Throw leaders into an extreme environment, and it will separate the stark differences between greatness and mediocrity.

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

In the end, it is impossible to have a great life unless it is a meaningful life. And it is very difficult to have a meaningful life without meaningful work. Perhaps, then you might gain that great tranquility that comes from knowing that you've had a hand in creating something of intrinsic excellence that makes a contribution. Indeed, you might even gain that deepest of all satisfactions: knowing that your short time on this earth has been well spent, and that it mattered.

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

No matter what. Wherever your mind wanders, it seems to turn up at the same Field of Dreams. It's the vision you wake up with in the morning, and it's the last thing you picture before you fall asleep. Everytime you think of it, the idea in your head seems to get more vivid, filled in with more detail: You not only want to win a gold medal at the Olympics, you not only can see yourself standing there on the podium, but you can also feel the goose bumps as your national anthem is played; the tears are in your eyes. (That's how real a dream can be and should be)

Good is the enemy of great. And that's one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.

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