Success Quotes – The Essentials (Volume 3)
To provide the very best learning tools for entrepreneurs throughout the country we have compiled the very best quotes by the world’s top business leaders.
Please enjoy our extensive collection of At Make Your Life Epic we believe “thoughts are things” and that a “powerful thought inspired for good and acted upon with courage and unyielding” has the power the change the entire course of human history.
“When you have the right staff, potential skyrockets.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on Human Resources and Hiring)
“If you think the people you attract could be better, then it’s time for you to improve yourself.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on leadership and vision)
“Every leader’s potential is determined by the people closest to him. No matter what I did with that staff, they would never be able to take the organization to the place we needed to go.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (leadership and Human Resources)
“Always keep your eyes open for people with potential.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on Human Resources)
“It’s lonely at the top, so you had better take someone with you…and it’s lonely at the top, so you had better know why you are there.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on leadership and team building)
“People who are able to lift up others and boost the morale in organization are invaluable, and they are always a tremendous assett to a leader’s inner circle.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Human Resources and Hiring)
“Hire the best staff you can find develop them as much as you can, and hand off everything you possibly you can to them…The power of this can be seen in explosive growth.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (CEO training)
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (CEO TRAINING)
“People need a goal to galvanize them.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (management)
“The people’s ability to achieve is determined by their leader’s ability to empower.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (management)
“True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that can’t be mandated. It must be earned. The only thing that a title can buy is a little time.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on leadership)
“Change is the price of progress.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on leadership)
“I believe that greatest things happen only when you give others the credit. That’s the law of EMPOWERMENT in action.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on leadership)
“Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on leadership)
THE LAW OF REPRODUCTION: (how great leaders became great)
Natural Gifting – 10%
Result of Crisis – 5%
Influence of Another Leader – 85%
“Owners don’t fire all the players. They fire the leader and bring in someone they hope the players will buy into.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Human Resources – Hiring)
“Victorious leaders, share an inability to accept defeat.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (leadership, CEO Training)
“Leaders think like a revolutionary not a bureaucrat.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on change…and leadership)
Churchhill’s letter to Hitler:
“We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We hav before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I answer in one word: Victory…victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is not survival.” (on personal growth, motivation, and eliminating backup plans / leadership)
“When the pressure is on, great leaders are at the their best.” – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (on leadership)
“Mr. Carnegie’s Master Mind group consisted of a staff of approximately 50 men, with whom he surrounded himself, for the definiteness purpose of manufacturing and marketing steel. He attributed his entire fortune to the POWER he accumulated through this “Master Mind”…Great POWER CAN BE ACCUMULATED THROUGH NO OTHER PRINCIPLE.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“Mr. Ford’s most rapid strides became noticable from the time he became a personal friend of Thomas A. Edison, and you will begin to understand what the influence of one mind upon another can accomplish.” – Napoleon Hill (on management)
“Anybody can wish for riches, and most people do, but only a few know that a definite plan plus a burning desire for wealth, are the only dependable means of accumulating wealth.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership and vision)
“So strong and impelling is the desire for sexual contact that men freely run the risk of life and reputation to indulge it…Fortunate indeed is the person who has discovered how to give sex emotion an outlet through some form of creative effort, for he has by that discovery lifted himself to the status of a genius…The majority of men lower themselves through misunderstanding and misuse of this great force to the status of the lower animals…Highly sexed people always have a plentiful supply of magnetism…Highly sexed people move briskly and with grace and ease…The public speaker, orator, preacher, laywer or salesman who is lacking in sex energy is a “flop” as far as being able to influence others is concerned…The salesman who knows how to take his mind off the subject of sex, and direct it in sales effort with as much enthusiasm and determination as he would apply to its original purpose, has acquired the art of sex transmutation, whether he knows it or not….Intemperance in sex habits is just as detrimental as intemperance in habits of drinking and eating…A sex-mad is not essentially different than a dope-mad man! Both have lost control over their their faculties of reason and will-power…When driven by his desire to please a woman based upon the motive of sex alone, a man may steal , cheat and even committ murder. But when the emotion of LOVE is mixed with the emotion of sex, that same sme man will guide his actions with more sanity, balance, and reason…The emotion of love, when mixe dwith the emotion of sex softens, modifies, and beautifies the facial expression. No character analyst is needed to tell you this, you may observe it for yourself. ” – Napoleon Hill (on personal development and life skills)
“Make your desires clear and reduce them to writing.” – Napoleon Hill (on vision and leadership)
“On scores of occassions, when I have faced emergencies, some of them so grave that my life was in jeopardy, I have been miraculously guided past these difficulties through the influence of my “Invisible Counselors. My original purpose in conducting Council meetings with imaginary beings, was soley that of impressing my own subconscious mind, through the principle of auto-suggestion, with certain characteristcs which I desired to acquire. In more recent years, my experimentation has taken on a different trend. I now go to my imaginary counselors with every difficult problem which confronts me and my clients. The results are often astonishing, although I do not depend entirerely on this form of counsel.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“When overtaken with the temporay feelings of potential failure, burn all of your bridges of retreat, thus making retreat impossible.” – Napoleon Hill (on motivation, and management, leadership, and life skills)
“Death will come, no matter what anyone may think about it. Accept it as a necessity, and pass the thought out of your mind…Death is mere transition. If death is not mere a change, or transition then nothing comes after death except a long, eternal peaceful sleep and sleep is nothing to be feared. Thus you may wipe out, forever, the fear of Death….a busy person seldom has time to think about dying. He finds life too thrilling to worry about death” – Napoleon Hill (on fear, life skills, and on leadership).
“It is a fact well known to people who have “keen” imaginations that their best ideas come through so-called hunches….
30 MAJOR CA– USES OF FAILURE: – Napoleon Hill (on leadership and management)
Unfavorable hereditary back ground.
Lack of a well-defined purpose in life.
Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity.
Insufficient Education (not formal education).
Lack of Self-Discipline.
Ill Health (though not taking care of one’s body).
Unfavorable Environment Influences During Childhood.
Procrastination.
Lack of Persistence.
Negative Personality.
Lasck of Controlled Sexual Urge.
Uncontrolled Desire For “Something For Nothing.”
Lack of A Well Defined Power of Decision.
One of More of the Six Basic Fears.
Wrong Selection of A Mate In Marriage.
Over-Caution.
Wrong Selection of Associates in Business
Superstition of Prejudice.
Wrong Selection Of A Vocation
Lack of Concentration Of Effort.
The Habit of Indiscriminate Spending.
Lack of Enthusiasm.
Intolerance.
Intemperance.
Inability to Cooperate With Others.
Possession of Power That Was Not Acquired Through Self Effort.
Intentional Dishonesty.
Egotism and Vanity.
Guess Instead of Thinking.
Lack of Capital.
