The Great Game of Business Quotes

“I’ve seen workaholics who’ve destroyed people. They become obsessed. They send out terrible messages. They make people feel guilty if they don’t show up on Saturday. What a stupid message. People should be giving that time to their families.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“When you report to people every week about the condition of the company, you establish credibility. When you get them to write the information down, you teach. Education comes by repetition.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“overcoming your fear of disclosure”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“there is no security in ignorance.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“you can’t have an effective bonus program if you don’t have a forecasting system that’s taking people forward to where they want”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“problems almost always come down to the individuals involved. Equity isn’t the issue; it’s the excuse.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“If you want people to grow, you have to let them take risks, and you have to let them fail.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“COMMUNICATING IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT CHALLENGES IN ANY BUSINESS, BECAUSE PEOPLE HEAR WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“KEY POINT: If you don’t stabilize a sales forecast, you can’t control your company. If you control a forecast, you control the world.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“go after the ones who are greedy, who only want to help themselves, who exploit other people for personal gain. But the fault lies in those individuals, not in the nature of capitalism.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“one reason we like liquidity as a Balance-Sheet goal. It greatly increases the odds that we will have the cash we need to pay bonuses and do a lot of other things.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“Standards are tools for finding solutions. benchmarks can turn an operation around”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“THE SEVENTH HIGHER LAW IS: When You Raise the Bottom, the Top Rises.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“WARNING: DON’T ACCEPT ANY NUMBER AT FACE VALUE. Numbers are not magical, and they aren’t sacred.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“the balance sheet is the company’s thermometer. It lets you know whether you’re healthy or not.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“When people focus on their narrow specialties, the different departments go to war. They don’t function as the parts of one company. They act more like competing factions.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“In this company, you get equity. When you play the Great Game of Business, that’s the measurement of success.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“GIVE EVERYONE THE SAME SET OF GOALS.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“3. CELEBRATE EVERY WIN.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“When you flaunt what you’ve got, when you intimidate, when you treat people badly, you lose power.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“6. You Can Sometimes Fool the Fans, But You Can Never Fool the Players.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“1. You Get What You Give.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“Two sure ways to kill a company are through arrogance and through ignorance. Keeping employees in the dark about the company’s financial health only stirs the rumor mill.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“The GGOB addresses the notion that the longer you stay with the company, and the more time you invest, the greater the chances are of reaping your rewards if the venture is successful.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“when people are feeling good about themselves, they begin to feel good about others as well.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“change our focus so that the company was our product. The GGOB became an accelerated learning process we used to bring about a cultural and behavioral change and take down the walls that our command-and-control system had created.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“by failing to tap the strengths of every individual in our company, we were heading toward a dead end by dumbing people down.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

“THE ULTIMATE HIGHER LAW When you appeal to the highest level of thinking, you get the highest level of performance.”
― Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company