Gary Hamel Quotes

Companies that tend to survive are the rebels.

Creativity and business acumen don't always go hand in hand.

When we started NFL Films, there were no focus groups, there were no demographic studies, there were no surveys. Every decision that we made, we made with our hearts, not with our heads. And, in the very beginning, we really didn't even have a business plan.

There is no greater country on Earth for entrepreneurship than America. In every category, from the high-tech world of Silicon Valley, where I live, to University R&D labs, to countless Main Street small business owners, Americans are taking risks, embracing new ideas and - most importantly - creating jobs.

I've never been one who enjoys maintaining the status quo. I'm always pushing for new ideas, whether it's in business or philanthropy.

Everything that an artist does is a risk. Some people want you to stay the same. If you want to evolve, they want to keep you in a certain place.

I like entrepreneurial people; I like people who take risks.

Big companies have trouble with innovation. Innovation is about bad ideas, or ideas that look like bad ideas. That's the fundamental thing.

I think entrepreneurs are born and not created, and so I think you see a lot of similarities among entrepreneurs in different parts of the world. Their backdrop may be very different, but their drive to create a business and to create jobs remains very much the same, whether it's in Silicon Valley or Kandahar or Kabul.

Almost all new ideas have a certain aspect of foolishness when they are first produced.

We are exploring creative models to pursue innovation outside the confines of our normal process, taking calculated risks and learning from them.

The world of entertainment is, like the world of fashion, becoming increasingly populated by those who don't want to do things the same old boring way.

Just finding ways to be not provocative for provocative's sake, but to show an idea that hasn't been shown before, I mean that's interesting to me.

If you don't take a risk then what's the point. We can't keep making films in the same space.

Being a great founder or early team member is a difficult dialectic - you have to be a bit overconfident, and a big ego isn't always a bad thing. To change the world requires pushing really, really hard and believing you and your team know something others don't.

I just kind of dive in if I think I can create something that will make a difference and then try to get the numbers to stack up after the event. So most of the things I've done I would not have done if I'd have asked the accountants to look at them before.

If you never want to be criticized, for goodness sake don't do anything new.

A vision is something you see and others don't. Some people would say that's a pocket definition of lunacy. But it also defines entrepreneurial spirit.

I'm always open to new, innovative stuff and people trying to do stuff in a different way. I knew that the theatrical release would be like getting on the launch pad for Amazon Prime but I was okay with that because I think what Jeff Bezos and Ted Hope are doing is innovative.

Never let money get in the way of an idea

Mainly, my job is to be on the outside and bring ideas into the company and forge change. Most people hate change—it’s threatening. I thrive on it.

Every great man of business has got somewhere a touch of the idealist in him.

Successful people are the ones who are breaking the rules.

New ideas come into this world somewhat like falling meteors, with a flash and an explosion.

Successful people are usually more lively than those who are unsuccessful. The quickening of the spirit they feel comes out of their creativity, and success detaches them from the more rigid outlook on life - it puts them in the flow. So the shakers and movers, by their very nature, are moving faster, taking more risks, and investing more in the world than their less active counterparts.