“In the end self-confidence mostly comes from a gut-level realization that nobody has ever died from making a wrong business decision, or taking inappropriate action, or being overruled. And everyone in your operation should be made to understand this.”
Andrew S. Grove
High Output Management (Primary source)
Andy Grove’s High Output Management, published in 1983 at the zenith of America’s transition from industrial to information economy, stands as a seminal treatise on the art and science of organizational leadership. The work’s enduring contribution lies in its audacious central premise: that management itself constitutes a production process, measurable and optimizable like any manufacturing operation, where the manager’s output equals the output of his organization.
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“Stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.”
— Andrew S. Grove Primary source“A fundamental rule in technology says that whatever can be done will be done.”
— Andrew S. Grove Primary source“Here I’d like to introduce the concept of leverage, which is the output generated by a specific type of work activity. An activity with high leverage will generate a high level of output; an activity with low leverage, a low level of output.”
— Andrew S. Grove Primary source“Remember too that your time is your one finite resource, and when you say yes to one thing you are inevitably saying no to another.”
— Andrew S. Grove Primary sourceMore quotes by Andrew S. Grove →
“It was the mistakes one made at the beginning of a case that were the worst. They were the irretrievable ones, the ones that got you off on the wrong foot, that gave the enemy the first game.”
— Ian Fleming Primary source“Being able to recognize that you are wrong is a godsend.”
— Charlie Munger Primary source“It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Everyone has the right to make his own decisions, but none has the right to force his decision on others.”
— Ayn Rand DisputedSelf-confidence Decisions Action