Lee Iacocca Quotes

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Lee Iacocca

Profession : Businessman

Birth : October 15, 1924

I always go back to Harry Truman: Should we drop an atomic bomb to save 100,000 lives? That's a hell of a decision to make. Did he make that decision by himself? No, he had advisers.

Lee Iacocca

We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way. We pay it back.

Lee Iacocca

I have always found that if I move with seventy-five percent or more of the facts that I usually never regret it. It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy.

Lee Iacocca

I was at Ford for 32 years. I went to Chrysler in 1978, four or five months after I got canned by Henry Ford.

Lee Iacocca

One of the things the government can't do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.

Lee Iacocca

I've always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team.

Lee Iacocca

If a guy is over 25 percent jerk, he's in trouble. And Henry was 95 percent.

Lee Iacocca

Decisiveness is the one word that makes a good manager.

Lee Iacocca

I guess I invented extended warranties, because that's all we had to sell at Chrysler in those days.

Lee Iacocca

It was emotional when Chrysler sold out to the Germans.

Lee Iacocca

I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.

Lee Iacocca

The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.

Lee Iacocca

Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.

Lee Iacocca

I guess that's one achievement I'm really proud of. Saving Chrysler was more than jobs, more than shareholder value. Saving Chrysler was a good idea for the whole country.

Lee Iacocca

The trick is to make sure you don't die waiting for prosperity to come.

Lee Iacocca

The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

Lee Iacocca

In a corporation, there can only be one guy in the end: the CEO.

Lee Iacocca

The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do - they always reach.

Lee Iacocca

Chrysler invented rebates, I'm sorry to say. I didn't have anything to do with that. A lot of flaky deals were made in order to give the customer enough cash for a down payment.

Lee Iacocca

There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog, waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there.

Lee Iacocca