Built To Last Favorite Quotes
A must read for entrepreneurs looking to start their own company or hardened corporate leaders, Built To Last stands the test of time and is just as applicable now as it was 27 years ago.
Here are some of the most inspiring and insightful quotes from Jim Collins:
“Those who built the visionary companies wisely understood that it is better to understand who you are than where you are going — for where you are going will almost certainly change. It is a lesson as relevant to our individual lives as to aspiring visionary companies.”
“It occurs to me, Jim, that you spend too much time trying to be interesting. Why don’t you invest more time being interested?”
“Those who built the visionary companies wisely understood that it is better to understand who you are than where you are going — for where you are going will almost certainly change. It is a lesson as relevant to our individual lives as to aspiring visionary companies.”
“‘shareholder wealth’ is the standard ‘off-the-shelf’ purpose for those organizations that have not yet identified their true core purpose. It is a substitute ideology, and a weak substitute at that. Listen to people in great organizations talk about their achievements and you’ll hear very little about earnings per share.”
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
“Having a great idea or being a charismatic visionary leader is ‘time telling’; building a company that can prosper far beyond the presence of any single leader and through multiple product life cycles is ‘clock building.’
“Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat.”
This echoes the legendary words from Kahil Gibran:
“But if in your heart you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.”
Building your foundation with the successful components documented by Jim Collins’ Built To Last can be a guidelight through the perceived labyrinth of starting your own business.
I recommend listening to the audio book which is narrated by the author himself, available through Audible.
