110+ Lee Iacocca Quotes On Family, Teachers And Visionary

Lee Iacocca was an American businessman and public figure. He was best known for his work as the President of the Ford Motor Company and later as the CEO of the Chrysler Corporation. He is credited with reviving the Chrysler Corporation and helping to bring it back from near bankruptcy in the 1980s. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Lee Iacocca on leadership, family, teachers.

Top 10 Lee Iacocca Quotes

1. In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.
7. 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.
8. The right decision is the wrong decision if it's made too late.
9. We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?
10. The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.

Lee Iacocca Image Quotes

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

Lee Iacocca Short Quotes

• To solve big problems you have to be willing to do unpopular things.
• If I Had To Sum Up In One Word The Qualities That Make Up A Good Manager, I'd Say Decisiveness.
• The one word that makes a good manager -- decisiveness.
• The one word that makes a good manager - decisiveness.
• If we screw it up, start over. Try something else.
• Are we going to be a services power? The double-cheeseburger-hold-the-mayo kings of the world?
• If you set a good example you need not worry about setting rules.
• MBAs know everything but understand nothing.
• The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.
• The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.

Lee Iacocca Quotes About People

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

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. — Lee Iacocca

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

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

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. — Lee Iacocca

Management is nothing more than motivating other people. — Lee Iacocca

Most people are looking for security, a nice, safe, prosperous future. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's called the American Dream. — Lee Iacocca

Any supervisor worth his salt would rather deal with people who attempt too much than with those who try too little. — Lee Iacocca

I was fortunate to get a scholarship when I went to Lehigh University and Princeton. They were both wonderful schools. Somebody was kind enough to spend their money to educate people that they would never get to know. That's what I think philanthropy is about. — Lee Iacocca

People want economy and they'll pay almost any price to get it. — Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca Quotes About Business

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. — Lee Iacocca

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. — Lee Iacocca

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

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

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

In business, I loved cars. I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning. Only in America can you decide to get a good education and pursue what you like. — Lee Iacocca

I'm sometimes described as a flamboyant leader and a hip-shooter, a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants operator. But if that were true, I could never have been successful in this business. — Lee Iacocca

I learned that monthly payments are the cornerstone of everything in the automobile business. — Lee Iacocca

The ability to concentrate and to use your time well is everything if you want to succeed in business--or almost anywhere else for that matter. — Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca Quotes About Actions

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. — Lee Iacocca

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

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

People say to me, You were a roaring success. How did you do it? I go back to what my parents taught me. Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make something happen. — Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca Quotes About Guys

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. — Lee Iacocca

I have always found that if I move with seventy-five percent or more of the facts that I usually never regret it. It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy. — Lee Iacocca

The cement in our whole democracy today is the worker who makes $ 15 an hour. He's the guy who will buy a house and a car and a refrigerator. He's the oil in the engine. — Lee Iacocca

If a guy is over 25 percent jerk, he's in trouble. And Henry was 95 percent. — Lee Iacocca

I'd really love to meet the guy I'm supposed to be. I'd hire him in a second. — Lee Iacocca

Incompetency begets incompetency. The last thing a guy who isn't sure of himself wants is a guy backing him up who is sure of himself. — Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca Famous Quotes And Sayings

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. — Lee Iacocca

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? — Lee Iacocca

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

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. — Lee Iacocca

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. — Lee Iacocca

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. — Lee Iacocca

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

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. — Lee Iacocca

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. — Lee Iacocca

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. — Lee Iacocca

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. — Lee Iacocca

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

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

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

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

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. — Lee Iacocca

There's a world of difference between a strong ego, which is essential, and a large ego-which can be destructive. — Lee Iacocca

We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay it back. — Lee Iacocca

Greenmail, in case you're wondering, is when a company pays a raider a premium for his holdings-if he'll go away. What I think it really is is blackmail in a pin-striped suit. — Lee Iacocca

Boys, there ain't no free lunches in this country. And don't go spending your whole life commiserating that you got the raw deals. You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it. It's called perseverance. — Lee Iacocca

I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team. — Lee Iacocca

If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late. — Lee Iacocca

Why is our free-enterprise system so strong?- Not because it stands still, frozen in the past, but because it has always adapted to changing realities — Lee Iacocca

A country's competitiveness starts not on the factory floor or in the engineering lab. It starts in the classroom. — Lee Iacocca

Bad times are indelible. They stay with you forever. — Lee Iacocca

There's a billboard in a little farm town in the Midwest that says: IF YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT FARMERS, DON'T TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL. — Lee Iacocca

