Ever wondered how some of the world’s top businesspeople deal with the pressure? Check out some of these insightful gems uttered straight from the horse’s mouth.
"Let's face it, we're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap - and watch porn."
- Bill Watkins, the former CEO of the world’s largest manufacturer of hard drives Seagate Technology, was ousted from the company in 2009. Apparently he was anything but PC.
“I have elderly parents, I have children, I have all kinds of reconnecting to do and to be frank I need to lose about 8 kilos too.”
- Sol Trujillo, the CEO of Australia’s largest telecommunications company Telstra (2005-2009), explains why he decided to stand down.
"Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive."
- Andrew Grove, the former CEO of Intel Corporation who escaped from communist-controlled Hungary at the age of 20 and went on to help transform Intel into the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductors.
"Be skeptical of history-based models. Constructed by a nerdy-sounding priesthood using esoteric terms ... these models tend to look impressive. ... Beware of geeks bearing formulas."
- Warren Buffet, the CEO of American multinational conglomerate offered his mea culpa in an annual letter to shareholders after huge company losses in 2008.
“After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today.”
- Andrew Mason, the Groupon Founder and CEO wrote this as part of his farewell memo to his employees, where he took accountability for poor stock performance and failing expectations
“I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger.”
- Steve Jobs, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple, on his Microsoft-founder rival Bill Gates.
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