Mo Ibrahim Quotes

Dream in a pragmatic way.

I tend not to dwell on the parallels between chess and business, chess and the martial arts, or any two things for that matter, because the truth is that all pursuits are connected if we gain an eye for the thematic links.

Management teams aren't good at asking questions. In business school, we train them to be good at giving answers.

The primary goal of management education was, as originally conceived, to impart knowledge that could be applied to a variety of real-world business situations.

Every problem can be solved as long as they use common sense and apply the right research and techniques.

I always try to stay methodical and logical with everything I do, playing cricket and making decisions.

With method and logic one can accomplish anything.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

In business, there's a constant focus on developing strategies, reviewing executive performance against those strategies each year, engaging with opposing or different points of view, and having intellectual dialogue.

I don't use my brain about the creative thing. From a business standpoint, I instinctively do things: when I get something right, it's never because I use my brain.

The original and brilliant idea of an MBA was the opportunity for students to study the theory and application of business and management principles.

Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyze data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.

You can win more arguments then you might think as a writer, even though you legally have no recourse, and your script can get muddied and altered in any way possible. You can use reason, logic, and passion to argue persuasively for a case in your favor.

Think like a man of action, and act like a man of thought.

Science is nothing, but trained and organized common sense.

In order to produce generalist courses, business school professors have been forced to invent subjects called strategy, called organizational behavior and so on.

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.

There is no single right answer or path forward, but there is one right way to frame the problem.

The way most people approach business - and the way they mostly teach in business school - involves the analytical mind. It divides it up and looks at parts in isolation.

I have a philosophy that has guided me throughout all of my scientific career, and that is, I think of myself as a fairly thoughtful person. I don't go into projects impetuously, and I try to select important problems.

We mislead ourselves when we pretend we can make someone into an effective manager by putting them through a few courses in business school.

I usually have pretty good intuition on projects that I work on.

Intellectuals are good at seeing the big picture. But they are not so good at process.

Simple solutions seldom are. It takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious.

I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty.