Thomas J. Watson
23 quotes
Biography
Thomas John Watson Sr. was an American businessman who was the chairman and CEO of IBM. He oversaw the company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956.
"To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business and your business in your heart."
"You can be discouraged by failure, or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes, make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success - on the far side of failure."
"Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops."
"If you want to succeed, double your failure rate."
"If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less than excellent work."
"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of "crackpot" than the stigma of conformity."
"All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to think. The trouble is that men very often resort to all sorts of devices in order not to think, because thinking is such hard work."
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
"If you aren't playing well, the game isn't as much fun. When that happens I tell myself just to go out and play as I did when I was a kid."
"Good design is good business."
"Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people."
"Good design is good business."
"Design must reflect the practical and aesthetic in business but above all... good design must primarily serve people."
"Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use."
"Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use."
"The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer."
"Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use."
"Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous - not just to some people in some circumstances - but to everyone all the time."
"The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer."
"Wisdom is the power to put our time and our knowledge to the proper use."
"We hear of a silent generation more concerned with security than integrity with conforming than performing with imitating than creating."
"Every time we've moved ahead in IBM, it was because someone was willing to take a chance, put his head on the block, and try something new."
"Within us all there are wells of thought and dynamos of energy which are not suspected until emergencies arise. Then oftentimes we find that it is comparatively simple to double or triple our former capacities and to amaze ourselves by the results achieved."