A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable. A visionary company doesn't simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme.

If your company disappeared, would it leave a gaping hole that could not easily be filled by any other enterprise on the planet?

If we allow the celebrity rock-star model of leadership to triumph, we will see the decline of corporations and institutions of all types. The twentieth century was a century of greatness, but we face the very real prospect that the next century will see very few enduring great institutions.

A culture of discipline is not a principle of business, it is a principle of greatness.

People need BHAGs - big hairy audacious goals.

By definition, it is not possible to everyone to be above the average.

Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats...