Quotes About Business

If you think about it, shouldn't we be spending more money against qualified prospective buyers versus shots in the dark at bagging a random stranger? Of course we should. It's a complete no-brainer. (p. 8) ... Our cardinal mistake is to forget that it is these four simple truths (or metrics) that keep us in business: 1. Getting more customers to buy from us; 2. More often; 3. To spend more with us in the process; 4. AND to recommend us to their friends (p. 15)

Identify your 70/20/10 (or 60/30/10 depending on risk appetite). Most people know of this allocation from the innovation approach that Eric Schmidt pioneered at Google: 70 percent of time allocated to core business tasks, 20 percent to projects directly related to the core business, and 10 percent dedicated to projects unrelated to the core business.

Oh, yeah, it would be Firestar!" Needlepaw muttered. "He has his tail in every cat's business, even now he's dead." "He

In Marie's opinion, the OASIS was the best thing that had ever happened to both women and people of color. From the very start, Marie had used a white male avatar to conduct all of her online business, because of the marked difference it made in how she was treated and the opportunities she was given. When

Any business that wanted to set up shop inside the OASIS had to rent or purchase virtual real estate (which Morrow dubbed "surreal estate") from GSS.

I learned from Mr. Wrigley, early in my career, that loyalty wins and it creates friendships. I saw it work for him in his business.

Baseball? It's just a game — as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, business — and sometimes even religion.

Baseball just a came as simple as a ball and bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.

If you can't pay for a thing, don't buy it. If you can't get paid for it, don't sell it. Do this, and you will have calm and drowsy nights, with all of the good business you have now and none of the bad. If you have time, don't wait for time.

The music business is motivated by money. Music is motivated by energy and feelings.

But now I realize that this record business really needs me. No one else is trying to take a chance or do something different.

Music and the music business are two different things.

Part One describes how McKinsey thinks about business problems. It shows what it means to be fact-based, structured, and hypothesis-driven.

When a client asks the question "How do I boost my profits?" the first thing McKinsey does is take a step back and ask the question "Where do your profits come from?" The answer to this is not always obvious, even to people who have been in their particular business for years.

In our business, it is helpful to get to the one or two really important numbers that need to be considered. There isn't time for more." We concur.

Although a partner's compensation depends in large part on the amount of business he brings to the Firm, no one goes out to knock on doors. The Firm waits for the phone to ring.

Those patterns will highlight aspects of your business that you probably did not realize. They may mean problems (a big problem if 80 percent of your profits come from 20 percent of your product lines), but they also mean opportunities. Find the opportunities and make the most of them.

At the start of a McKinsey-ite's career, most of his time is spent gathering data, whether from one of the Firm's libraries, from McKinsey's many databases, or from the Internet. Gathering, filtering, and analyzing data is the skill exercised most by new associates. As a result, McKinsey-ites have learned a number of tricks for jump-starting their research. You can use these tricks to find the answers to your business problem too.

Unfortunately, when academic ideals meet business realities, business realities usually win. Businesses are full of real people, with real strengths and weaknesses and limitations. These people can do only so much with the finite resources available in their organizations. Some things they just cannot do, whether for political reasons, lack of resources or inability.

To succeed as a business problem solver, you must choose your team carefully, getting the best mix of people from the resources you have available. McKinsey benefits from a global pool of talented, intelligent individuals whose strengths and weaknesses the Firm tracks closely. Even with this advantage, EMs and EDs must learn the art of team selection. Their experiences can help you, even if you can't call on the same level of resources.

The moral of this story is that an initial hypothesis is not a prerequisite for successful problem solving. Having one will help organize and forward your thinking, but if you can't come up with one, don't despair. Any McKinsey-ite will tell you that no business problem is immune to the power of fact-based analysis. Put together enough facts, combine them with some creative thinking, and you will come up with a solution.

I don't want to end up a bureaucrat in the time-management business for God or a librarian cataloguing timeless truths. Salvation is kicking in the womb of creation right now, any time now. Pay attention.

I don't want to end up a bureaucrat in the time-management business for God or a librarian cataloguing timeless truths. Salvation is kicking in the womb of creation right now, any time now. Pay attention.

The vocation of pastor(s) has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans.