Rick Wagoner Quotes

Ford had a number of different strategies over the years that they thought obviously made sense at the time, just like all the different brands, and also the regional operations.

As we continue to grow, the question is, how do you keep the company as innovative as it was 15 employees ago?

The consolidation that we started in 2009 was clearly the requirement of that time.

It is the logical next step in our ongoing effort to shift our company's centre of gravity, accelerate our growth

The Macintosh having shipped, his next agenda was to turn the rest of Apple into the Mac group. He had perceived the rest of Apple wasn't as creative or motivated as the Mac team, and what you need to take over the company are managers, not innovators or technical people.

It's not wise to limit firms' expansion projects. Let us only be limited by the market.

Once you have a product that you are happy with, you the need to centralize things to continue growth.

In a company, hundreds of decisions get made, but objectives and goals are thin.

As the BBC approaches the final phase of decisions about its future, it will be important for those involved to be established in post and ready to take responsibility for implementation of the outcome.

Companies that grow for the sake of growth or that expand into areas outside their core business strategy often stumble. On the other hand, companies that build scale for the benefit of their customers and shareholders more often succeed over time.

I was a corporate hatchet man, and it's impossible for me to turn that off. It's this curse when I walk into businesses: 'That needs to be fixed, that needs to be fixed.'

Any dope with a checkbook can buy a company. It's what you do afterward that matters.

We created the hierarchical, pyramidal, managerial system because we needed it to keep track of people and things people did; with the computer to keep track, we can restructure our institutions horizontally.

When business became big business - conglomerates employing hundreds and even thousands of people - companies divided themselves into still smaller units.

We're no longer a small business; we're a large organization spread around the world. I can't imagine Netscape growing as fast as it has if it weren't for the way we use our products.

Managers tend to treat organizations as if they are infinitely plastic. They hire and fire, merge, downsize, terminate programs, add capacities. But there are limits to the shifts that organizations can absorb.

We recognize the need to adapt to a changing competitive environment.

In any business that grows big on one business model, transitions can throw everything in the air.

As a company grows, communication becomes its biggest challenge.

Most leadership strategies are doomed to failure from the outset. As people have been noting for years, the majority of strategic initiatives that are driven from the top are marginally effective - at best.

There was a point in time when I was in dire need of changing the way the model agency was working.

As they grow, companies saturate their markets, become more complex and difficult to manage, and face larger and more entrenched competitors.

In a period of economic downturn, the overwhelming instinct is to pare back, cut costs, and lay off. If you do that, do so with your strategy in mind. The worst mistake is to cut across the board. Instead, reconnect and recommit to a clear strategy that will distinguish yourself from others.

Let's form proactive synergy restructuring teams.

We like the size of the company today given the environment and have no plans to split it up and make it smaller.