The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.
Lee IacoccaRead
In business, you're trying to make a buck. God was good to me and blessed me. I made some money and started this foundation years ago, and it has grown in size. With the foundation it's a lot different, because the bottom line isn't how you can make more money or get a better return, it's helping the projects that you feel strongly about move forward.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that true success in business goes beyond profit, focusing on meaningful contributions.
Lee Iacocca reflects on his journey in business, highlighting that while making money is essential, the real fulfillment comes from using those resources to support and uplift causes he cares about. He suggests that a foundation's mission transcends financial gains, instead prioritizing positive impact and support for valuable projects.
In practice
During a charity event, someone could cite this quote to emphasize the importance of giving back.
The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.
I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.
No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?
Listening can make the difference between a mediocre organization and a great one.
What is it that you like doing? If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it. You don't have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, because if you don't like it you'll never be successful in it.
Here's what management is about: Pick good people and set the right priorities.
Building a mission and building a business go hand in hand. The primary thing that excites me is the mission. But we have always had a healthy understanding that we need to do both.
The most common cause of low prices is pessimism - some times pervasive, some times specific to a company or industry. We want to do business in such an environment, not because we like pessimism but because we like the prices it produces. It's optimism that is the enemy of the rational buyer.
Entrepreneurs say in an economic boom it's actually hard to build a company because everybody's too excited and there is too much money funding too many marginal companies.
Business today consists in persuading crowds.
A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable. A visionary company doesn't simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme.
In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder, but is in fact the very purpose of its existence.
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