..there is need for a person to be generally educated. Otherwise you shrivel up much too soon. Whether this means reading the bible (I read the New Testament every few years) or reading the great 19th century novelists (the greatest and shrewdest judge of people and of society who ever lived), or classical philosophy (which I cannot read-it puts me to sleep immediately), or history (which is secondary). What matters is that the knowledge worker, by the time he or she reaches middle age, has developed and nourished a human being rather than a tax accountant or a hydraulic engineer.

In the managerial organization, the top people sit in judgment; in the innovative organization it is their job to encourage ideas, no matter how unripe or crude.

Never ask who's right. Start out by asking what is right. And you find that out by listening to dissenting, disagreeing opinions.

Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs.

The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.

The manager who comes up with the right solution to the wrong problem is more dangerous than the manager who comes up with the wrong solution to the right problem.

If there is any one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time.