Theodore Levitt Quotes

I think there are certain business matters which we must now conduct differently than we used to.

In my experience, what is often missing between intent and action is the knowledge and the means to actually change the way we do business or make consumer decisions.

Most managers are just trying to survive. That's why a lot of smarter guys have been let go from Fortune 500 companies: because they came up with new ideas that no one would allow them to try.

When in doubt, mumble; when in trouble, delegate; when in charge, ponder.

Even my agents say, We don't know what this business is anymore.

If you look at any of the big companies, whether it is IBM or L'Oreal, they have a corporate religion and corporate self-image that makes it very difficult for them to execute in different areas.

My business is not to show anybody anything; my job is just to do it.

It's time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.

While academic abilities remain integral, it is the work ethics that form the soul of the business.

Large organizations don't worship shareholders or customers, they worship the past. If it were otherwise, it wouldn't take a crisis to set a company on a new path.

In my business, if you look good, no one is going to be checking up on whether you work out. So it's up to me.

A critical question to ask when bringing in a new CEO to take the reins of a company you started is: Do you want someone who will maintain company culture or reinvent it?

If you go through some big corporate change, it's just not going to be the same. If we sold to Yahoo, they would have done something different; if you want to continue your vision of the company, then don't sell because there's inevitably going to be some change.

Throughout my years in business, I discovered something. I would always ask why you do things. The answers that I would invariably get are: 'Oh, that's just the way things are done around here.' Nobody knows why they do what they do. Nobody thinks very deeply about things in business.

The core of the consulting business is going in and essentially making yourself indispensible by eating the brain of the organization, meaning that the consultants go in and assume key functions in the organization.

Most companies that are great at something - like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores - do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us) because they are afraid to hurt their initial business.

There are lots of lessons to learn from Amazon. Never stop innovating or questioning the fundamentals of your business. Disrupt yourself before others do. Continually motivate employees so that they never get too complacent - see Yahoo, AOL and many other Internet companies for evidence of what happens when they do.

I've worked in the business world and, as a futurist, the whole 20 years that I've led at Mosaic.

A big company is like trying to steer a luxury liner.

Sometimes you have to destroy your business in order to save it.

I learned a lot from Jack Welch about how to run a business.

Every era demands its own answers, and if one wants to do good, one must be prepared for them.

We are what we make.

If heads don’t roll, nobody makes any changes

I think that's what happened to the record business when 'Napster' came around. The industry rejected what was happening instead of accepting it as change.