Results is all that separates one company from another.

Decisions of the kind the executive has to make are not made well by acclamation. They are made well only if based on the clash of conflicting views...The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.

Leaders grow; they are not made.

They wrongly believe that good intentions move mountains. Bulldozers move mountains. But there are exceptions.

Important decisions are risky. They should be controversial. Acclamation means that nobody has done the homework.

Understanding our strengths, articulating our values, knowing where we belong -- these are also essential to addressing one of the great challenges of organizations: improving the abysmally low productivity of knowledge workers.

All great change in business has come from outside the firm, not from inside.