Never ask anyone to do what you haven't done before and wouldn't do again. That's a pretty fundamental rule in leadership... treat them like you treat yourself. Things you don't like, they don't like.

Revitalizing General Motors is like teaching an elephant to tap dance. You find the sensitive spot and start poking.

The most successful people in the world aren't usually the brightest. They are the ones who persevere.

Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they're going to make mistakes.

[In Moscow] we got through to [Soviet leaders] Brezhnev and Kosygin on the telephone. I think it was because nobody had ever tried to call them at home before.

Anything that is excellent or praiseworthy stands moment by moment on the cutting edge and must be constantly fought for. Well placed priorities always sit on the edge.

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.