An executive should be a realist; and no one is less realistic than the cynic.

Spontaneity is an infinite number of rehearsed possibilities.

The most important work of the executive is to identify the changes that have already happened. The important thing . . . is to exploit the changes that have already occurred and to use them as opportunities.

We all have a vast number of areas in which we have no talent or skill and little chance of becoming even mediocre. In those areas a knowledge workers should not take on work, jobs and assignments. It takes far more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.

During periods of discontinuous, abrupt change, the essence of adaptation involves a keen sensitivity to what should be abandoned - not what should be changed or introduced. A willingness to depart from the familiar has distinct survival value.

We will have to learn to lead people rather then to contain them.

The leader of the past was a person who knew how to tell. The leader of the future will be a person who knows how to ask.