Styling cars sells cars and safety does not. — Lee Iacocca

You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance. — Lee Iacocca

Never rest on your oars as a boss. If you do, the whole company starts sinking. — Lee Iacocca

We at Chrysler borrow money the old fashion way. We pay it back. — Lee Iacocca

I was good friends with Frank Sinatra, I heard Steve Kaufman painting his portrait, so I asked Steve to paint my portrait. — Lee Iacocca

You can't have a country or a city or a state that's worth a damn unluss you govern within yourself in your day-to-day life. — Lee Iacocca

It's a good thing god doesn't let you look a year or two into the future, or you might be sorely tempted to shoot yourself. — Lee Iacocca

I was raised to give back. I was born to immigrant parents and was fortunate to become successful at an early age. I've always felt a strong sense of national service to my country, and I may have been able to provide leadership in the political arena. I don't regret the decision not to enter politics, I just wonder sometimes if I could have changed anything. — Lee Iacocca

Formal learning can teach you a great deal, but many of the essential skills in life are the ones you have to develop on your own. — Lee Iacocca

Thanks to properly selecting the clients you will not be unnecessarily wasting time. — Lee Iacocca

We load up on oat bran in the morning so we'll live forever. Then we spend the rest of the day living like there's no tomorrow. — Lee Iacocca

When future historians look back on our way of curing inflation...they'll probably compare it to bloodletting in the Middle Ages. — Lee Iacocca

I don't need a $100 million mistake. Try to make a $5 million mistake if you have to make one. — Lee Iacocca

You, my friend, alone are equal to a hundred of such friends. Happy Birthday to you. — Lee Iacocca

I've got to get stop getting fired like this. People will start to think I'm a drifter. — Lee Iacocca

Life can be difficult for kids born with a gold spoon in their mouth, because they never really get to find out if they're able to work hard and make it on their own. — Lee Iacocca

Here's what we should be doing. We've got to get off fossil fuels. — Lee Iacocca

Talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they'll say, 'God, he said exactly what I was thinking.' And when they begin to respect you, they'll follow you to the death. — Lee Iacocca

In business, you're trying to make a buck. God was good to me and blessed me. I made some money and started this foundation years ago, and it has grown in size. With the foundation it's a lot different, because the bottom line isn't how you can make more money or get a better return, it's helping the projects that you feel strongly about move forward. — Lee Iacocca

If you own up to your mistakes, you don't suffer as much. But that's a tough lesson to learn. — Lee Iacocca

The primary skill of a manager consists of knowing how to make assignments and picking the right people to carry out those assignments — Lee Iacocca

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have. — Lee Iacocca

If your product is great, you yourself do not have to be a great seller. — Lee Iacocca

In the great undertakings, there is glory, even in failure. — Lee Iacocca

What is it that you like doing? If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it. — Lee Iacocca

Get all the education you can then go out and do something - do anything. — Lee Iacocca

In the old days, if a neighbors apples fell into your yard, you worked it out over the back fence or picked them up and made pies. Today, you sue. — Lee Iacocca

Don’t just stand there; make something happen. — Lee Iacocca

No matter how I'm doing financially, the Depression has never disappeared from my consciousness. To this day, I hate waste. When neckties went from narrow to wide, I kept all my old ones until the style went back to narrow. — Lee Iacocca

Listening can make the difference between a mediocre organization and a great one. — Lee Iacocca

I've had a wonderful and successful career. But next to my family, it really hasn't mattered at all. — Lee Iacocca

People want economy and they will pay any price to get it. — Lee Iacocca

It pains me to see my old company, which has meant so much to America, on the ropes. But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got through it, and I believe they can do it again... Let's face it, if your car breaks down, you're not going to take it to the White House to get fixed. But, if your company breaks down, you've got to go to the experts on the ground, not the bureaucrats. — Lee Iacocca

Every little kid wants to grow up to be a cowboy, and I did. — Lee Iacocca

A good deal is a state of mind. — Lee Iacocca

The only mistake I ever made was not listening to my gut. — Lee Iacocca

There's no great mystery to satisfying your customers. Build them a quality product and treat them with respect. It's that simple. — Lee Iacocca

Life Lessons by Lee Iacocca

1. Lee Iacocca's life teaches us the importance of hard work and dedication. He worked his way up from a humble beginning to become one of the most successful businessmen in the world.
2. He also demonstrates the importance of taking risks and learning from failure. Despite the numerous setbacks he faced, he never gave up and eventually achieved great success.
3. Finally, Lee Iacocca's life shows us the importance of resilience and perseverance. He faced many challenges and obstacles, but he always found a way to persevere and overcome them.