Consider the idea that charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. Your strength of personality can sow the seeds of problems, when people filter the brutal facts from you.

An organization is not truly great, if it cannot be great without you.

Profit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life.

The difference between a good leader and a great leader is humility.

Be rigorous about your HR decisions. There is a difference between rigorous and ruthless.

Look, I don't really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we'll figure out how to take it someplace great.

The most effective leaders of companies in transition are the quiet, unassuming people whose inner wiring is such that the worst circumstances bring out their best. They're unflappable, they're ready to die if they have to. But you can trust that, when bad things are happening, they will become clearheaded and focused.