Not one of the good-to-great companies focused obsessively on growth.

The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you've made a hiring mistake. The best people don't need to be managed. Guided, taught, led-yes. But not tightly managed.

Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity...are motivated more by the fear of being left behind.

Good-to-great companies set their goals and strategies based on understanding; comparison companies set their goals and strategies based on bravado.

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.

Just because a company falls doesn't invalidate what we can learn by studying that company when it was at its historical best.

The only way to deliver to the people who are achieving is to not burden them with the people who are not achieving.