Steve Ballmer Quotes

Every organization goes through a lifecycle where they eventually lose their initial speed or agility at a strategic level.

The IT organization can't drive or lead a digital transformation. It has to come from the business and the business strategy, because they're fundamental to how a company or an organization evolves.

So in 2000, when we changed the business model and started really focusing on that triangle and putting the customer in the center, we decided we should hold off - we've done enough consolidation; we've got enough critical mass.

If you look at any of the big companies, whether it is IBM or L'Oreal, they have a corporate religion and corporate self-image that makes it very difficult for them to execute in different areas.

For us to stay competitive, we're transforming our services business to be reliable and flexible.

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

Management innovation is going to be the most enduring source of competitive advantage. There will be lots of rewards for firms in the vanguard.

You have to be very fast-thinking, creative, and mobile. It is key to making a business move.

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

While 2015 was challenging, we implemented many strategic and operational initiatives to improve our business and better position J.Crew for the future.

When a change in how some element of one's business is conducted becomes an order of magnitude larger than what that business is accustomed to, then all bets are off.

I was one of the early folks at eBay, and by 1999, it was completely overrun by consultants from McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. It went from being a cool, fun startup to an MBA factory.

Evolving our culture to operate and think differently is no small task. We are challenging our employees to be the best of both small and big companies - they should operate with the soul and spirit of a startup, while leveraging the scale, resources and capabilities of Campbell - with the goal of ultimately becoming the biggest small company.

The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster, and continue to transform.

There are always going to be people who are experts in security or end-user devices or collaboration or databases. That's not going to go away. But what's the reason all of these professions come together? To help the business transform itself.

A company can set off in one direction, figures out that it's not the right way to go, and then go in an entirely new direction. Over time, the product or service improves, and the company gets better at executing and delivering.

Success is no longer about changing strategies more often, but having the agility to execute multiple strategies concurrently. And success requires CEOs to develop the right leadership capabilities, workforce skills, and corporate cultures to support digital transformation.

You have to seed internal disruptors. You need sources of internal disruption. They don't guarantee your survival, but you have got to try.

Candidly, when you go back to '07 or '08, it was hard to sell cloud. We started out by focusing on large enterprises on day one. Everybody thought cloud was for SMBs (small and mid-size businesses), but we made the leap that it was going to be for large enterprises, that they were going to replace their core systems.

As Looker got larger, the talented people we hired started to see things that we couldn't. And what had looked like a company the three of us could run out of our houses for a few hours a day became something bigger. Much bigger.

In many cases, companies use the crisis moments to pivot to do better. We like to be part of that.

Take calculated risks. Act boldly and thoughtfully. Be an agile company.

For a hot-shot CEO taking over a troubled company, mass firings are the ultimate quick fix, the accounting equivalent of crack: cheap, easy to score, instantly gratifying, and highly addictive.

Companies rarely die from moving too fast, and they frequently die from moving too slowly.

Business is all about learning to balance the short-term, medium-term and long-term and I think it's when things are going well it covers up a lot of mistakes and bad decisions because you're growing so quickly.