Quotations

“If you can, be first. If you can’t be first, create a new category in which you can be first.”

“In big industry new ideas are invited to rear their heads so they can be clobbered at once. The idea department of a big firm is a sort of lab for isolating dangerous viruses.”

“Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity.”

“Innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10.30 at night with a new idea, or because they realised something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. It’s ad hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea. And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”

“The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.”

“If it’s a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologise than it is to get permission.”