• “You must be very patient, very persistent. The world isn’t going to shower gold coins on you just because you have a good idea. You’re going to have to work like crazy to bring that idea to the attention of people.”
• “Power should be reserved for weightlifting and boats, and leadership really involves responsibility.”
• “Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that.”

• “If we win the hearts and minds of employees, we’re going to have better business success.”
• “What I always say is, ‘Do every job you’re in like you’re going to do it for the rest of your life, and demonstrate that ownership of it.’”

• “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
• “I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.”
• “The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.”

• “To be a CEO is a calling. You should not do it because it is a job. It is a calling, and you have got to be involved in it with your head, heart, and hands. Your heart has got to be in the job; you got to love what you do; it consumes you. And if you are not willing to get into the CEO job that way, there is no point getting into it.”
• “Just because you are a CEO, don’t think you have landed. You must continually increase your learning, the way you think, and the way you approach the organization. I’ve never forgotten that.”

• “This old notion that work is drudgery is nonsense. Most days, even back when Xerox was under siege, I could not wait to get to the office.”
• “Find something that you love to do, and find a place that you really like to do it in. I found something I loved to do. I’m a mechanical engineer by training, and I loved it. I still do. My son is a nuclear engineer at MIT, a junior, and I get the same vibe from him. Your work has to be compelling. You spend a lot of time doing it.”

Satya Nadella – Microsoft CEO: Satya is a business executive currently working as the CEO of Microsoft since 2014. He’s mentioned that he’s learned a thing or two about leadership and teamwork from a young age by playing cricket.

• “The one thing that I would say defines me is I love to learn. I get excited about new things. I buy more books than I read or finish.”
• “Longevity in this business is about being able to reinvent yourself or invent the future.”
• “Be passionate and bold. Always keep learning. You stop doing useful things if you don’t learn. So the last part to me is the key, especially if you have had some initial success. It becomes even more critical that you have the learning ‘bit’ always switched on.”

• “Most entrepreneurial ideas will sound crazy, stupid and uneconomic, and then they’ll turn out to be right.”
• “Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us) because they are afraid to hurt their initial business.”
• “I’ve worked very hard, but my life’s always been fun.”
• That’s what it’s all about isn’t it? As a business owner, you started with a dream. Maybe your dream is to work hard, call the shots, and have a lot of fun in the process. At least we hope so!

BUSINESS SAYINGS & JOKES

"A recession is when your neighbour loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours."

"It's dog-eat-dog in this business, and I'm at the bottom of the food-chain."

"Management - an activity or art where those who have not yet succeeded and those who have proved unsuccessful are led by those who have not yet failed."

"Under capitalism Man exploits Man. Under socialism it's just the opposite."

"A successful manager is one who believes in sharing the credit with the person who did the work."

"The Managing Director is the only member of staff who can take a day off without hindering production."

"An economist is an expert who tells you tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today."

"Money doesn't go as far as it used to, but at least it goes faster."

"I don't know how we're going to manage without you, but we're going to try."

"A fool and his money are easily parted."

Quote from a recent meeting: "We are going to continue having these meetings, everyday, until I find out why no work is getting done".

Quote from the Boss... "I didn't say it was your fault. I said I was going to blame it on you."

A motivational sign at work: "The beatings will continue until morale improves."

A direct quote from the Boss: "We passed over a lot of good people to get the ones we hired."

My Boss said to me, "What you see as a glass ceiling, I see as a protective barrier."

Quote from the Boss after overriding the decision of a task force he created to find a solution: " I'm sorry if I ever gave you the impression your input would have any effect on my decision for the outcome of this project!"

Human Resource Manager to job candidate: "I see you've had no computer training. Although that qualifies you for upper management, it means you're under-qualified for our entry level positions."

Quote from telephone inquiry "We're only hiring one summer intern this year and we won't start interviewing candidates for that position until the boss's daughter finishes her summer classes."