If we only have great companies, we will merely have a prosperous society, not a great one. Economic growth and power are the means, not the definition, of a great nation.
Jim Collins - Great - Society - Companies - Economy - Power

A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness.
Jim Collins - Great - Discipline - Business - Culture

Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.
Jim Collins - Great - Discipline - Decisions

A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable. A visionary company doesn't simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme.
Jim Collins - Companies - Idealism - Vision - Profitable - Change

The kind of commitment I find among the best performers across virtually every field is a single-minded passion for what they do, an unwavering desire for excellence in the way they think and the way they work. Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step.
Jim Collins - Commitment - Passion - Confidence - Motivational - Thinking - Work

Smart people instinctively understand the dangers of entrusting our future to self-serving leaders who use our institutions.. whether in the corporate or social sectors.. to advance their own interests.
Jim Collins - Smart - Society - Understanding - Leadership - Management

If we allow the celebrity rock-star model of leadership to triumph, we will see the decline of corporations and institutions of all types. The twentieth century was a century of greatness, but we face the very real prospect that the next century will see very few enduring great institutions.
Jim Collins - Management - Famous - Leadership - Great

We must reject the idea.. well-intentioned, but dead wrong.. that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become "more like a business." Most businesses.. like most of anything else in life.. fall somewhere between mediocre and good.
Jim Collins - Society - Business - Wrong - Ideas - Great - Good