Charlie Shrem Quotes

Don't listen to experts.

That is what we know how to do better than anyone else: We know how to maximize value for our projects. If the government would like to hire my services to maximize value for their stake, they should approach me. No problem.

I have been privileged to work for some of the most high-powered people in town. They pay me for my opinions, and I give those to them.

In Joe Yorio you find a guy who's smarter at business than I am. I'm an entrepreneur and idea guy; he's a professional businessman.

I have a tough time beating around the bush and just saying something you want to hear. I kind of say it how it is, even if I don't realize that's maybe not what I should say at the moment.

From my experience, the best advisors help in three ways: encourage you to look at the problem or opportunity from multiple angles; help you balance the tug of the short-term with important long-term priorities; and ask the tough questions you need to know to reach the best solution.

Always find different ways to accomplish the mission. Then run a counter-analysis and list the advantages and disadvantages. When you have done that, you are ready to make a decision.

The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, 'Wrong jungle!' ... Busy, efficient producers and managers often respond ... 'Shut up! We're making progress!'

My job is to call attention to the things that I think are the difference between winning and losing. If I can't do that then I have failed as a coach.

By all means examine the games of the great chess players, but don't swallow them whole. Their games are valuable not for their separate moves, but for their vision of chess, their way of thinking.

Thinking is the highest form of leverage.

Seek the counsel of men who will tell you the truth about yourself, even if it hurts you to hear it. Mere commendation will not bring the improvement you need.

The man of action has the present, but the thinker controls the future.

I am not cruel, only truthful.

Anyone who critically analyzes a business learns this: that the success or failure of an enterprise depends usually upon one man.

I read reviews of critics I respect and feel I can learn something from. Right now there are a lot of bottom-feeder critics who just have access to a computer and don't necessarily have an academic or cinema background that I can detect, so I tend to ignore that and stay with the same top-tier critics that I've come to respect. I like reading a good review - it doesn't have to be favorable, but a well-thought-out one - because I very much appreciate the relationship of directors and critics.

I'm able to bring business expertise but, more importantly, operating experience. The people here at Google are young. Every day there are lots of new challenges. I keep things focused. The speech I give everyday is: "This is what we do. Is what you are doing consistent with that, and does it change the world?"

I find that no matter how long a meeting goes on, the best ideas always come during the final five minutes, when people drop their guard and I ask them what they really think.

I think it's extremely important to challenge white brothers and sisters and think more systematically and strategically about the whiteness that they possess.

I will sit there on the air and look at every position and play devil's advocate.

You make real progress when somebody is honest enough to say something that's really uncomfortable. Of course when you're a candidate's wife and when you're first lady and the first African-American first lady to boot, that is very, very hard to do.

No good sensible working bee listens to the advice of a bedbug on the subject of business.

The victors of the battles of tomorrow will be those who can best harness thought to action. From office boy to statesman, the prizes will be for those who most effectively exert their brains, who take deep, earnest and studious counsel of their minds, who stamp themselves as thinkers.

Never accept an expert's opinion if it violates your own because the experts can change their minds.

Learn to use your brain power. Critical thinking is the key to creative problem solving in business.