Management Quotes

Quote Author: Roger von Oech
Subject: Innovation, Creativity
Author: Guy Kawasaki, Roger Von Oech
Source: Sun Microsystems
Quote: My mantra is "Look for the Second Right Answer." This has been my guiding principle for over thirty years. Much of our educational system tries to teach us to look for the "one right answer."

I find that looking for the second right answer is an incredibly easy way to open my mind. For example, when I'm looking for information, this mantra tells me to go beyond the right answers that have worked in the past and look for others. When I'm trying to be creative, it playfully advises me to put my ideas in unusual contexts to give them new meanings.

When I'm evaluating concepts, it implores me not to get stuck in the negative, and not to fall in love with one particular approach. And, when I'm implementing ideas, it reminds me that if one idea doesn't work, a different one just might, and to act accordingly.

Quote Author: Roger von Oech
Subject: Innovation, Thought, Creativity
Author: Guy Kawasaki, Roger Von Oech
Source: Sun Microsystems
Quote: Don't fall in love with ideas. By ideas I mean: systems, marketing approaches, technologies, partnerships, whatever. Because as soon as you as you fall in love with one approach, you lose sight of other possibilities. ...Every right idea eventually becomes the wrong idea.

Quote Author: David McCullough
Subject: Leadership, History
Source: Harvard Business Review
Quote: ...a sense of history is essential to anyone who wants to be a leader, because history is both about people and about cause and effect. The American historian Samuel Eliot Morison liked to say that history teaches us how to behave—that is, what to do and what not to do in a variety of situations. History is the human story.

History also shows how the demands of leadership change from one era to another, from one culture to another.


Quote Author: David McCullough
Subject: Leadership
Author: David McCullough
Source: Harvard Business Review
Quote: Good leaders judge people by how they handle failure. ...Good leaders don't tolerate self-pity in themselves or others. The star performer who has ne ver failed, ne ver fallen flat on his face or been humiliated publicly, may not have what it takes when the going gets rough.