Jeffrey R. Immelt Quotes

Business is war! Its leaders are strategic commanders, who boldly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - and who perform other acts of derring-do. This kind of talk sounds great in the boardroom, and, for that matter, in the bookstore, where dozens of authors counsel would-be corporate warriors.

In terms of the actual curriculum for management education, my own view is very simple-minded: The world is incredibly complex, it changes all the time, and we should not even hope that we could create a general model that accurately describes the world in all its possible states.

There is a healthy competition as there would be in any business. But we do not spend our days thinking about what Marvel is doing.

For a startup, you need to stay small so the others don't attack, or you aim to be one of the big guys. If you don't do it right, you might lose everything.

When Ron Howard does 'Rush,' he has to learn and steep himself in F1 culture and European racing culture, and that's part of the fun of the gig. You learn to learn. Your real skill as a director is being a learner and an observer. You're constantly learning another thing in context.

Being educated in the United States gave me a good understanding of American culture. I think I got a lot of influence from the entrepreneurial mind in the United States.

Each country is different. Keep an open mind, and you will able to find where the niche entry level lies - the areas where there are gaps. You have to keep an ear to the ground, and you can find a business opportunity.

Not everyone is born to run a $4 billion company. There is no magic formula. I've learned, and I've grown by learning. That's why I've enjoyed being in business so much: It's stretched me.

Microsoft isn't stupid.

Instead of being a teacher, I got a job with a company called Bain & Co., consulting firm, and they taught me how to build businesses.

Just because you are CEO, don't think you have landed. You must continually increase your learning, the way you think, and the way you approach the organization. I've never forgotten that.

I think like a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Failure is a great teacher. At the same time, you must remember, success will never last... Whether it's tech or fashion, it must be for the customer.

Business is a string of seemingly impossible problems looking for solutions. Each problem you solve creates a new barrier to entry for your next competitor.

If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete.

Where do I get the confidence to be different? A lot of it comes from curiosity. I spent years as a young man trying to understand the business I'm in. I have spent decades staying connected to how the rest of the world works.

I think I have learnt more about business from fighting than anything else - from any book, from any, like - fighting is an incredible megastore for doing business.

You need a different checklist and different mental models for different companies.

When a market isn't in transition, gaining market share is hard - you're fighting to take one or two points of share from competitors.

Almost every move in the market is either a move to align with where Cisco is going or to align to compete against us or to utilize that technology.

I feel very good about our business and the speed at which we are executing our strategy to drive differentiation for Accenture and accelerate our rotation to The New.

It's a very competitive market. AEG has a ticketing platform, Stubhub has grown their marketshare, Vivid has come out of nowhere. It's not like venues don't have options. If you're a venue you can pick any ticket platform you want, and we have to provide a better product and win that business fair and square.

I have noticed that most of the successful businessmen are not that educated. But they are the ones who hire highly educated employees to work for them.

Tomorrow I will have new competitors such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook coming into my garden. I'd rather focus on the competition of tomorrow than combine with the competition of today.

I'd like to continue my education. The physical stuff's great and I think it's great as an actor because you get to live a lot of little lives, but learning more about the world, learning another language, continuing with my Spanish that's important.

A. T. Stewart started life with a dollar and fifty cents. This merchant prince began by calling at the doors of houses in order to sell needles, thread and buttons. He soon found the people did not want them, and his small stock was thrown back on his hands. Then he said wisely, "I'll not buy any more of these goods, but I'll go and ask people what they do want." Thereafter he studied the needs and desires of people, found out just what they most wanted, endeavored to meet those wants, and became the greatest business man of his time.