You need the right people far more than you need the right business idea, especially since any specific business idea is likely to fail anyway.

Kenneth Atchity, president of Atchity Entertainment International, observed that there is a vital difference between managing time and managing work: work is infinite; time is finite. Work expands to fill whatever time is allotted to it. To be productive, therefore, you must manage your time, not your work. The key question to ask yourself is not

Do you have Jorge Paulo’s dilemma? Do you have too many great young and talented leaders, too many ambitious and capable and driven people? If you create this “problem” for your company, you’ll be forced to go for the next big dream; otherwise, the best ones will go find something else to do.

True leadership only exists if people follow when they would otherwise have the freedom to not follow.

Making the most of victories is what the flywheel principle is all about (see the previous chapter on The Map for a brief description of the flywheel concept). I’ve come to see the flywheel effect as one of the most important strategic principles to come from all of our research into why some companies become great, why some fail to become great,

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Most of us are familiar with situations where people are unwilling or afraid to present unpleasant truths. In many cases, who can blame them? The unspoken rule in all too many companies is: We don’t want to see anything negative, even if it is true; we like our rose-colored glasses. Ignoring facts,

Just think of the “who luck” in your own life. It could be the luck of stumbling across a life-altering mentor. It could be the luck of finding a great friend or an ideal life partner or an incredible boss or teammate. It could also take the form of stumbling across someone who’d be a spectacular person on your bus.

decision point came in 1971 when she confronted what to do with the Pentagon Papers—a leaked Defense Department study that revealed government deceptions about the Vietnam War. The Times had already incurred a court injunction for publishing excerpts. If the Post published, it risked prosecution under the Espionage Act. That, in turn, could

When operating at its best, the Cleveland Clinic turned this “get the right people” obsession into a reinforcing loop of momentum: Start with the right people operating in a collaborative culture that drives patient outcomes, which then feeds into attracting patients from around the world, which then generates reputation and resources to invest in