Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Quotes

I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game; it is the game.

No company has a culture; every company is a culture.

Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organization's makeup and success - along with vision, strategy, marketing, financials, and the like... I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.

Without exception, the dominance and coherence of culture proved to be an essential quality of the excellent companies.

For me, I've learned about what it means to focus on a culture, to build social responsibility, and the idea of a company as a super-organism.

Corporate culture matters. How management chooses to treat its people impacts everything - for better or for worse.

Culture is more important than rules and regulations.

At Under Armour, we've created a very strong culture, a culture that first and foremost is built on people.

Our culture is the foundation for our company.

I think culture is a big word for corporate character.

A lot of companies have nice-sounding cultural values like integrity, respect, and excellence, but if those values don't map to specific behaviors, then they quickly get lost. Instead, we see what's called a 'halo effect' where leaders tend to overvalue certain attributes and undervalue others.

Culture used to be viewed as the 'touchy-feely' side of business, but that's no longer the case. If you don't have a defined culture behind you, then you aren't going to be effective at executing your strategy.

Culture is a matrix of infinite possibilities and choices. From within the same culture matrix we can extract arguments and strategies for the degradation and ennoblement of our species, for its enslavement or liberation, for the suppression of its productive potential or its enhancement.

People constantly make pop-culture references. That's why it's called popular culture, because people are aware of it and reference it constantly.

It's so important for startups to get their culture right at the start. They need to feel unique and that they are on their own important mission in the world.

The employer generally gets the employees he deserves.

Since most startups operate at a break-neck pace, with a concept to prove or a product to launch within a rapidly shortening runway of financing, company culture often gets shoved aside. This is a big, big mistake: Nobody serious about their business should put culture in the corner.

Gillette is one of those companies where it's about success, and that's who I want to partner myself with.

The prevailing system of management has crushed fun out of the workplace.

Culture is what happens when the CEO isn't in the room.

Our leaders have to stop ignoring the impact that culture is having on our nation.

Culture is more important than politics and government.

I don't know if a company can have a soul, but I like to think it can.

I think, in any workplace environment, the atmosphere trickles down from the top.

We've always operated on the thesis that a company can have a personality, that people can be themselves, and be very successful in business at the same time.