Take the middle 70 percent and tell them what they need to do to get into the top 20 percent.

I might not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but I'm pretty good at getting most of the other bulbs to light up.

An overburdened, overstretched executive is the best executive, because he or she doesn't have the time to meddle, to deal in trivia, to bother people.

For a large organization to be effective, it must be simple.

When it's time to let someone go, do it right. No surprises. No humiliation.

The art of managing and leading comes down to a simple thing. Determining and facing reality about people, situations, products, and then acting decisively and quickly on that reality. Think how many times we have procrastinated, hoped it would get better. Most of the mistakes you've made have been through not being willing to face into it, straight in the mirror that reality you find, then taking action on it. That's all managing is, defining and acting. Not hoping, not waiting fro the next plan. Not rethinking it. Getting on with it. Doing it. Defining and doing it.

You never know how diverse your career can be. I think it's wonderful. My life has always been the next page, not the last page.