them.
The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing.
Never rule out that there are economic linkages you don’t understand.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth (broadly, Artificial Intelligence) is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.
In my next life, I will try to commit more errors.
The seven smartest words in the English language are: ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out.’
You can fool all the people all of the time – if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough.
Give someone a book, they’ll read if for a day. Teach someone how to write a book and they’ll experience a lifetime of paralyzing self-doubt.
It’s one thing to be wrong about the valuation. It’s another to be wrong about the business model.
Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.
There’s no decision you should ever make that would embarrass you if it became public.
For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.
The best innovation comes from technology which reduces the time between intention and action.
There is no reason for any person to have a computer in their home.
Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.
People have anxiety about ambiguity.
We’re imperfect people pursuing perfect ideas and there’s tremendous frustration in the gap.
Even a correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.
History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
Trying to come up with a great idea is not a great idea. Go for quantity over quality.
We’re not funding Mother Teresa. We’re funding imperial, will-to-power people who want to crush their competition.
You can’t let your past hold your future hostage.
It’s so much easier to suggest solutions when you don’t know too much about the problem.
The first person you lead is you.
What got you here won’t get you there.
My advice on firing is simple. Treat that person the same way you’d want to be treated if you were in that situation. They’re still a good person, just not the right fit.
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there.
When you’re through changing, you’re through.
Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don’t tell.
The first 98% of the engineering design takes 98% of the time. The remaining 2% of the design work takes the other 98% of the time.
It is very hard to find any evidence which shows that a focus on maximizing shareholder value actually maximizes shareholder value.
Not knowing what you’re doing has nothing to do with where you’re going.
Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open sewer and die.
Make space for the new mistakes.
We were given some great advice early on: Strategy is what you don’t do. Whenever we do anything, we ask ourselves, ‘Is this true to Warby Parker?’
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.
An expert is [somebody] who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field.
It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.
Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.
Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.
You don’t give people what they want. You give them what they don’t yet know they want.
Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
A leader is a dealer in hope.
More is more.
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.
The harder I work, the luckier I get!
Innovation often originates outside existing organizations, in part because successful organizations acquire a commitment to the status quo and a resistance to ideas that might change it.
Politicians are the same everywhere. They promise to build a bridge even when there’s no river.
Long as the night will be, the sun will rise without you.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.
If no one ever took risks, Michaelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.
If everything is important, then nothing is.
The only thing worse than a big flop is a small success.
Whatever people … do not understand, they are always prepared to dislike.
Listening to advice often accomplishes far more than heeding it.
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optimist sees the glass as half full. The engineer sees the glass as twice the size it needs to be.
If all you ever did is all you’ve ever done, then all you ever get is all you’re gonna get.
The less money you need, the harder it is to run out.
A goal is a dream with a deadline.
A man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.
Fear is an excellent motivator. I find that it really brings out the true ingenuity of a creature.
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
Organizations resist innovation because people are more comfortable with what they know than what they don’t.
Failing is good as long as it doesn’t become a habit.
Anyone who has ever taken a shower has had a great idea.
A joint venture is two parties in the same bed with different dreams.
All you need is faith, trust and pixie dust!
A setback is a setup for a comeback.
This way to the egress.
You can’t demand a withdrawal from someone you have not invested in.
You can’t talk yourself out of a problem you’ve behaved yourself into. You must behave yourself out!
The more things change, the more they stay the same. It may be a different age, but I’m on the same page. ‘Cause one thing I’ve found. I still be digging on James Brown.
If you don’t have a solution to match the scale of the problem, you have a hobby.
There’s a price to pay for the price you pay.
Done is better than perfect.
A recent study found that intense tedium is a major contributing factor in the desire for an early death. I just made that up. But I’ll be we could pay for research that would find that.
The best sales professionals are experts in and advocates for their buyers. They won’t represent companies they don’t believe in. They won’t get on a call without being prepared to make the most of their and their prospect’s time. They know how to leverage every technology, colleague and contact to augment their skills in order to produce optimal outcomes. They welcome coaching, exercise discipline with their time, do their homework and win for the team. They are true athletes.
Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.
We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.
There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.
Even if the situation or challenge is very complex, usually the simplest solution is the one to go with.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
You cannot control cattle at a high rate of speed. They have the capacity to tire out and just stand there, and they will not move. Slow is fast – cattle don’t wear a wristwatch.
I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
If you‘re the smartest person in the room, you haven’t hired well.
Let’s go invest tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday.
Whether individuals or organizations, we follow those who lead not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead not for them, but for ourselves.
The future is like a Japanese game show. You have no idea what’s going on.
Big companies are amazing at coming up with reasons not to do things.
The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those that got there first.
Decide what your [company] purpose is and write it down. That way, you won’t lie to yourself.
There are decades when nothing happens and then there are weeks where decades happen.
You can’t make a good deal with a bad person.
They tried to be too clever, and that was their undoing.
It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.
Solving big problems is easier than solving little problems.
Failing to plan, is planning to fail.
Try to become not a [person] of success, but try rather to become a [person] of value.
Being a great entrepreneur is doing all the things you love to do on the days you don’t feel like doing them.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go long, go together.
Our company is guided by three deeply held beliefs: That brands with purpose grow, companies with purpose last and people with purpose thrive.
Good judgment comes from experience and experience … well, that comes from poor judgment.
Things are never going to turn out the way you think they will.
When you need money, go ask for advice. When you need advice, go ask for money.
I think and think for months and years, ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time, I am right.
I am not a fan of lost causes. But a … of causes not yet won.
Take my factories and my money but leave me my salesmen and I’ll be back where I was in two years.
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
The customer of my customer is my customer.
People have a historical memory that goes back to breakfast.
A fish doesn’t know it’s wet.
Nothing new ever happened before.
Your job is to make people care about your obsessions.
I often tell would-be entrepreneurs that you have to be a little crazy or even masochistic to choose this life. The energy, endurance, optimism and just plain thick skin required aren’t for the faint of heart.
I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present.
Done equals good.
Wealth is not about having a lot of money. It’s about having a lot of options.
A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.
Focus wins. Doing too many things fails.
Anytime anybody says, ‘It’s good enough,’ it’s shitty.
I believe the risks I take are justified by the sheer love of the life I lead.
If you watch entrepreneurs long enough, you observe that innovation is typically a ground game, not a Hail Mary pass.
We had a quote over the door that read, ‘Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.’
I never had an idea in my life. I’ve got no imagination. I never dream. My so-called inventions already existed in the environment – I took them out.