Train everyone lavishly. You can't overspend on training.

'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.

I still read quite a few printed books, but if something is available in digital format I do not print it before I read it.

Perception is all there is. If the customer think he's right, he's right.

Think about the market, think about the design, and think about who is going to design for that market. Hit the mark.

Execution Excellence! (Show up on time! Leave last!)

My half-baked reading of history is that we continue to go through these waves of entrepreneurial explosion followed by merger mania and consolidation. Out of that come big sluggish companies that eventually collapse under the weight of what they've created, and are killed off by the next wave of entrepreneurs.