The race will go to the curious, the slightly mad, and those with an un-satiated passion for learning and dare-deviltry.

The common wisdom is that ... managers have to learn to motivate people. Nonsense. Employees bring their own motivation.

In McKinsey's world, all of life is one of two things: strategy or organization.

Make an extensive table of project 'deliverables'. Label one column 'as requested'. Create another column labeled 'could be'. Make each 'could be' wild and woolly!

I don't want an epitaph on my gravestone that says, 'He would have pursued some big dreams in his life, but other people wouldn't let him.

To grasp organizational life as it is, read novels (!) .... It is my fervent belief that we will never design rational processes that "overcome" such irregularities-don't bother telling that to a consultant. Hence, we should embrace the real, nonrational, nonlinear world with vigor and glee-and develop enterprise and career strategies accordingly.

Only pissed-off people change the world.