Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.
Interpretation
Success depends on the quality of people, not just on plans or theories.
This quote emphasizes that the success of any effort or organization is fundamentally rooted in the people who are part of it. No amount of planning or management theory can compensate for a lack of talent, passion, and dedication in the team involved. Colin Powell suggests that to achieve greatness, it is essential to surround oneself with capable and motivated individuals.
In practice
During a leadership seminar, use this quote to highlight the importance of building a strong team.
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says 'we can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best. 'Spare me the grim litany of the 'realist;' give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day.
One of the fondest expressions around is that we can't be the world's policeman. But guess who gets called when suddenly someone needs a cop.
Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.
If you get the dirty end of the stick, sharpen it and turn it into a useful tool.
High-quality early-childhood programs and health coverage have expanded, and the number of mentoring relationships for at-risk youth has risen dramatically. That progress is encouraging, but it's not evenly distributed.
As I've thought about gay marriage, I don't see any reason not to say that [couples] should be able to get married.
Many CEOs and leaders think that silence is indeed golden, that consensus is bliss. It is - sometimes. But more often what it signifies is that there are no respected processes for surfacing concerns and dissent.
We must truly serve those whom we appear to command; we must bear with their imperfections, correct them with gentleness and patience, and lead them in the way to heaven.
Something I often say is, 'I stand on the shoulders of the people who came before, and I'm ready to lift up people to stand on my shoulders.' And one of the ways we can do that is to hire them.
It would be counterproductive to tell people exactly what they are supposed to do and exactly how they are supposed to do it to a point where they become more concerned about your expectations than about completing their work in a quality way.
Let us not despair but act. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past - let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
When I think of the most valuable coach, I definitely think of a coach like Geno Auriemma, and the things I learned from him that stick out in my mind are his passion for the game, competing at all the little things and doing it at a high level.
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