Business 2.0 has rounded up catchphrases, rules of thumb, and otherwise compressed thoughts by 49 of the most popular leaders in the business world.
Regular readers are probably aware of my love for taking a philosophy and expressing its entire scope in ten words or less, if by “love” I mean “disdain.” Thankfully, the feature does go into more depth than just a catchphrase in most cases.
So here are some of the nuggets of truth, as interpreted by the hard-working and lucky:
* Carol Bartz, CEO of Autodesk: “If you think you can’t, you’re right.” I think every “motivational speaker” I’ve ever heard has uttered these words at some point.
* Simon Cooper, president of Ritz-Carlton: “He who says it, does it.” That nugget reeks of “He who smelt it, dealt it.”
* Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and ranter on Blog Maverick: “Treat your customers like they own you, because they do.”
* Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm: “Conventional wisdom is always wrong.” When this phrase becomes well-known, won’t this bite-sized piece of wisdom negate itself?
To be fair, there is an amount of good advice in the feature, mostly hidden in the descriptions beneath the catchphrases. I find that skimming the surface isn’t enough; you have to dig deep past the four-second soundbite to find the quality thoughts.
Updated February 6, 2012 and originally published November 29, 2005. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