“The accumulation of great fortunes calls for POWER and power is acquired through highly organized and intelligently directed specialized knowledge, but that knowledge does not necessarily have to be in the possession of the man who accumulates the fortune.” – Napoleon Hill (leadership)
“Thomas Edison had only three months of “schooling” during his entire life. He did not lack education, neither did he die poor. Henry Ford had less than a sixth grade “schooling” but he has managed to do pretty well for himself financially.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership and on-going education)
“As knowledge is acquired it must be organized and put into use, for a definate purpose, through practical plans. Knowledge has no value except that which be gained from its application toward some worthy end.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership, and continuing education)
“There is one weakness in people for which there is no remedy. It is the universal weakness of LACK OF AMBITION!” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“No man is ever whipped, until he quits in his own mind…A winner never quits and quitter never wins. No follower of this philosphy can reasonably expect accumulate a fortune without experience “temporary defeat.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“Andrew Carnegie believed the formula (of “Think & Grow Rich”) should be taught in all public schools and colleges, and expressed the opinion that if it were properly taught it would so revolutionize the entire education system that the time spent in school could be reduced to less than half….As far as (formal) schooling is concerned, many of the (great american business) men had very little.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“Your ability to use the principle of auto-suggestion will depend, very largely upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given DESIRE until that desire becomes a BURNING OBSESSION.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“When plans appear into your mind, they will probably “flash” into your mind through the sixth sense, in the form of an inspiration. This inspiration may be considered a direct “telegram,” or message from infinite intelligence. Treat it with respect, and act upon it as soon as you receive it. Failure to do this is fatal to your succeess.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“Knowledge will not attract money, unless it is organized, and intelligently directed through practical plans of action…Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when and if it is organized into definite plans of action, and directed to a definite end.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
“Why should I clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I acquire.” – Henry Ford (on delegation and management skills)
“I believe social responsibility begins with a strong, competitive company. Only a healthy enterprise can improve and enrich the lives of people and their communities.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on Leadership and strategy)
“Facing reality sounds simple, but it isn’t. I found it hard to get people to see a situation for what it is and not for what it was, or what they hoped it would be.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (management skills)
“Losing an “A” is a sin. Love ‘em, hug ‘em, kiss ‘em, don’t lose them! We conduct postmortems on every A we lose and hold management accountable for losses.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on Human Resources)
“Managers will play every game in the book to avoid identifying their bottom 10. Sometimes they’ll sneak in people who were planning to retire that year or others who already have been told to leave the organization.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on Management)0
“No leader enjoys making the tough decision. We constantly faced severe resistence from even the best people in our organization. I’ve struggled with this problem myself and have often been guilty of not being rigorous enough. Every impulse is to look the other way.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on Leadership)
“Failure to deliver on committments is, in the end, unacceptable.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on Management)
“Every company must deal decisively with people who don’t perform satisfactorily….Great people, not great strategies are what made it all work (GE).”– Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (Leadership)
“I’d always try to remind managers at every level that they had to share my passion for developing people.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (leadership)
“Leadership must wake up every day with the mission of “Finding a Better Way Every Day…There are no modest revolutions…GE was a place where the people got up everyday to searching for a better way.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (leadership)
“I had learned that for any big idea you had to sell, sell, sell to move the needle at all.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on management skills)
“Stock ownership changes behavior.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on building leadership)
“One of my favorite perks was picking out an issue and doing what I called a “deep dive.” It’s spotting a challenge where you think you can make a difference…one that looks like it would be fun, and then throwing the weight of your position behind it. Some might justifiably call it “meddling….I followed up on all of them with a passion and a mania that often veered toward the lunatic fringe…To make the initiatives work, it took a passionate all-consuming commitment from the top. Beyond passion, there was alot of rigor…Making initiates successful is all about focus and passionate commitment. The drumbeat must be relentlessness. Every leadership action must demonstrate total committment to the initiative….I was an outrageous champion of everything that we did from our early need to face reality and change the culture to our major initiatives that reshaped the company. Whenever I had an idea or message that I wanted to drive into the organization, I could never say it enough. I repeated it over and over, at every meeting and review for years, until I could almost gag on the words.”” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on leadership)
“For 20-plus years I looked at thousands of storyboard for corporate and product ads, and I never allowed one advertisement on the air that I didn’t like.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation
(on advertising)
“Being a CEO is the nuts! A whole jumble of thoughts come to mind: Over the top. Wild. Fun. Outrageous. Crazy. Passion. Perpetual Motion. The give and take. Meetings into the night. Incredible friendships. Fine wine. Celebrations. Great golf courses. Big decisions in the real game. Crises and pressure. Lots of swings. A few home runs. The thrill of winning and the pain of losing. It’s as good as it gets. You get paid a lot, but the real payoff is the fun…” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on leadership)
The “Lack of Candor is the biggest and deepest darkest secrets of business…People might not have agree with me on every issue, and I may not have been right all the time, but they always knew they were getting it straight and honest.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on leadership)…We must let people see the reality of their performance, and of themselves.
