Manufacturing & Operations are important for business professionals, teams, and organizations. Included in the quotes below are deep insights about how to apply operations strategies in business.
More process, less innovation. More operations, less innovation. More management, less innovation. More entrepreneurs, more innovation. —Seth Godin
I believe in libertarian options because they allow an interesting management of the capital and are based on co-operation, reciprocity, contract, federation. –Michel Onfray
The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting. –Warren Buffett
An organization has integrity–is healthy–when it is whole, consistent, and complete, that is, when its management, operations, strategy, and culture fit together and make sense. –Patrick Lencioni
Most regular, two-year MBA programs provide both experience and the capacity to link together the essential elements of management such as finance, marketing, organizational behavior, and operations. –Warren Bennis
There are a handful of companies who understand all successful business operations come down to three basic principles; People—Product—Profit. Without top people, you cannot do much with the other two. –Malcolm Forbes
In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits. –Lee Iacocca
All foreign companies registered in China are Chinese enterprises. Their innovation, production and business operations in China enjoy the same treatment as Chinese enterprises. –Hu Jintao
When we go to Congress, there are strict rules about what I can be involved with and what I can’t be involved with when it comes to business relationships and business operations. –Tom Reed
Our business is about technology, yes. But it’s also about operations and customer relationships. –Michael Dell
There’s definitely a huge opportunity for businesses to transform their operations and decision making by using data. –Jerry Yang
One of the commitments that I personally have now is to a diverse approach to buying businesses, and the operation of those businesses. –Julius Erving
You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you’re too inefficient. –Sam Walton
The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. –Bill Gates
I realize that a lot of business leaders may disagree with me, but I truly believe that God belongs in what my company does. By putting Him first in my operations, He can bless what I attempt. –David Green
International business may conduct its operations with scraps of paper, but the ink it uses is human blood. –Eric Ambler
The purpose of a business is to get and keep a customer. Without customers, no amount of engineering wizardry, clever financing, or operations expertise can keep a company going. –Theodore Levitt
Operations keeps the lights on, strategy provides a light at the end of the tunnel, but project management is the train engine that moves the organization forward. –Joy Gumz
When a management team with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact. –Warren Buffett
No business in the world has ever made more money with poorer management. –Bill Terry
I prefer to supervise the whole operations of Government myself rather than entrust the public business to subordinates and this makes my duties very great. –James K. Polk
If you look at anything successful, you will find traces of a good leader in it. –Idowu Koyenikan
It is impossible to be successful and prosperous, if you cannot organize people to achieve maximum results. –Sunday Adelaja
If there were more Franklin operations it could help the cause much more than right wing activity. –Tom Metzger
The key to Operations at Wal-Mart is their ability to maintain the highest standards while at the same time getting things done with lockstep execution. –Michael Bergdahl
It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them. –Francois De La Rochefoucauld
There is nothing more fatal to a man whose business is to think than to have learned the art of regaling his mind with airy gratifications. –Samuel Johnson
Success in business today requires real-time, mobile access to business opportunities. –Bob McDonnell
The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t. –Anthea Turner
The smaller the function, the greater the management. –Northcote Parkinson
Effective management always means asking the right question. –Robert Heller
I got even with all the bad management I had by being a good manager. –Victoria Principal
Move from selling to serving and you, your business and your whole world will shift. –Jen Ramsey
If the spirit of business adventure is dulled, this country will cease to hold the foremost position in the world. –Andrew Mellon
Coming into the business, you’d pass through these little agencies until you got to understand what was happening in the business, unless you were really able to have a style strong enough to go directly to the publishers. –Gil Kane
In this business, until you’re known as a monster you’re not a star. –Bette Davis
Emotions have no place in business, unless you do business with them. –Friedrich Durrenmatt
Without some dissimulation no business can be carried on at all. –Lord Chesterfield
The secret to winning is constant, consistent management. –Tom Landry
You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart. –Thomas Jefferson
Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business. –Zig Ziglar
You’ve got to know business before you go to show business. –Patti LaBelle
We got great ratings and fan interest, and that’s what management wanted. –Trish Stratus
Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done. –Peter Drucker
You read a book from beginning to end. You run a business the opposite way. You start with the end, and then you do everything you must to reach –Harold S Geneen
I don’t find the business easy. The moment you start talking about the business, you start sounding like someone in Spinal Tap. –Robert Wyatt
Competition in business is a blessing, for without it, we wouldn’t be motivated to improve. –Nabil N Jamal
The greatest business you could do is not by distributing apples but teaching people to grow their own trees. –Hermann J Steinherr
Decreased business base increases overhead. So does increased business base. –Norman Ralph Augustine
In business for yourself, not by yourself. –William James
I want to be in this business as long as this business will have me. –Will Friedle
Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them. –Paul Hawken
I don’t want to do business with those who don’t make a profit, because they can’t give the best service. –Richard Bach
I do not think I’m a great talent. I think I’m a medium talent, but I think I understand the business and enjoy the business. –Alex O’Loughlin
In the business world an executive knows something about everything, a technician knows everything about something and the switchboard operator knows everything. –Harold Coffin
There is no room for jealousy in business. If someone is doing a better job than you are, either find a way to improve yourself or join forces with that person. –Tom Joyner
If a sufficient number of management layers are superimposed on top of each other, it can be assured that disaster is not left to chance. –Norman Ralph Augustine
A man of business may talk of philosophy; a man who has none may practice it. –Alexander Pope
