James C. Collins

I can just let my curiosity wander unleashed.

James Collins

I don’t know where we should take this company, but I do know that if I start with the right people, ask them the right questions, and engage them in vigorous debate, we will find a way to make this company great.

James Collins

If we only have great companies, we will merely have a prosperous society, not a great one. Economic growth and power are the means, not the definition, of a great nation.

James Collins

If your company disappeared, would it leave a gaping hole that could not easily be filled by any other enterprise on the planet?

James Collins

It took Einstein ten years of groping through the fog to get the theory of special relativity, and he was a bright guy.

James Collins

Just because a company falls doesn’t invalidate what we can learn by studying that company when it was at its historical best.

James Collins

Leaders who led their organizations quietly and humbly, were much more effective than flashy, charismatic high profile leaders.

James Collins

Let’s just try a lot of stuff and keep what works.

James Collins

Profit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life.

James Collins

Smart people instinctively understand the dangers of entrusting our future to self-serving leaders who use our institutions, whether in the corporate or social sectors, to advance their own interests.

James Collins