John Collison Quotes

We have to raise the bar on corporate governance. Shareholders want ethical behavior and honesty.

I think good companies can navigate being public and doing the right things for their customers.

We've created a tenfold core value protocol to make sure that we don't fall into an 'empire' attitude.

History has shown that one cannot legislate a culture of integrity. And yet, one of the paramount responsibilities and challenges of corporate leadership is to ensure such a culture.

We follow highest level of corporate governance, which is in line with a global company like ours.

I don't think it's wrong for companies to work with the government. What's important is being trustworthy and honest with customers.

Shareholder meetings are not usually the occasion for utter candor - or for that matter, arch sarcasm - by chief executives.

'Power Play' is a morality tale for our post-Enron world and - not incidentally - wildly entertaining. Nothing wrong with that.

Not only is self-regulation largely a fantasy, but repeated scandals across multiple industries have proved that companies are fundamentally incapable of self-regulating for the greater good.

I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity.

The worst story I ever wrote was after the conviction of Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay. My co-author and I wrote a piece for 'Fortune' saying everything's going to be different now.

Ken Lay has, does and will continue to accept responsibility for the fall of Enron. He was the man at the controls. But failure is not a crime.

Secrecy cannot be used to cover up bad management.

If partnering with Facebook meant that we had to change our values, we wouldn't have done it.

Our core values and business ethics will always be paramount in all that we do, and we are always looking to do the right thing and settle claims fairly and accurately.

Transparency is so important in business.

The Enron scandal is worthy of the highest level of scrutiny, both because of the enormity of the crimes that may have been committed and because of what the largest bankruptcy in American history has already begun to reveal about the weaknesses in our nation's corporate structures and regulatory oversight.

How much harm does a company have to do before we question its right to exist?

When you're building a business or joining a company, you have to be transparent; you can't have two sets of information for two sets of people.

I think most corporate executives are good honorable honest men and women who do good work.

Doing good business - being ethical, being transparent, being caring, implementing values in your business - makes a difference, and you make money at the same time.

Companies and leaders are role models - not just with the business community - but in the broader world.

I have always felt that public, commercial and community organisations should be as open as possible about their affairs. They need to be accountable to their owners, their customers, their members and communities and other interest groups.

In America, we no longer have an institutionalized, organized way of calling business to task - of taking them to account for what they've done - and this is especially true in the cultural realm.

A business of high principle generates greater drive and effectiveness because people know that they can do the right thing decisively and with confidence.