I tell you, sir, the only safeguard of order and discipline in the modern world is a standardized worker with interchangeable parts. That would solve the entire problem of management. –Jean Giraudoux
You don’t require a highly qualified manager to get results, you need a team of individuals who work for the same cause to turn things around. –Hermann J Steinherr
Senior management is simply a flag bearer when a business decision is made. It is of no use unless others follow the flag. –Eiji Toyoda
Rough waters are truer tests of leadership. In calm water, every ship has a good captain. — Swedish proverb
Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision and action can change the world. –Joel A. Barker
In the new world, it is not the big fish which eats the small fish, it’s the fast fish which eats the slow fish. –Klaus Schwab
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. –Aristotle
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first step. –Lao Tzu
Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results. –Albert Einstein
Give a man a fish you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. –Chinese proverb
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. –Murphy’s Law
Everything should be made as simple as possible, not simpler. –Albert Einstein
The problems that exist in the world cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them. –Albert Einstein
The starting point for improvement is to recognize the need. –Masaaki Imai
As much as 95% of quality related problems in the factory can be solved with seven fundamental quantitative tools. –Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa
When we fail to grasp the systemic source of problems, we are left to ‘push on’ symptoms rather than eliminate underlying causes. –Peter Senge
Without a standard, there is no logical basis for decision making or taking action. –Joseph M. Juran
Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential. –Sir Winston Churchill
The only way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. –Sir Winston Churchill
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. –Sir Winston Churchill
Don’t look with your eyes, look with your feet. Don’t think with your head, think with your hands. –Taiichi Ohno
The only thing you can’t recycle is wasted time. –Taiichi Ohno
Progress is impossible without the ability to admit mistakes. –Massaki Imai
Plans are nothing, planning is everything. –Dwight D. Eisenhower
Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. –Will Rogers
Speed is everything. It is the indispensable ingredient in competitiveness. –Jack Welch
The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we don’t recognize. –Shigeo Shingo
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right. –Henry Ford
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. –Peter Drucker
If you want small changes in life, work on your attitude. If you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm. –Stephen Covey
What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing. –Aristotle
The purpose of an organization is to enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things. –Peter Drucker
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. –Lao Tzu
A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence. –Jim Watkins
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. –Marcel Proust
Everyone is creative, but we are only as creative as we allow ourselves to be. –Martellus Bennett
If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes about solutions. –Albert Einstein
Design is not what it looks like or feels like. Design is how it works. –Steve Jobs
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses. –Henry Ford
To complicate is easy, to simplify is hard. To complicate, just add, everyone is able to complicate. Few people are able to simplify. –Bruno Munari
Design must reflect the practical and aesthetics in business but above all… good design must primarily serve people. –Thomas Watson
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. –Cyril Northcote Parkinson
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. –Leonardo Da Vinci
Quality is free. –Philip Crosby
Creativity is one of the last remaining legal ways of gaining an unfair advantage over the competition. –Ed McCabe
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. –Albert Einstein
Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected. –William Plomer
To suggest is to create. To define is to destroy. –Garcia Lorca
Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple. –Richard Branson
You’ve got to think about big things while doing the small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction. –Alvin Toffler
Most companies die from overeating than from starvation. –Dave Packard
Developing individualized operation and communication plans that are rooted in the authority and authenticity of the people, the story and the product allow for better creativity, production and engagement. –Create Wealth Communities
There is no such thing as a minor operation. Any opening, incision, cut, gash or puncture in the human body not put there by God is a blasphemy and a major disaster. –Samuel Taylor
Leaders need to know how the system works to be able to make effective decisions about changing the system or adjusting its operations. –Chris Hutchinson
All operations may fail and collapse if exists still the lack of equal rights, justice, respect, and love. Open that lack, to win the heart and mind since that prevails. –Ehsan Sehgal
Budget for better business operations to avoid basement-bargaining another’s skill and brilliance…that’s a dead end detour toward business excellence. –Tracey Bond
Great leaders do not own the “think different” label; they operationalize it. –Dan Perryman
The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t. –Anthea Turner
A manager sets objectives, organizes, motivates, and communicates, sets yardsticks, and measures to develop people. –Peter Drucker
It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, and how you’re led. –Steve Jobs
Good management consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people. –John D. Rockefeller
Time management is really personal management, life management. and management of yourself. –Brian Tracy
Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion. –Jack Welch
I’ve actually not read any books on time management. –Elon Musk
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them. –John C. Maxwell
Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet. –Henry Mintzberg
A leader is a dealer in hope. –Napoleon Bonaparte
Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you. –Margaret Thatcher
Leadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts. –Erskine Bowles
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. –John F. Kennedy
Make your top managers rich and they will make you rich. –Robert H. Johnson
A manager is not a person who can do the work better than his men; he is a person who can get his men to do the work better than he can. –Frederick W. Smith
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. –Dwight D. Eisenhower
Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things. –Anonymous
