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34 Exceptional Lee Iacocca Quotes

Lee Iacocca is best known for his time serving as an American automobile executive. Having worked for Ford Motor and reviving the Chrysler Corporation in the 80’s, Iacocca is author to several books. Here is a look at some of the best documented Lee Iacocca quotes.

“Any supervisor worth his salt would rather deal with people who attempt too much than with those who try too little.”

“Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make it happen.”

“Are we going to be a services power? The double-cheeseburger-hold-the-mayo kings of the whole world?”

“Every business and every product has risks. You can’t get around it.”

“He’s just a good kid. I didn’t understand half the things he was telling me, but it was fun.”

“I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.”

“I have always found that if I move with seventy-five percent or more of the facts that I usually never regret it. It’s the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy.”

“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”

“I was stunned. It was a complete takeover. Chrysler had $12 billion in cash and was stronger at the time and should have bought Daimler.”

“In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else.”

“In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits.”

“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.”

“It was a marriage made in heaven. The ads created a lot of buzz, and sales rose 24.7 percent in July,”

“Management is nothing more than motivating other people.”

“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”

“My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.”

“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?”

“People want economy and they will pay any price to get it.”

“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.”

“Talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they’ll say, ‘God, he said exactly what I was thinking.’ And when they begin to respect you, they’ll follow you to the death.”

“The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.”

“The affections are like lightning: you cannot tell where they will strike till they have fallen.”

“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.”

“The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better.”

“The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family.”

“The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.”

“The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.”

“There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog, waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there. ”

“There is no substitute for accurate knowledge. Know yourself, know your business, know your men.”

“We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.”

“We at Chrysler borrow money the old fashion way. We pay it back.”

“When future historians look back on our way of curing inflation they’ll probably compare it to bloodletting in the Middle Ages.”

“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”

“You know, I’m not too sure what you just said. Now everybody gets a great deal.”

Check out the following video where Lee Iacocca takes on the Press to defend Chrysler’s quality and boasts about selling cars in Japan. Success does not come easy, but Iacocca proves that it can happen.

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