Lee Iacocca Quotes

No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?

Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can't miss.

The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do - they always reach.

The great issues facing us today are not Republican issues or Democratic issues.

The political parties can debate the means, but both parties must embrace the end objective, which is to make America great again.

The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do -- they always reach.

You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.

Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.

Over the years, many executives have said to me with pride: 'Boy, I worked so hard last year that I didn't take any vacation.' I always feel like responding, "You dummy. You mean to tell me you can take responsibility for an eighty-million-dollar project and you can't plan two weeks out of the year to have some fun?

The right decision is the wrong decision if it's made too late.

We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?

So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.

The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.

One of the things the government can't do is run anything.

The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.

Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make it happen.

Mistakes are a part of life; you can't avoid them. All you can hope is that they won't be too expensive and that you don't make the same mistake twice.

To solve big problems you have to be willing to do unpopular things.

If I had to sum up in a word what makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness.

You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.

What is it that you like doing? If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it. You don't have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, because if you don't like it you'll never be successful in it.

I learned about the strength you can get from a close family life.

I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work.

If I Had To Sum Up In One Word The Qualities That Make Up A Good Manager, I'd Say Decisiveness.

A major reason capable people fail to advance is that they don't work well with their colleagues.

The one word that makes a good manager -- decisiveness.

The one word that makes a good manager - decisiveness.

I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen.

Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions.

When the product is right, you don't have to be a great marketer.

My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.

If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.

If we screw it up, start over. Try something else.

Even a correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.

If you make believe that ten guys in pin-striped suits are back in a kindergarten class playing with building blocks, you'll get a rough picture of what life in a corporation is like.

Are we going to be a services power? The double-cheeseburger-hold-the-mayo kings of the world?

As you go through life, there are thousands of little forks in the road, and there are a few really big forks-those moments of reckoning, moments of truth.

Leadership means setting an example. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, people follow your every move.

The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.

If you set a good example you need not worry about setting rules.

Business, after all, is nothing more than a bunch of human relationships.

There are times in everyone's life when something constructive is born out of adversity... when things seem so bad that you've got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it.

In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits.

I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use.

Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.

MBAs know everything but understand nothing.

Management is nothing more than motivating other people.

A little righteous anger really brings out the best in the American personality.

Our nation was born when 56 patriots got mad enough to sign the Declaration of Independence. We put a man on the moon because Sputnik made us mad at being number two in space. Getting mad in a constructive way is good for the soul- and the country.

The trick is to make sure you don't die waiting for prosperity to come.

The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.

The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else.

We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

Be creative. Use unconventional thinking. And have the guts to carry it out.

My father used to say, 'You can spend a lot of time making money.

The tough time comes when you have to give it away properly.' How to give something back, that's the tough part in life.