A man who wants to lead an orchestra must turn his back on the crowd. –Max Lucado
Leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses. –Mitt Romney
To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult. –Friedrich Nietzsche
The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes. –Tony Blair
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. –Ralph Nader
Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort. –Vince Lombardi
Strong people don’t put others down. They lift them up. –Anonymous
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves. –Anonymous
A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together. –Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determinations. –John Seaman Garns
A manager’s job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games, you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December. –Earl Weaver
Great leaders state out loud what they intend to do and in doing so, they get things done. –Simon Sinek
A real leader faces the music even when he doesn’t like the tune. –Arnold H. Glasgow
Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible. –Colin Powell
A good leader can’t get too ahead of his followers. –Franklin D. Roosevelt
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. –Stephen Covey
Treat employees like they make a difference, and they will. –Jim Goodnight
One of the most important tasks of a manager is to eliminate his people’s excuse for failure. –Robert Townsend
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea. –Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership. –Nelson Mandela
One bad day from one member of my staff doesn’t mean they are not really good at their jobs the rest of the time. I play a long game in terms of management. –Helen McCabe
The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided. –Casey Stengel
I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example. –Carlos Ghosn
The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor but without folly. –Jim Rohn
Don’t be a time manager, be a priority manager. Cut your major goals into bite-sized pieces. Each small priority or requirement on the way to ultimate goal becomes a mini goal in itself. –Denis Waitley
An employee’s motivation is a direct result of the sum of interactions with his or her manager. –Bob Nelson
Sometimes the manager actually is the glue that holds everything together, and when you take that manager out, sometimes that’s when things start to go really wrong. –Mark Hughes
I think, for every player, it is important he knows the manager believes in him, and it is important he has the confidence of the manager. That helps you to find the best form. –Edin Dz
You can learn a lot about good management by working under someone who is a bad manager. –Charles Murray
To be a good manager, a manager tries to constantly fight to reduce waste. –Eliyahu Goldratt
A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear. –Herb Kelleher
To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart. –Eleanor Roosevelt
You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go. –Jeanette Rankin
That is what a good manager does – you study and think and discuss, and you come up with a model of playing. –Carlo Ancelotti
Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you’ll be able to see further. –Thomas Carlyle
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. –Muriel Strode
Whether you think you can or you think you can’t—you’re right. –Henry Ford
Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. –Tom Peters
A key to achieving success is to assemble a strong and stable management team. –Vivek Wadhwa
Profitability is coming from productivity, efficiency, management, austerity, and the way to manage the business. –Carlos Slim
Leadership is working with goals and vision; management is working with objectives. –Russel Honore
Leadership is inspiring people. Management is keeping the trains running on time. –Andy Dunn
The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success. –James Cash Penny
Management is the opportunity to help people become better people. Practiced that way, it’s a magnificent profession. –Clayton M. Christensen
The way management treats associates is exactly how the associates will treat the customers. –Sam Walton
Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission. –Colin Powell
For real change, we need feminine energy in the management of the world. We need a critical number of women in positions of power, and we need to nurture the feminine energy in men. –Isabel Allende
The first myth of management is that it exists. The second myth of management is that success equals skill. –Robert Heller
Leadership is all about emotional intelligence. Management is taught, while leadership is experienced. –Rajeev Suri
There is no single development, in either technology or management technique, which by itself promises even one order-of-magnitude improvement within a decade in productivity, in reliability, in simplicity. –Fred Brooks
Effective management always means asking the right question. –Robert Heller
I thought if we could put our hard-working culture as traders into the asset management, it will be a great combination, and we did do that. –Ivan Glasenberg
What should be the aim of management? What is their job? Quality is the responsibility of the top people. Its origin is in the boardroom. They are the ones who decide. –W. Edwards Deming
And I’d say one of the great lessons I’ve learned over the past couple of decades, from a management perspective, is that really when you come down to it, it really is all about people and all about leadership. –Steve Case
We need what I have often called an ecological approach to the management of these resources and we do not have that now. We have the inertia of past habits, unsustainable habits. –Maurice Strong
Leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work. –Seth Godin
Get the right people. Then no matter what all else you might do wrong after that, the people will save you. That’s what management is all about. –Tom DeMarco
A leader must have the courage to act against an expert’s advice. –James Callaghan
Management’s job is to convey leadership’s message in a compelling and inspiring way. Not just in meetings, but also by example. –Jeffrey Gitomer
Management must speak with one voice. When it doesn’t, management itself becomes a peripheral opponent to the team’s mission. –Pat Riley
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. –Michael Jordan
One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. –Arnold Glasow
Unity is strength…when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. –Mattie Stepanek
A team is successful only when they have a common goal. Not only does this goal need to be set, but it also has to be communicated to each team member. –Laura Noodapera
Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine. –David Ogilvy
The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work. –Agha Hasan Abedi
Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people. –John Rockefeller
Although worker motivation and capacity are destroyed as leaders pick power over productivity, it appears as if bosses would rather be in control than have a company work well. –Margaret J. Wheatley