“An organization takes its cue from the person on top. I always told our business leaders their personal intensity determined their organization’s intensity….For me intensityh covers a lot of sings. If there’s one characteristic all winners share, it’s that they care more than anyone else. No detail is too small to sweat or too large to dream. Over the years I have looked for this characteristic in the leaders we selected. It doesn’t mean loud or flamboyant. It’s something that comes from deep inside. Great organizations can ignite passion….Leaders must have courage to kick ass and break glass.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation
(on leadership and management skills)
“Never under estimate the other guy.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation
(on competition and leadership)
“Differentiation (rating and evaluating people) Develops Great Organizations. Differentiation is hard, anybody who finds it easy doesn’t belong in the organization, and anyone who can’t do it falls in the same category…It is important for companies to continually remove the bottom 10 percent of their employees anually.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on managing and leadership)
– Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (management and leadership skills)
“Getting every employee’s mind into the game is a huge part of what the CEO job is all about. Taking everyone’s best ideas and transferring them to others it the secret. Nothing is more important.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on leadership)
“Never allow anyone to get between you and your customers and suppliers.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (management skills)
“Most GE business leaders now have digital cockpits on their computer screens that update in real time all the important data to help them manager their businesses.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (management skills)
“The dangers of unchecked bureauracy are a constant thorn in the CEO’s side.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on leadership skills)
“I love the presentation from the more flamboyant guy, who excitedly presents his plans.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on sales skills)
“60% of the bonus was based on financials and 40% on Six Sigma (quality) results.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (on leadership and team building)
“He’s well liked and witty, always ready with a quip to defuse the tension in a room…He was humorous, spontaneous, filled with energy and totally comfortable with himself…” (qualities of a great leader & a management skill)
“Only a company with great integrity and the resources to fight for what’s right can afford to take on the government.” – Jack Welch Former CEO of GE / The World’s Largest Corporation (leadership and long-term strategizing)
“You get paid to deliver results.” – David Novak (On getting things done.)
“If I go public, I’ll stick to it.” – David Novak (On getting things done.)
“Breaking through the clutter. One of the more effective ways to break through the clutter is what I call “shocking the system,” taking whatever the conventional wisdom or prevailing attitude is and turning them on their ear.”
“It is much easier to sell more to your heavy user than it is to convert moderate users into heavier ones or nonusers into occasional ones. The heavy users are also your missionaries, so you always need to be trying to turn them into heavier uesers.”
“If you pay people peanuts, you will get monkeys.” – Andy Pearson the late mentor to David Novak
“Nothing good ever happens after 9:00 PM.” – Andy Pearson the later mentor to David Novak
“People are much more likely to believe in something they’ve had a hand in creating.”
“People often live up or down to the title you give them, and coaches are people who are invested in making people better. For that reason, we have area coaches, market coaches, regional coaches, and head coachess, instead of operators, managers and directors. It’s also why we use first names. No one calls me Mr. Novak for long.”
Your presentations should inspire and entertain your audience.
“If David our CEO, devotes so much of his time to this, then all this stuff about teamwork and learning how to be a great leader must be pretty important.” – David Novak CEO OF YUM BRANDS (On personal development)
“Unleash the power of people. No involvement means no committment.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“The responsibility of the leader is to define reality and create hope.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Market the change; be bold. Remember don’t be a bad ad, be a good one.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Measure, coach and reward the right things. Measure the vitally important. Reward the doers.” – – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Gain alignment every step of the way. Again, no involvement means no committment. Skip a layer and you will ultimately pay the price.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Create a vision and personalize it. People need to say, “I understand it, I’m excited about it, and I can make it happen.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Engage in productive conflict. Some people will say every step of the way that it can’t be done. Acknowledge that they might be right. Understand why they’re say it. Then follow your convictions.”
