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

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

The critical question is not whether you'll have luck, but what you do with the luck that you get.

I see the Baldrige process as a powerful set of mechanisms for disciplined people engaged in disciplined thought and taking disciplined action to create great organizations that produce exceptional results.

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.

Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.

Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.