How can any company know if its processes, products, people are safe? Only if everyone is watching and telling the truth. The first part can be assumed; the second cannot.
Margaret HeffernanRead
If the company depends entirely on you - your creativity, ingenuity, inspiration, salesmanship or charisma - nobody will want to buy it. The risk and the dependency are too great.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A business should not rely on a single individual for its success.
This quote emphasizes the importance of collective effort in a business setting. If a company relies solely on one person's skills or attributes, it creates a risk that may deter potential buyers or stakeholders, highlighting the need for broader talent and resilience within the organization.
Themes
BusinessCreativityTeamworkSuccessRisk
In practice
Example use cases
In a business meeting when discussing the importance of teamwork.
More from Margaret Heffernan
All quotes βMost executives I know are so action-oriented, or action-addicted, that time for reflection is the first casualty of their success.
Margaret HeffernanRead
Once you have power, you are inevitably surrounded by people who have their own agendas and will tell you whatever advances them.
Margaret HeffernanRead
Those in powerless positions aren't about to complain about bullying bosses, abusive supervisors or corrupt co-workers. There is no safe way to do so and no process that promises redress.
Margaret HeffernanRead
Bosses and leaders everywhere should cherish the people who bring them bad news, disappointing data or hard problems.
Margaret HeffernanRead
[For constructive conflict,] we have to resist the neurobiological drive which means that we really prefer people mostly like ourselves.
Margaret HeffernanRead
Similar quotes
All I set out to do was to earn a living playing drums, you know? And as luck would have it, I've surpassed that.
Phil CollinsRead
I didn't want to be a big star. I wanted to be a really good actor.
Laurence FishburneRead
We're worn into grooves by Time - by our habits. In the end, these grooves are going to show whether we've been second-rate or champions, each in his way, in dispatching the affairs of every day. By choosing our habits, we determine the grooves into which Time will wear us; and these are grooves that enrich our lives and make for ease of mind, peace, happiness - achievement.
Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Sr.Read
Nobody ever remembers who finished second at anything.
Jack NicklausRead
It's a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur's metric for success. It's not, and nor should it be.
Richard BransonRead
So I became a publisher by mistake - well, not quite by mistake, because I wanted to be an editor but I had to make sure the magazine would survive. The point is this: Most businesses fail, so if you're going to succeed, it has to be about more than making money.
Richard BransonRead