The postwar [WWII] GI Bill of Rights - and the enthusiastic response to it on the part of America's veterans - signaled the shift to the knowledge society. Future historians may consider it the most important event of the twentieth century. We are clearly in the midst of this transformation; indeed, if history is any guide, it will not be completed until 2010 or 2020. But already it has changed the political, economic and moral landscape of the world.

I would hope that American managers-indeed, managers worldwide-continue to appreciate what I have been saying almost from day one: that management is so much more than exercising rank and privilege, that it is much more than "making deals." Management affects people and their lives.

The corporation is the "master", the employee is the "servant". Because the corporation owns the means of production without which the employee could not make a living, the employee needs the corporation more than vice versa.

The purpose of a business is to create a customer.

Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got.

When it rains manna from heaven, some people put up an umbrella. Others reach for a big spoon.

The enterprise that does not innovate ages and declines. And in a period of rapid change such as the present, the decline will be fast.