Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.
Ross PerotRead
Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. Finally, business is a cobweb of human relationships.
Interpretation
Business encompasses much more than transactions; it involves quality products, exceptional service, and nurturing relationships.
In this quote, Ross Perot emphasizes that successful business is rooted not only in the act of making deals but also in creating high-quality products and delivering exceptional service. He highlights the importance of human connections, suggesting that relationships are the underlying framework that supports and sustains a successful enterprise.
In practice
In a business meeting about customer service improvements, this quote could inspire the team.
Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.
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.
Don't run your life by what's legal or illegal. Run your life based on what's right or wrong.
Punishing honest mistakes stifles creativity. I want people moving and shaking the earth and they're going to make mistakes.
Something in human nature causes us to start slacking off at our moment of greatest accomplishment. As you become successful, you will need a great deal of self-discipline not to lose your sense of balance, humility and commitment.
The reality is the Lean Startup method is not about cost, it is about speed. Lean startups waste less money, because they use a disciplined approach to testing new products and ideas.
Our model is to develop each business separately with its own shareholder and management - this way we can concentrate on the job in hand, rather than be part of some enormous and faceless conglomerate.
Quit being 'busy' and start actively owning and operating your company, and you'll be able to understand where the money is coming from and how to make more of it.
One of my business partners would remind me that no fashion line lasts forever, that we would hit the down curve eventually, and that we needed to look for new brands that complement the first one.
Today, if someone showed me a five-year plan, I'd toss out the pages detailing Years Three, Four and Five as pure fantasy Anyone who thinks he or she can evaluate business conditions five years from now, flunks.
Treat your customers like they own you. Because they do.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.