My bosses cautioned me about my candor. Now my GE career is over, and I'm telling you that it was my candor that helped make it work.

Never miss out on an opportunity like a good recession.

The most important quality of leadership is intellectual honesty. The reality principle - the ability to see the world as it really is, not as you wish it were.

Celebrating creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high five. Work is too much a part of life not to recognize moments of achievement. Make a big deal out of them. If you don't, no one will.

If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.

Managers often hold on to resisters because of a specific skill set or because they've been around for a long time. Don't.

Give me a highly successful unionized industry.