Do first things first, and second things not at all.

If a business is to be considered a continuous process, instead of a series of disjointed stop-and-go events, then the economic universe in which a business operates-and all the major events within it-must have rhyme, rhythm, or reason.

A person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone on something one cannot do at all.

If something fails despite being carefully planned, carefully designed, and conscientiously executed, that failure often bespeaks underlying change and, with it, opportunity.

Salvation by society failed the most where it promised the most, in the communist countries. But it also failed in the West. Practically no government program enacted since the 1950s in the Western world - or in the communist countries - has been successful.

Yet there is nothing more dangerous than to be premature in exploiting a change in perception.

The organization is, above all, social. It is people.