“Go from me to we. This is the job of every leader.” – Magic Johnson and David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“I ask every participant to think about who their personal business mentors have been and why. I tell them my own business hero was Andy Pearson and I give them a few Andy stories to illustrate why. Then we break into groups of about twenty to go around in a circle and have each person talk about the person who has mean the most to him…We reconvene in the larger group and discuss some of the traits that were exhibited by the mentors; integrity, passion, inspiration, a positive outlook, and so on. A lot of people said it was someone who, “helped me realize what I could achieve” or “really cared about me as a person. Then I try to get them to go a little deeper. I say, “Now suppose that you were a fly on the wall, looking down on this room ten years from now. What would you like people to be saying about you? How would you feel if someone were saying that you were the person who had the greatest impact on his or her professional life?” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (On Motivational Conferences)
B.L.A.S.T. acronym for customer service
Believe that the customer is being sincere.
Listen to their feedback.
Apologize for the experience.
Satisfy their desire to vent and be heard.
Thank the customer for their time.
David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on Customer Service)
“The best ideas in a company are the ones that people come up with themselves because then they really own their ideas and are committed to making them work.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“The characteristics that make a good advertisement or commercial – it’s memorable, engaging, entertaining, focused, sends a clear message, makes you want to see it again, makes you want to buy the product.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on advertisement)
“I believe in that Old Chinese Proverb, “When the student is willing, the teacher appears.” But I would add, “It also doesn’t hurt to be a little proactive about it.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
Continued Learning Books To Read…Recommended by – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
The One Minute Manager – Ken Blanchard
Execution! The Discipline of Getting Things Done – Larry Bossidy
Pour Your Heart Into It (The Starbucks History Book) – Howard Schultz
Good to Great – Jim Collins
“Bell took the opposite approach, building multiple restaurants in a single neighborhood to eliminate the competition. It’s a strategy that’s widely used today by many companies like Starbuck’s, Barnes & Noble, and many others, andit worked for Bell.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on competitive strategies)
“Even leaders with the best of intentions can have dumb ideas sometimes, and if you have good people around you, then hopefully they’ll stop you before you’ve done too much damage.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
Do not look like you are playing the fiddle while Rome is burning….stay focussed – Paraphrased from – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Thank you is probably the most important thing that a leader can say.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership)
“You have a real chance to make an impact, but you have to do it in the first 90 days. Otherwise they’ll think it’s going to be business as usual.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“I had already started the learning process by organizing a tour of some of the best companies out there to find out exactly what it was that made them great. I went back to the Partners’ Council and asked them to help me study the best practices of the best companies we could find. We would then use then findings to strengthen our company. “– David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership)
“Most good ideas are already out there, and to learn about them, all you have to do is aks the right people.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership)
“This isn’t stealing this is standing on the shoulders of giants.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Wal-Mart’s leaders had obviously made a point of educating and informing everyone at all levels about all aspects of the company, and thhat shows a real respect for their people.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“Today’s stock price is X, tommorrow’s is up to you.” – Sam Walton (on leadership)
“The more you know, the more you care.” – Sam Walton (on customer service)
“Southwest Airlines have been such a people-first model for me for so long that it was inspiring just to be physically in a place I already knew so much about. Yet I didn’t fully understand just how far they are willing to go to get the “right people in the right seats” until well after our best practices tour when someone I know applied for an entry level position with the company.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on Human Relations & Recruiting).
