Business Quote of the Decade- Top 12 Candidates
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By Lou Steinberg
My good friend Felix Davidson used to quietly write down the best comments he heard in meetings and post them each December in a “Quotes of the Year” blog. Following in his footsteps, I’ve collected some of my favorites from his and other colleagues’ material over time; my nominees for the best business quote of the 2010-2019 decade.
Most are meant to be humorous, but I’ve selected those that also offer business insights. Where appropriate, I’m attributing their sources and providing context. I hope you enjoy them as you reflect on your year.
1) “You’re working on the wrong side of the decimal point.”
This comes from futurist Thornton May. It was absolutely brilliant at highlighting that, while correct, we were focusing on immaterial things vs. things that really matter.
2) “Don’t confuse activity with progress.”
Perhaps the most insightful thing that Ken Degiglio ever said, and he’s said some insightful things. It’s easy to think we are advancing because we have a lot of activity— but progress is the measure we care about. I often remind sales teams of this.
3) “We are negotiating with ourselves.”
Another good one from Ken. He stopped us when we were talking ourselves down before a negotiation with a third party had even begun.
4) “[They] show up by not showing up.”
Fred Tomczyk said this about my technology risk team, and he was right. Once we built a system to effectively manage risk, we stopped being a topic of conversation. It’s important to recognize things that work well and not just focus on things when they are broken.
5) “Incremental innovation is really just adjusting for inflation.”
From the Twitter account “Bored Elon Musk,” this quote perfectly captures how I feel about innovation. Nobody ever gained sustainable competitive advantages through incrementalism. If you want to create change that matters, it needs to be disruptive.
6) “What we did, we did well. It’s what we didn’t do that sucked.”
A Managing Director in tech said this. Our challenges weren’t with what we did, they were with what we missed. We needed a system to sense what was missing and deliver it.
7) “The essence of a great strategy is in what you decide to not do.”
John Bruno said this when we were losing focus during a strategic planning cycle. It’s the flip side to the previous quote…your sensing needs to be analyzed so you can filter out the noise and focus on the critical few items that have a disproportionate impact to the upside.
8) “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Senator Daniel P. Moynihan said this more than a decade ago, but it still applies today.. At a previous firm, we frequently had “facts” introduced stating a legal or compliance mandate. On closer inspection, it wasn’t a requirement, just someone’s favorite idea.
9) “He’s an oxygen thief.”
This label was applied to people who sat in meetings and consumed air, but offered little value in return.
10) “There’s a difference between wishing and trying.”
Another one from a Managing Director in tech. Either go build/fix something or stop complaining that it doesn’t work.
11) “Finance may want to capitalize my mojito, which requires me to drink it over three years.”
I said this, after a financial planning session in which the request was made to amortize equipment over a longer time period than was supportable. The result was that we would have aging equipment in use that would increase future technical debt.
12) “Without data, you are just another person with an opinion.”
Unattributed, but true. Facts trump instinct. Recognize the difference, even when it means accepting your own confirmation bias.
Lou Steinberg is Founder & Managing Partner at CTM Insights, a cyber-security research lab combined with an early stage technology studio/incubator.