Carlos Castaneda Quotes

Government tends to stifle innovation, and it abhors improvisation. Any good military strategist will tell you that a battle plan rarely survives past the first engagement. After that, you have to improvise to survive and to win.

The mark of an innovative company is not only that it comes up with new ideas first, but also that it knows how to leapfrog when it finds itself behind.

Entrepreneurs have the flexibility and the ability to do things that large companies simply cannot. Could a large company pull off a trick like Amyris, going from anti-malaria medicine to next-generation fuel?

As I say to our own team: 'Never protect your past, never define yourself by a single product, and always continue to steward for the long-term. Keep moving towards the future.'

When I was 5 and playing against 11-year-olds, who were bigger, stronger, faster, I just had to figure out a way to play with them.

Entrepreneurs don't write a 100-page business plan and execute it one time; they're always experimenting and adapting based on what they learn.

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.

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who see it coming and jump aside.

The basic DNA we've got to implant in leaders now is adaptability: not to get wedded to the solution to a particular problem, because not only the problem but the solution changes day to day. Creating people who are hardwired for that is going to be our challenge for the future.

Observe, orient, decide, act. It's fighter pilot terminology. If you have the faster OODA loop in a dogfight, you live. The other person dies. In Silicon Valley, the OODA loop of your decision-making is effectively what differentiates your ability to succeed.

I can't say enough about the guts and the talents of Amazon. They're so agile, they're so nimble; they picked us up two weeks after we premiered, and their whole attitude is, 'Go, go, go, go,' so I'm very, very impressed.

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 countries that succeed will be those that are nimble and able to use their human capital to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

I was about 11 or 12 when I started, playing against bigger players. I would use my speed to get out of trouble.

You have to surprise opponents, keep them guessing. Doing the same thing over and over again without variation will not work.

There's always going to be a way for me to go around a defense or play mind games and find a way to win.

The best businesses are the ones that are the most paranoid.

You never show what you are going to do; you always do what the opponent doesn't expect.

The truth is that intelligence, knowledge, and domain expertise are vastly overrated as the driving forces behind competitive advantage and sustainable success.

What's crucial is to never get stuck. Making hard decisions is such an important part of being a startup in order to keep moving forward.

I've figured out how to turn what's different about me and limitations - I'm new to this world, I'm a woman, I don't have a math background - and how I use that to my advantage. They're what make me unique. In poker you learn very quickly, if you play like everyone else, you'll be fine, but you'll never be great.

We need to make sure we are constantly staying ahead, thinking about what is coming.

Make a point to continually search for a better way of doing things, even when things are going well, to ensure that a better alternative has not been overlooked and to keep your creative talents in practice.

The entrepreneurs that really make it are the ones that start with an idea but are ready to change it at a moment's notice.

An ability to embrace new ideas, routinely challenge old ones, and live with paradox will be the effective leader's premier trait.