“Know what your brand stands for an exaggerate it in everything you do.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on advertising)
“Don’t romance Wall Street. You don’t want investors who are only concerned about the quarter, or who are working on their exit strategy from day one. You want shareholders to own you forever. If we have no trading at all, I consider that a tremendous accomplishment.” – Warren Buffet (on leadership)
“Make sure your ego lies in the performance of the company, not in the performance of the stock.” – Warren Buffet (on leadership)
“If you want to build a dynasty, you need to alwasys be focused on getting bettre and beating last year’s performance in everything you do. You want to eliminate peaks and valleys, what we call “boom, splat,” and go for a good steady incline.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (leadership)
“He felt the Gettysburg Address was one of the greatest documents ever written, mainly because Lincoln had said so much with so few words.” – – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands on John Wooden (continued education)
“But the three rules I always stuck with were 1) Be on time 2) No profanity; and 3) Never criticize a teammate.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands on John Wooden’s rules for management
“Meeting Coach Wooden, the most humble leader I’ve ever met, made me think about my ego, about as the wise John Weinberg once put it, the difference between “growing and swelling.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands on John Wooden (continued education)
“I think that the act of teaching is the most gratifying and rewarding of all human endeavors.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on continued education)
“Stealing Coach Wooden’s sets of three, I have come up with a formula for success no matter what kind of business you happen to be in: 1) Make sure you have the right people around you; 2) Have fun and drive results by recognizing the achievements of others; and 3) Be a passionate learner, and pass on what you know to others. Not only will this make you a success in business, but it will make you a success in life.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership and continued education)
David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on crisis management)”
*Don’t panic.
*Get the facts.
*Make good decisions based on facts.
*Continually get the word out about how your’re handling the situation.
*Lay out what you’re doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“Transparency is terribly important in a situation like this, as a quick reaction time, because news today is not immediate. It travels globally on the Internet. In our YouTube culture, dramatic videos take on a life of their own, beyond anyone’s control. “ – (on crisis management)
“If you believe in quality, you can’t just tell everybody “We believe in quality!” You’ve got to pay bonuses based on quality. You’ve got to lete everyone in the organization know that they are being judged on quality.” – Jack Welch (on leadership)
“Play like your’re ten points behind in the final quarter. I’ve always heard this defined as “operational cadence” – creating a rat-a-tat-tat rhythm of doing business that drives the relentless pursuit of results. Whatever I’ve leared abotu creating a sense of urgency started when I worked for Howard Davis at Tracy Locke. He really knew how to push people. Everything had to be done yesterday. And I was one of the people who go pushed. Howeard was a master of intimidation. Everyone knew if you didn’t give him what he wanted, he was going to find another way to get it, and if your weren’t part of the solution then you were part of the problem. The clients loved Howard because they knew he’d kill for them (and none of us wanted to be killed). It wasn’t always comfortable, but it taught me the value of constantly putting pressure on myself and the people who work for me. In corporate America, pressure is a way of life, so rather that resist it or merely accept it, you have to learn to use it as a personal motivator.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership and management)
“Creating a sense of urgency around change initiatives is especially hard to do. Human nature seems to be hardwired to adhor change, and people will do everything in their power to resist it. I once heard this explained to another Pepsi consultant. His philosophy was that in order to drive change, you need to create what he called, “the burning platform.” This burning-platform image was an oil rig in the North Sea that has caught fire and the only way to save yourself is to jump into the frigid water and swim to the lifebot. You know the jump might kill you, but you jump anyway, not because you think it might be a good idea, but because you had no choice. That’s creating a sense of urgency.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership)
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on complacency and Human Relations)
“Potential means that you haven’t done it yet.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands
“There are some people that can get things done, and it seems there are others who just can’t. That’s why we move heaven and earth to retain our stars and the main reason we manage out our lowest performers – the bottom 10% at least – each year.” – – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on Human Relations and Management)
“We hate bureaucracy and all the nonsense that comes with it.” – Jack Welch (on leadership)
“A road that leads to nowhere is hard to build.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on vision and leadership)
“Execution begins with a vision and your people saying, “I understand it. I’m excited about it. I can help make it happen.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (leadership, vision)
“In business, just the opposite is often true; silence means dissent. Have you ever been in a meeting where you sense there is obvious disagreement, but the disagreement never really gets put on the table? This what I call the Slow No’s.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (management skills)
“Some conflicts are simply territorial. For instance, I’ve rarely met a marketing person who wanted to raise prices and I’ve rarely met a finance person who wanted to lower prices.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (management skills)
“One of the greatest failures to execute is the lack of follow-up. This seems so obvious, yet very few companinies place as much emphasis on accountability as they do on figuring what they want to get done. Steve Reinemund, who was president of Pizza Hut when I was head of marketing there, is the best I’ve ever seen on this front. He always carried a three-by-five note card in his shirt pocket. When saw something that needed to be done, he’d pull out the card and write it down. Like everyone else who witnessed this, I quickly realized that I had better write down the same things because he’d surely be on me until they got done. Steve got results everywhere he went, whether it was as president of Pizzas Hut or Frito-Lay or chairman of PepsiCo, because he made a point of following up. People often lose track of what they’ve taked about in meetings of what they promised to do, but when you write it down, you won’t forget it.”
