Quotes About Growth

A recent article in Fast Company pointed out that a11 number of today's leading companies—Nike, Apple, Netflix—have increasingly been finding success by moving outside their primary area of expertise. The article, with the provocative headline "Death to Core Competency," suggests that whatever a company's specialty product or service might be—whatever got you to where you are today—might not be the thing that gets you to the next level.

Then Grove posed an interesting question to his partner: If we were kicked out of the company, what do you think the new CEO would do? Grove and Moore reasoned that a new leader would feel no emotional attachment to the declining memory-chip business and would probably leave it behind. So they did likewise, shifting Intel's focus to microprocessors—which set the stage for remarkable growth in the years to follow.

Yet chances are, for the rest of her life, that four-year-old girl will never again ask questions as instinctively, as imaginatively, or as freely as she does at that shining moment. Unless she is exceptional, that age is her questioning peak.

All of which means that, whereas in the past one needed to appear to have "all the answers" in order to rise in companies, today, at least in some enlightened segments of the business world, the corner office is there for the askers

Cooperrider says that "organizations gravitate toward the questions they ask.

In a time when so much of what we know is subject to revision or obsolescence, the comfortable expert must go back to being a restless learner.

What might the potential for humans be if we really encouraged that spirit of questioning in children, instead of closing it down? I

As for the answer, it belongs to whoever gets to it first. Holding back ideas—hoarding your beautiful questions—is usually pointless because it's hard to make headway on something hidden in a drawer. Better to bring a question out into the light of day and trust that, with help from others, you'll get something out of it—a solution, a learning experience, an insight, a fresh perspective, a sense of purpose—that will be yours.

You don't learn unless you question.

Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air, and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." Beginner's

when he came home from school, "while other mothers asked their kids 'Did you learn anything today?' [my mother ] would say, 'Izzy, did you ask a good question today?

Death to Core Competency," suggests that whatever a company's specialty product or service might be—whatever got you to where you are today—might not be the thing that gets you to the next level.

This works well under most circumstances, but when we wish to move beyond that default setting—to consider new ideas and possibilities, to break from habitual thinking and expand upon our existing knowledge—it helps if we can let go of what we know, just temporarily.

The world of capitalism is, essentially, a roller coaster, what goes up, must come down.

I made my first investment at age eleven. I was wasting my life up until then.

Our favorite holding period is forever.

If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.

The key to investing is not assessing how much an industry is going to affect society, or how much it will grow, but rather determining the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage.

Read 500 pages every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it."

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth.

No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.

It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.

The health industry, the fitness industry, was really starting to pick up. This was around the mid 80's.