Douglas Conant Quotes

Today, no leader can afford to be indifferent to the challenge of engaging employees in the work of creating the future. Engagement may have been optional in the past, but it's pretty much the whole game today.

As a CEO, you get sucked into dealing with all the tasks of being a CEO. There's a big meeting, a big discussion, and you get into all the big issues, which is your job. But what CEOs often lose sight of is that it's all about the people who work for you. For every 1,000 decisions, 999 were being made when I was not in the room.

If you believe, as I do, that your employees truly are your most valuable asset, you will do whatever you can to help them do their jobs as well as possible.

Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person - not just an employee - are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.

You really have to understand this isn't a business where you sit in the back room and do calculations - you have to be very concerned about employees and customers, because that's really what's going to bring you success.

Take time to appreciate employees and they will reciprocate in a thousand ways.

Hire the best people, and trust what you hired them to do.

You are only as successful as the people who work for you want you to be.

If you want to have the best employees, there really needs to be a vision and a mission. Talent looks for a mission. And if you have the best talent, that's the single biggest competitive advantage any company can have.

When leaders throughout an organization take an active, genuine interest in the people they manage, when they invest real time to understand employees at a fundamental level, they create a climate for greater morale, loyalty, and, yes, growth.

If you hire great people, and they're all self-motivated, then you can get by without a lot of structure.

Engaged, enthusiastic, and loyal employees are pivotal drivers of growth and health in any organization.

To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.

When you're managing a large number of people, you learn that incentives matter tremendously. You really want people to be rewarded for doing the right thing for the customers and the organization.

When you hire good people, and you provide good jobs and good wages and a career, good things are going to happen.

Hire passionate employees.

Taking care of your employees is extremely important and very, very visible.

I have a foundational belief that business results start with culture and your people.

You can employ men and hire hands to work for you, but you must win their hearts to have them work with you.

Employees are a company's greatest asset - they're your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company's mission.

The worst mistake a boss can make is not to say 'well done'.

The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.

Quality has always been the overriding factor for us. But you also have to have happy people working for you.

About half the people at Valve have run their own companies, so they always have the option not just to take a job at another game company, but to go start their own company. The question you always have to answer is, 'How are we making these people more valuable than they would be elsewhere?'

An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.