We know where most of the creativity, the innovation, the stuff that drives productivity lies - in the minds of those closest to the work.
Interpretation
Creativity and productivity are rooted in the insights of those engaged in the work.
This quote by Jack Welch emphasizes the importance of listening to and empowering the people who are directly involved in the work process. He asserts that the most valuable ideas and innovations often come from the individuals closest to the operational level, highlighting the need for organizations to tap into this resource to drive success and productivity.
In practice
Use this quote in a team meeting to encourage collaboration and idea sharing.
You've got to eat while you dream. You've got to deliver on short-range commitments, while you develop a long-range strategy and vision and implement it. The success of doing both. Walking and chewing gum if you will. Getting it done in the short-range, and delivering a long-range plan, and executing on that.
I wanted to change the rules of engagement, asking for more- from fewer. I was insisting that we had to have only the best people...If you wanted excellence, at a minimum, the ambience had to reflect excellence.
A leader's role is not to control people or stay on top of things, but rather to guide, energize and excite.
Control your own destiny or someone else will.
The idea flow from the human spirit is absolutely unlimited. All you have to do is tap into that well. I don't like to use the word efficiency. It's creativity. It's a belief that every person counts.
An overburdened, overstretched executive is the best executive, because he or she doesn't have the time to meddle, to deal in trivia, to bother people.
Efficiency innovations arise in industries that already exist. They provide existing goods and services at much lower costs. They are not empowering. Efficiency innovators become the low cost providers within an existing framework.
Creativity is every company's first driver. It's where everything starts, where energy and forward motion originate. Without that first charge of creativity, nothing else can take place.
Removing the faults in a stage-coach may produce a perfect stage-coach, but it is unlikely to produce the first motor car.
I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.
If the idea is really new and unique and big, other people will all think it is bad and is going to fail.
Competition is one of the most important drivers of innovation because you have to stay in the race. You have to think of something new, and if you don't, well, of course you should leave the market.
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