LEARN FROM THE BIG BOSSES

‘Learn from the big bosses’ exposes you to 35 highly inspiring, brainy and motivating quotes from popular business moguls. This is for some readers who are interested in developing their business ideas in future. It promises to place you on the right path and give you tips to succeed.

We’ll be focusing on basically three business moguls. They are:

v  BILL GATES – (The richest man in the world as at today). He is the founder of Microsoft and Bill gates foundation.

v  STEVE JOBS – He was the co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc.

v  ALIKO DANGOTE – (Nigeria and Africa’s Richest man in the world). He is the founder of Dangote group and Dangote foundation.

HERE ARE THE QUOTES

:

1.       “It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure” – Bill Gates

2.        "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning" – Bill Gates

3.       "In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count, like customer satisfaction and performance ... you thrive on that" - Bill Gates

4.       "Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself" – Bill
Gates

5.       "We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next 10. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction" – Bill Gates

6.       "Don't make the same decision twice. Spend time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don't revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you're too willing to reopen issues, it interferes not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place. After all, why bother deciding an issue if it isn't really decided?" – Bill Gates

7.       "Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other" – Bill Gates

8.      . "Whether it's Google or Apple or free software, we've got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes" – Bill Gates

9.       "To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks" – Bill Gates

10.  "A bad strategy will fail no matter how good your information is, and lame execution will stymie a good strategy. If you do enough things poorly, you will go out of business" – Bill Gates

11.   "Business people need to shake off the notion that information is hard to get" – Bill Gates

 12.   "A company's ability to respond to an unplanned event, good or bad, is a prime indicator of its ability to compete" – Bill Gates

13.   “Every day were saying, ‘How can we keep this customer happy?’ How can we get ahead in innovation by doing this, because if we don’t, somebody else will.” – Bill Gates

14.   “If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good” – Bill Gates

15.   “If you show people the problems and you show people the solutions, they will be moved to act.” – Bill Gates

16.   “The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs and study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to garbage cans at the Computer Science Centre and fished out listings of their operating system.” –Bill Gates

17.   “I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance” – Steve Jobs

18.   “That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” – Steve Jobs

19.   “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected” – Steve Jobs

20.   “I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next” – Steve Jobs

21.   “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” – Steve Jobs

22.   “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations” – Steve Jobs

23.   “Don’t let the noise of other’s’ opinions drown out your own inner voice” – Steve Jobs

24.   “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it” – Steve Jobs

25.   “When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don’t put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through” – Steve Jobs

26.   “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me” – Steve Jobs

27.   “My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” – Steve Jobs

28.   “Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” – Steve Jobs

29.    “I built a conglomerate and emerged the richest black man in the world in 2008 but it didn’t happen overnight. It took me 30 years to get to where I am today. Youths of today aspire to be like me but they want to achieve it overnight. It’s not going to work. To build a successful business, you must start small and dream big. In the journey of entrepreneurship, tenacity of purpose is supreme” – Aliko Dangote

30.   “I enjoy myself a lot but I derive more joy in working. I believe in hard work and one of my business success secrets is hard work. It’s hard to see a youth that will go to bed by 2am and wake up by 5am. I don’t rest until I achieve something. ” – Aliko Dangote

31.   “In whatever you do, strive to be the best at it.” – Aliko Dangote

32.   “If you don’t have ambition, you shouldn’t be alive.” – Aliko Dangote

33.   “Every morning I wake up, I make up my mind to solve as many problems, before retiring home.” – Aliko Dangote

34.   “Don’t kill the competition. Competition is healthy for businesses. It keeps you the entrepreneur on your toes.” – Aliko Dangote

35.   “If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work” – Aliko Dangote

I hope a quote or two struck a chord. Well, to me,  virtually all of them did.