– David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (management skills)
Leadership qualities of Effective Leaders:
E – Energy
E – Energize Others
E – Edge, ability to make tough yes and no decisions
E – Executions, how to get things done
P – Passion, you care about the team, passion and players…
Jack Welch (on Leadership)
Firing
*You have to nurture people after you fire them. Help them get to the next job. – Paraphrased by Jack Welch (on Human Resources and Firing)
“George W. Bush stated, “I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.” That’s when I knew Bush was headed for trouble. With all due respect for the office, I completely disagree with him. In my view, it’s the leader’s responsibility to explain his or her actions every step of the way. And the higher up you are, the more important it is.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on management skills, what not to do)
“When I hire someone, I try to get beneath the surface and go deep. The first question I ask is, “Has this person demonstrated any leadership potential?” I ask for specifics and probe carefully to find out exactly what that person contributed. After all, success has many fathers.’
I also look for enthusiasm, people who lean forward in their chairs, who get up on their haunches a little but when they talk about what they’ve done. I like to see the passion and the excitement because that’s what will allow someone to inspire others. The next thing I look for is an avid learners, someone who is curious, who has an ability to make connections, to pick up on trends, and to apply what’s going on in the rest of the world to his or her business career. You obviously need smart people with a proven track record, but the real stars are passionate about what they do and are avid learners. Those two things make people continually raise the bar on performance.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on Human Resources and Hiring)
“At the same time, you have to look for detractors among the group because one bad seed can be like a leak in the dime that leads to a major flood. The best thing you can do when you find someone like that is to fire him as quickly as possible!” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (On Human Resources and Hiring)
“Everyone deserves at least a chance to make things better. And besides people can surprise you.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (On Human Resources and Hiring)
“I focus on giving specific, real-time coaching so my teammates can benefit immediately. Larry Senn taught me a very effective tool that works in both individual and team settings. Start out by sharing, “here’s what you appreciate about a person’s work. By showing appreciation, you are setting the stage for acceptance of constructive suggestions. Then offer suggestions by saying, “and” you can be “even more effective” if you do such and such. “And” is a much better word than “but” because it’s additive by builing on a positive versus the usually negative “but” everyone is expecting to hear.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (On Management Skills)
“Team Together / Team Apart means you respect the final decision even if you would do something diffently, and make it happen with positive energy.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (Management Skills)
“Be a coach, instead of being a boss. Rather than tell people what to do, a leader helps team members figure it out for themselves. That way, when it’s time for them to take the training wheels off, they’ll have some experience to draw on. That’s the way it was with me and Andy. We were working together, I felt like I was making all the decisions even though he had the title” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership development)
“Pick the best people, face the reality (the way it is), speak with candor to everything, never lose sight of the relationship with the constituency.” – Jack Welch (on leadership)
“I still get up fairly early around six, but I work out for an hour every morning, I read often while excercising and give myself some private team. I’ll speak with administrative my administrative assistant, Donna Hughes, who is an organizational genus on the way into the office and go through the day, so by the time I get to the office around 8:30 or 9:00 I can hit the ground running…In both my workday and my life, what I try to achieve is balance.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership)
“I worry about losing a real talent. I hate losing a great leader more than anything. I also hate it when I have to manager out a good person for poor performance or for simply doing something that is not in sync with our values. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life and I’ve had to do it more than once, is fire a friend.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on Human Resources and Hiring / Firing)
“It’s almost unfathomable how much I still have to learn. Learning never ends…I always have another mountain to climb is what keeps you going.” – David Novak CEO of YUM Brands (on leadership)
“I am looking to buy companies that are run by painters. Most great artists have a hard time letting go of their paintings. That’s because the joy is not in the finished work, the joys is in the painting. They are constantly adding a dab of color here, a little more texture there. I’m looking for the boss who is always tweaking his company, constantly trying to make it better. No matter how successful he may have already been, what he still sees is a master-piece-in-progress.” – Warren Buffet (on Human Resources and Hiring Leaders)
“A motivated employee treats the customer well. The customer is happy, so (he keeps) coming back, which pleases the shareholder.” – Herb Kelleher – Southwest Airlines co-founder.
