No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.

Nothing of any importance has ever been accomplished by a pessimist.

Some think that it is cruel or brutal to remove the bottom 10 percent of our people. It isn't. It's just the opposite. What I think is brutal and "false kindness" is keeping people around who aren't going to grow and prosper. There's no cruelty like waiting and telling people late into their careers that they don't belong - just when the options are limited and they're putting their children through college or paying off big mortgages.

Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.

Get the best player because whether it's soccer or whether it's anything else the team with the best players wins. So focus your energy on getting the best and getting rid of the weakest.

Strategy is not a lengthy action plan. It is the evolution of a central idea through continually changing circumstances.

If you've got a company that has a mentality inside that is filled with searching for a better idea every day, not just as a slogan but as a real concept, you will have innovation around you all the time.