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Lee Iacocca Quotes

American businessman and author (d. 2019), Birth: 15-10-1924 Lee Iacocca Quotes
1.
No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?
Lee Iacocca

No matter how many accomplishments you can list, if you have not devoted time and affection to your family, what has been truly achieved?
2.
Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can't miss.
Lee Iacocca

3.
In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.
Lee Iacocca

4.
In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have.
Lee Iacocca

5.
The great issues facing us today are not Republican issues or Democratic issues. The political parties can debate the means, but both parties must embrace the end objective, which is to make America great again.
Lee Iacocca

Similar Authors: Donald Trump George W. Bush Charles Spurgeon Stephen King Winston Churchill Richelle Mead Jodi Picoult Bill Gates Francois de La Rochefoucauld Marianne Williamson Wayne Dyer Michel de Montaigne Warren Buffett Suzanne Collins Leo Tolstoy
6.
You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.
Lee Iacocca

7.
The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do - they always reach.
Lee Iacocca

8.
Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.
Lee Iacocca

Quote Topics by Lee Iacocca: Business Motivational Inspirational People Money Guy Country Positive Mistake Procrastination Kids Thinking Leadership Education Car Reality Made Strong Chrysler Littles Skills Mean Trying Decision Jobs Years Life Products Quality Learning
9.
Listening can make the difference between a mediocre organization and a great one.
Lee Iacocca

10.
Over the years, many executives have said to me with pride: 'Boy, I worked so hard last year that I didn't take any vacation.' I always feel like responding, "You dummy. You mean to tell me you can take responsibility for an eighty-million-dollar project and you can't plan two weeks out of the year to have some fun?
Lee Iacocca

11.
The right decision is the wrong decision if it's made too late.
Lee Iacocca

12.
We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?
Lee Iacocca

13.
So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.
Lee Iacocca

14.
The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.
Lee Iacocca

15.
One of the things the government can't do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.
Lee Iacocca

16.
Mistakes are a part of life; you can't avoid them. All you can hope is that they won't be too expensive and that you don't make the same mistake twice.
Lee Iacocca

17.
There's no great mystery to satisfying your customers. Build them a quality product and treat them with respect. It's that simple.
Lee Iacocca

18.
To solve big problems you have to be willing to do unpopular things.
Lee Iacocca

19.
Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make it happen.
Lee Iacocca

20.
If I had to sum up in a word what makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.
Lee Iacocca

21.
Don’t just stand there; make something happen.
Lee Iacocca

22.
What is it that you like doing? If you don't like it, get out of it, because you'll be lousy at it. You don't have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, because if you don't like it you'll never be successful in it.
Lee Iacocca

23.
Formal learning can teach you a great deal, but many of the essential skills in life are the ones you have to develop on your own.
Lee Iacocca

24.
If I Had To Sum Up In One Word The Qualities That Make Up A Good Manager, I'd Say Decisiveness.
Lee Iacocca

25.
A major reason capable people fail to advance is that they don't work well with their colleagues.
Lee Iacocca

26.
I learned about the strength you can get from a close family life. I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work.
Lee Iacocca

27.
The one word that makes a good manager - decisiveness.
Lee Iacocca

28.
I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions.
Lee Iacocca

29.
Even a correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.
Lee Iacocca

30.
If we screw it up, start over. Try something else.
Lee Iacocca

31.
No matter how I'm doing financially, the Depression has never disappeared from my consciousness. To this day, I hate waste. When neckties went from narrow to wide, I kept all my old ones until the style went back to narrow.
Lee Iacocca

32.
Your legacy should be that you made it better than it was when you got it.
Lee Iacocca

33.
If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.
Lee Iacocca

34.
If you set a good example you need not worry about setting rules.
Lee Iacocca

35.
If you make believe that ten guys in pin-striped suits are back in a kindergarten class playing with building blocks, you'll get a rough picture of what life in a corporation is like.
Lee Iacocca

36.
My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.
Lee Iacocca

37.
The only mistake I ever made was not listening to my gut.
Lee Iacocca

38.
As you go through life, there are thousands of little forks in the road, and there are a few really big forks-those moments of reckoning, moments of truth.
Lee Iacocca

39.
You've got to say, "I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it." It's called perseverance.
Lee Iacocca

40.
Are we going to be a services power? The double-cheeseburger-hold-the-mayo kings of the world?
Lee Iacocca

41.
Leadership means setting an example. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, people follow your every move.
Lee Iacocca

42.
The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.
Lee Iacocca

43.
Business, after all, is nothing more than a bunch of human relationships.
Lee Iacocca

44.
In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits.
Lee Iacocca

45.
There are times in everyone's life when something constructive is born out of adversity... when things seem so bad that you've got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it.
Lee Iacocca

46.
It pains me to see my old company, which has meant so much to America, on the ropes. But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got through it, and I believe they can do it again... Let's face it, if your car breaks down, you're not going to take it to the White House to get fixed. But, if your company breaks down, you've got to go to the experts on the ground, not the bureaucrats.
Lee Iacocca

47.
MBAs know everything but understand nothing.
Lee Iacocca

48.
To succeed today, you have to set priorities, decide what you stand for.
Lee Iacocca

49.
I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.
Lee Iacocca

50.
We load up on oat bran in the morning so we'll live forever. Then we spend the rest of the day living like there's no tomorrow.
Lee Iacocca