Quotes on Operational Excellence

October 12th, 2007 Theresa Shafer

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle

“Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity.”
Paul Goodman

“It goes without saying that as soon as one cherishes the thought of winning the contest or displaying one’s skill in technique, swordmanship is doomed.”
Takano Shigeyoshi

“The mastery of nature is vainly believed to be an adequate substitute for self-mastery.”
Reinhold Niebuhr

“Not only has one to do one’s best, one must, while doing one’s best, remain detached from whatever one is trying to achieve.”
Janwillem Van De Wetering

“The best, most efficient, most profitable way to operate a business is to give everybody in the company a voice in saying how the company is run and a stake in the financial outcome, good or bad …. A business should be run like an aquarium, where everybody can see what’s going on — what’s going in, what’s moving around, what’s coming out. That’s the only way to make sure people understand what you’re doing, and why, and have some input into deciding where you are going. Then, when the unexpected happens, they know how to react and react quickly.”
Jack Stack, “The Great Game of Business”

“The maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters.”
Ralph Peters quoting “an old Army aphorism”

“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.”
Steve Wright

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