Anna Maria Chavez Quotes

In any business, you have to evolve.

Founders go wrong when they start to believe their business plan will materialize as written. I advise entrepreneurs to burn their business plan - it's simply too dangerous to the health of your business.

The difference between management and administration (which is what bureaucrats used to do exclusively) is the difference between choice and rigidity.

One thing I've learned about his business is this whole 'plan thing' - it doesn't work.

Managers tend to treat organizations as if they are infinitely plastic. They hire and fire, merge, downsize, terminate programs, add capacities. But there are limits to the shifts that organizations can absorb.

Business ends up being very dynamic and situational.

We didn't readjust our thinking or rebuild quick enough.

We can reorient our products and business strategy because we are an agile organisation.

The underlying principles of strategy are enduring, regardless of technology or the pace of change.

In the charitable world as in the business world, opportunities should drive budgets, not the other way around.

I've found that in business opportunities will constantly emerge or situations develop that make you revise your plans along the way.

I'm going to do some consulting for nonprofits and arts agencies. These are areas I'm interested in that didn't come directly out of Harvard, but certainly I started looking at things in a different manner.

I think it is quite dangerous for an organisation to think they can predict where they are going to need leadership. It needs to be something that people are willing to assume if it feels relevant, given the context of any situation.

Militaries, like all big organizations, tend to do what they know how to do rather than what they might need to do differently to address the situation they face

Major organizational changes create uncertainty. But the point is to move quickly - faster than you are comfortable - because in hindsight, you will always wish you had made changes even sooner.

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

For organisations, flexibility is a must to cope with fluctuations in demand and remain competitive, and people must be able to develop adaptable attitudes to quickly embrace evolving business conditions, new business opportunities, and shifting strategies.

Managing through ambiguity can be difficult for even the most experienced leaders. Defining a clear set of goals for your team demonstrates that there is an end in sight. However, it's crucial during this time to move through the transition in phases.

You change your business plan to anticipate and adapt to changes in the marketplace.

I have talked about the 'fractal organization'. Those smaller pieces should innovate and lead the rest of the organization. There will be parts that will be thinking about technologies of the future, and you need to nourish them.

There are two main organizations that rate charities. They look at their finances and decide whether they are giving enough to the causes they claim to focus on. Something like 80 or 90% of their money actually goes to a charitable purpose.

The key thing is knowing how to adapt. Adapting to the group that you have at your disposal; adapting to the place where you're working; adapting to the local environment. This is crucial: adaptability.

The Wellcome Trust will retain a level of financial flexibility which will enable us to react quickly to unexpected developments and new ideas.

For me to be as effective as possible, I intend to sharpen those skills I need to successfully lead an organization that is growing in size and complexity with each passing year.

To us, the definition of philanthropy is what we spend. A P&L account means expenditure, lines of revenue. There is a surplus; it goes to the balance sheet. A transparent foundation should disclose this.