David Ogilvy Quotes

That's how you win - pitching and defense.

All my jobs have been with food in one way or another since 1948. My parents were in the hotel business, and I just loved the warm hearted people who worked so hard with such good humor.

At my restaurants, we have training drills before every meal. We talk about what we did yesterday that was great and what we can improve today.

I learned early on to never walk while I was on the ball field. I ran everywhere I went.

A particular shot or way of moving the ball can be a player's personal signature, but efficiency of performance is what wins the game for the team.

You should want to run if you're a player, shouldn't you, on offense?

I'm going to do my best to help the team play hard and help the team win... I'm just coming to play baseball.

I think of going back to the sports field again, and let's take a baseball game. Well, you have cracked out a grounder and you put in your last ounce of energy and you just happen to make first base. But you don't stop there. First base is the beginning. Now you call on all your alertness, your skill, your energy - and you count on your teammates, you count on the people that are working with you. And the purpose of that getting on first base was to get you around to count a run.

If you've been given opportunities then you have to create opportunities. If you're given knowledge by people, share your knowledge. If you were born with talent, show your talent off.

I guess show business is a lot like baseball: "Wait until next year!" You just never know. Some of the shittiest shows I've ever seen run forever, and some of the best things never get a chance.

I want to thank all my teammates who scored so many runs and Joe DiMaggio, who ran down so many of my mistakes.

Our team is good at getting dressed real quick, because we're the type of team that wears their uniforms all day.

[A]ll of life, as we know it, moves in little, unavailing circles. More justly than to anything else, it can be likened to the game of baseball. Crack! we hit the ball, and away we go. If we earn a run (in life we call it success) we get back to the home plate and sit upon a bench. If we are thrown out, we walk back to the home plate -- and sit upon a bench.

I know what to do when they give me the ball. I know what to do to give this team a chance to win.

The kinds of errors that cause plane crashes are invariably errors of teamwork and communication.

Producing is very much like running a business, where you find the project, you find the different people involved, you put the elements together, and you make sure they all work together well.

People say I don't have great tools. They say that I can't throw like Ellis Valentine or run like Tim Raines or hit with power like Mike Schmidt. Who can? I make up for it in other ways, by putting out a little bit more. That's my theory, to go through life hustling. In the big leagues, hustle usually means being in the right place at the right time. It means backing up a base. It means backing up your teammate. It means taking that headfirst slide. It means doing everything you can do to win a baseball game.

In investing, just as in baseball, to put runs on the scoreboard, one must watch the playing field, not the scoreboard.

If my forward arrives in a one vs one situation, I always say: 'let him work it out.' Then my players say: But we can help him!'. My reply is: First, there's a good chance you'll only run in his way, and as a second attacker you're drawing a second defender with you, and two vs two is harder than one vs one.'

If I give up nine runs on nine hits, I tip my hat.

Remember: You'll be left with an empty feeling if you hit the finish line alone. When you run a race as a team, though, you'll discover that much of the reward comes from hitting the tape together. You want to be surrounded not just by cheering onlookers but by a crowd of winners, celebrating as one.

So much happened (in 1968) it was hard to keep up with everything. We had Denny McLain's thirty-one victories, Gates Brown's great pinch-hitting in the clutch, Tom Matchick's home run to beat Baltimore in the ninth inning, then Daryl Patterson striking out the side to beat them in the ninth. Excitement every day in the ballpark.

This sounds strange to many people, but I work out for exactly 16 minutes every day, and do so at maximum speed by running 2.5 miles. This keeps me healthy without taking up too much time so I can stay focused on other things. It's one of the most efficient things I do each day.

As difficult as it is to build a team, it is not complicated. In fact, keeping it simple is critical, whether you run the executive staff at a multi-national company, a small department within a larger organization, or even if you are merely a member of a team that needs improvement.

I'm a teammate guy, so whatever I can do to help my team to win like I have the past two years, that's what I want to do. If it takes for me to play first base, third base, right field, I just want to win the game.