Level 5 leaders are a study in duality: modest and willful, humble and fearless.

The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.

The main point is first get the right people on the bus (and wrong people off the bus) before you figure out where to drive it. The second key point is the degree of sheer rigor in people decisions in order to take a company from Good to Great.

We learned that a former prisoner of war had more to teach us about what it takes to find a path to greatness than most books on corporate strategy.

There is a sense of exhilaration that comes from facing head-on the hard truths and saying, "We will never give up. We will never capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a way to prevail."

The people who don't have a great life are the ones who settle for a good one.

Creativity dies in an indisciplined environment.