Alfred P. Sloan

"Markets are ruthlessly efficient at identifying and punishing deception."

"A leader who cannot be challenged is a leader who cannot learn."

"The capacity to learn faster than your competition is the only sustainable competitive advantage."

"Organizations, like people, are either growing or declining; there is no standing still."

"The best strategy is useless if it is not understood and embraced by the organization."

"Success requires the courage to make decisions with incomplete information."

"A business that does not invest in its people is investing in its own decline."

"The speed at which an organization can make decisions often matters more than the perfection of the decision."

"A truly innovative company creates value that did not previously exist."

"The organizations that will lead tomorrow are those that embrace change today."

"A leader's integrity is the foundation upon which all else is built."

"The organization that does not continuously improve is falling behind."

"We must learn to think in terms of the whole system, not just individual parts."

"Success requires constant adaptation to changing market conditions."

"A leader's primary duty is to develop the next generation of leaders."

"Financial controls are essential, but they must serve the business, not rule it."

"The biggest mistake is to assume yesterday's success guarantees tomorrow's victory."

"I have always believed that the only way to make real progress is through decentralization."

"You cannot manage people effectively if you don't understand their motivations."

"The test of any organization is whether it can continue to improve."

"We should be governed by principles, not by the whims of any individual."

"Innovation dies in bureaucracy; we must keep our organizations lean."

"Mistakes are the tuition you pay for success in business."

"The purpose of a corporation must be clear, or everything else becomes confused."

"I have always sought to build organizations where talented people could flourish."

"Short-term thinking is the enemy of long-term success."

"The market will punish those who ignore what customers actually want."

"We must give managers the freedom to make decisions within a clear framework."

"History teaches us that empires built on arrogance eventually crumble."

"The greatest resource of any company is the collective intelligence of its people."