Conductors do not know how the oboe does its work, but they know what the oboe should contribute.

Change is the norm; unless an organization sees that its task is to lead change, that organization will not survive.

The next thing to be said about what long-range planning is not, is that it does not deal with future decisions. It deals with the futurity of present decisions. Decisions exist only in the present. The question that faces the long-range planner is not what we should do tomorrow.

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

There are only two things in a business that make money - innovation and marketing, everything else is cost.

Objectives are not commands; they are commitments.

Effective people are not problem minded; they're opportunity-minded. They feed opportunities and starve problems. They think preventively.