Paul Ryan Quotes

We are ready to say that we rule the entire Elgin enterprise as irrelevant to the present.

Are the things that now, in retrospect, with what I've seen happen to my company, would I have done some things differently? I think - I think we all would do - we would do a number of things differently.

My business issues are just that - business - and I deal with them like they are business.

I have not been a believer of point guidance. It really limits your flexibility to do what you want. It leads to behavior that is not supportive of long-term shareholder value.

You're kind of taught that the role of a business person is the decision making.

There's certain circumstances, there's certain situations, there's certain decisions that have to be made based upon the business and you can't take that personal.

The goal isn't just to make transactions: it's to make better decisions in the way you run your business. If that's not at the top of every executive's priorities, then they shouldn't be an executive.

I've had 20 years, 25 years of running business. I've been well trained by a number of amazing organizations and I've got a lot of implicit, subconscious pattern recognition on how to make business decisions.

Executives do many things in addition to making decisions. But only executives make decisions. The first managerial skill is, therefore, the making of effective decisions.

Business is more exciting than any game.

I refuse to make a decision that somebody else can make. The first rule of leadership is to save yourself for the big decision. Don't allow your mind to become cluttered.

Now there are times when I have to make big decisions as I'm now running a company and that it's OK to go with being respected first.

The pace at eBay was frantic and urgent. We knew that if we didn't move fast, somebody would come into the market and quash us. Participant doesn't make a lot of sense from a financial investment perspective, so it's unlikely that other people will be approaching the business in the same way. So you see less urgency; you see a thoroughness and willingness to spend extra time to get things right. Which I think is really important.

If only I had more money is the easiest way to postpone the intense self-examination and decision-making necessary to create a life of enjoyment - now and not later.

The leader of a company needs to have a decision tree in his head - if this happens, we go this way, but if it winds up like that, then we go this other way.

There are basically no companies that have good slow decisions. There are only companies that have good fast decisions.

In the army, all combat officers are taught the "Estimate of the Situation": When you are faced with a problem - take that hill, or in business maybe grow your market share - the first thing you do is to make an analysis of your environment.

In life and business, there are two cardinal sins, the first is to act precipitously without thought, and the second is to not act at all. Unfortunately the board of directors and top management of Times Warner already committed the first sin by merging with AOL, and we believe they are currently in the process of committing the second; now is not a time to move slowly and suffer the paralysis of inaction.

Make every decision—even decisions about whether to expand the business, raise money, or promote someone—according to what's best for your customers.

For every leader in the company, not just for me, there are decisions that can be made by analysis. These are the best kinds of decisions!

My job is to listen to ideas, maybe cook up a few of my own, and make decisions based on what's good for the shareholders and for the company.

At the heart of any good business is a chief executive officer with one.

The question that faces the strategic decision maker is not what his organisation should do tomorrow. It is, what do we have to do today to be ready for an uncertain tomorrow?

In a company where tech decisions were still ultracentralized, the repercussions of a distracted CEO had to be damaging.

Why would I ever want to run Disney? Wouldn't it make more sense just to sell them Pixar and retire?