We are a great capitalist society, that works most of the time. We do need to take better care of our people and fix the access, cost, and quality of healthcare. But we need to act intelligently. We needed the intervention of government to keep the economy from falling into an abyss, but we must now encourage the creation of business - not burden it.

I think that many people have lost their sense of loyalty to their company. That's because very few companies remain loyal to their people. The old "job for life" condition disappeared 20 years ago - and nothing has replaced it.

I think that we can all learn from what smart companies are doing. My objective is to demonstrate what's possible, even during tough economic times. This is a period of great business dislocation, but that means it's also the time to try new things. This will be a challenge for existing companies. But the behaviors of smart companies can be learned.

There is not much new in management, but there is a lot new in business.

My engineering training taught me to be a systems thinker. I looked at companies as "systems" and saw work as a system of tasks - that needed to be reengineered. I was also focused on operations, getting things done and built. My engineering training taught me to be a pragmatist.

People must know that their ideas will be listened to and, if they have merit, acted upon. If they do, it is possible to mobilize individual creativity on a very broad scale.

Without ambition no conquests are made, and no business created. Ambition is the root of all achievement.