The number one premise of business is that it need not be boring or dull. It ought to be fun. If it's not fun, you're wasting your life.

To meet the demands of the fast-changing competitive scene, we must simply learn to love change as much as we have hated it in the past.

'In Search of Excellence' - even the title - is a reminder that business isn't dry, dreary, boring, or by the numbers. Life at work can be cool - and work that's cool isn't confined to Tiger Woods, Yo-Yo Ma, or Tom Hanks. It's available to all of us and any of us.

Cost does not equal value... and low cost parts decrease brand equity for a very long time.

Remember: You are the only human being in the world who can help this particular customer at this particular moment in time.

MP3 players and flash memory devices are good for data storage and playback of music and digital talking books, but they offer little or nothing in the way of visual presentation of information and communication.

The winners stun us not by their cleverness, but by the fact that every tiny aspect of the business is just a touch better than the norm.