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” – Aristotle – philosopher
“A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he was born with. A man is what he makes of himself.” – Alexander Graham Bell – inventor
“Failure is a great teacher, and I have been its student on more than one occasion.” – CEO David Novak of Yum! Brands
“I very much believe that creating a sense of fun and keeping up everyone’s energy level is part of my job description.” – David Novak CEO OF Yum! Brands
“I always try to acknowledge what someone’s done well before talking about what could be done better.” – David Novak CEO OF Yum! Brands
“I believe in motivating with humor.” … – David Novak CEO OF Yum! Brands
“If your message is not getting heard, then it doesn’t much matter what it is…Breaking through the clutter is such a powerful concept that even when it’s done badly it can still work. Once I graduated from college I needed a job quickly. I was applying to advertising agencies, so rather than send out a typical one-page resume, I made up this dinky little brochure. It had my picture on the front and on the back a little poem I had written about why someone should hire me… – David Novak CEO of Yum! Brands
“The problem with common sense is that it’s not really that common.” – David Novak CEO of Yum! Brands
“When marketing put yourself in the shoes of the customer.” – DAVID NOVAK CEO of Yum! Brands
When marketing put yourself in the shoes of the customer. – DAVID NOVAK CEO OF YUM! Brands
(In reference to one of his first advertising sales mentors Howard Davis)… “He was 6 foot 4 with silver hair…the quintessential advertising guy. He had a glass topped desk in his office because, as he put it, he like to be able to look down and see his Guccis while he worked. Howard taught me to get things done. He was very smart but he was also an animal. He exuded power and he could be very intimidating, and he knew how to use his power to get results while still managing to be a good guy. Howard’s personal style was very different from my own, but what he did teach me was how to create a sense of urgency, how to motivate performance by getting everyone’s heart pounding.” – David Novak
“The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge.” – Napoleon Hill (on continued education and leadership)
“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point from which one must begin. He recognized, too that definiteness of purpose of takes on animation, life, and power when backed by a burning desire to translate that purpose into its material equivalent.” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership and vision)
“Man’s only limitation within reason lies in his development and use of his imagination” – Napoleon Hill (on vision and leadership)
“People buy titles, and not contents of books. By merely changing the name of one book that was not moving his sales on that book jumped upward more a million copies. The inside of the book was no changed in any way. He merely ripped off the cover bearing the title that did not sell, and put on new cover with a title that had “box-office” value.” – Napoleon Hill (on marketing, advertising and creativity)
“It is no ordindary desire that survives dissappointment, discouragement, temporary defeat, criticism, and the constant reminding of “waste of time.” It is a burning desire an obsession!” – Napoleon Hill (on leadership)
1. “Before forming your “Master Mind” alliance decide what advantages, and benefits, you may offer the individual members of your group, in return for their cooperation. No one will work indefinately without some form of compensation. No intelligent person will either requests or expect another to work without adequate compensation, although this may not always be in the form of money.
