Gary Hamel Quotes

"A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance."

"Trust is not simply a matter of truthfulness, or even constancy. It is also a matter of amity and goodwill. We trust those who have our best interests at heart, and mistrust those who seem deaf to our concerns."

"As the great grandchildren of the industrial revolution, we have learned, at last, that the heedless pursuit of more is unsustainable and, ultimately, unfulfilling. Our planet, our security, our sense of equanimity and our very souls demand something better, something different."

"What's true for churches is true for other institutions: the older and more organized they get, the less adaptable they become. That's why the most resilient things in our world - biological life, stock markets, the Internet - are loosely organized."

"You can't build an adaptable organization without adaptable people - and individuals change only when they have to, or when they want to."

"The biggest barriers to strategic renewal are almost always top management's unexamined beliefs."

"At the heart of every faith system is a bargain: on one side there is the comfort that comes from a narrative that suggests human life has cosmic significance, and on the other a duty to yield to moral commands that can, in the moment, seem rather inconvenient."

"As human beings, we are the genetic elite, the sentient, contemplating and innovating sum of countless genetic accidents and transcription errors."

"I was frustrated for a long time with my colleagues in the business school world and with so many management authors who didn't really see themselves as innovators. They were glorified journalists."

"Management innovation is going to be the most enduring source of competitive advantage. There will be lots of rewards for firms in the vanguard."

"An adaptable company is one that captures more than its fair share of new opportunities. It's always redefining its 'core business' in ways that open up new avenues for growth."

"I am an ardent supporter of capitalism - but I also understand that while individuals have inalienable, God-given rights, corporations do not."

"While one should never underestimate the ability of risk-besotted financiers to wreak havoc, the real threat to capitalism isn't unfettered financial cunning. It is, instead, the unwillingness of executives to confront the changing expectations of their stakeholders."

"When a politician bends the truth or a CEO breaks a promise, trust takes a beating."

"Most of us understand that innovation is enormously important. It's the only insurance against irrelevance. It's the only guarantee of long-term customer loyalty. It's the only strategy for out-performing a dismal economy."

"A titled leader relies heavily on positional power to get things done; a natural leader is able to mobilize others without the whip of formal authority."

"Power has long been regarded as morally corrosive, and we often suspect the intentions of those who seek it."

"I'm a capitalist by conviction and profession. I believe the best economic system is one that rewards entrepreneurship and risk-taking, maximizes customer choice, uses markets to allocate scarce resources and minimizes the regulatory burden on business."

"Like a child star whose fame fades as the years advance, many once-innovative companies become less so as they mature."

"Fact is, inventing an innovative business model is often mostly a matter of serendipity."

"Most companies don't have the luxury of focusing exclusively on innovation. They have to innovate while stamping out zillions of widgets or processing billions of transactions."

"All too often, legacy management practices reflexively perpetuate the past - by over-weighting the views of long-tenured executives, by valuing conformance more highly than creativity and by turning tired industry nostrums into sacred truths."

"During the ten years I lived in the U.K., I frequently attended an Anglican church just outside of London. I enjoyed the energetic singing and the thoughtful homilies. And yet, I found it easy to be a pew warmer, a consumer, a back row critic."

"Truth be told, there are lots of companies that provide exemplary phone support. DirecTV, Virgin America and Apple are a few that regularly exceed my expectations."

"Building human-centered organizations doesn't imply a return to the paternalistic, corporate welfare practices of the 19th century. Most of us don't want to be nannied."

"It's not just that individuals have lost faith in the integrity of their leaders, it's that they no longer believe society's most powerful institutions are acting in their interests."

"Remarkable contributions are typically spawned by a passionate commitment to transcendent values such as beauty, truth, wisdom, justice, charity, fidelity, joy, courage and honor."

"If corporate leaders and their acolytes are not slaves to some meritorious social purpose, they run the risk of being enslaved by their own ignoble appetites."

"An uplifting sense of purpose is more than an impetus for individual accomplishment, it is also a necessary insurance policy against expediency and impropriety."

"In a world of commoditized knowledge, the returns go to the companies who can produce non-standard knowledge."