Lou Brock

Show me a [person] who is afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a [person] you can beat every time.

Benson P. Shapiro, Adrian J. Slywotzky and Richard

Every company has a well-defined competitive field of vision, which is usually too narrow. Long periods of equilibrium only exacerbate the problem. A whole raft of “minor little players” operates just at the periphery. They are difficult to see because traditional competitors focus on each other and not on new entrants and “nontraditional” entities lurking at the industry’s fringes.

Nicholas G. Carr

When a resource becomes essential to competition but inconsequential to strategy, the risks it creates become more important than the advantages it provides.

Dominic Barton, Roberto Newell, and Gregory Wilson

In normal times, four boundaries limit the scope and nature of a company’s business: regulations, competition, customers’ attitudes, and the organization’s ability to change. In times of crisis, however, the boundaries often shift dramatically, and those shifting boundaries can become the means through which companies improve their competitive position.

Thomas L. Friedman

Your threats and opportunities increasingly derive from whom you are connected to.

Unknown

A firm needs four resources in order to compete: physical, organizational, human and process.

The Art of War, Sun Tzu, Translated by Thomas Clea

Therefore those who do not know the plans of competitors cannot prepare alliances. Those who do not know the lay of the land cannot maneuver their forces. Those who do not use local guides cannot take advantage of the ground. The military of an effective rulership must know all these things.

The Art of War, Sun Tzu, Translated by Thomas Clea

The contour of the land is an aid to an army; sizing up opponents to determine victory, assessing dangers and distances, is the proper course of action for military leaders. Those who do battle knowing these will win, those who do battle without knowing these will lose.

The Art of War, Sun Tzu, Translated by Thomas Clea

In general, the pattern of invasion is that invaders become more intense the farther they enter alien territory, to the point where the native rulership cannot overcome them.

Napoleon

The first strategy of war is an armed force that is fully mobilized and consumed with the desire to win. Without that, all other strategies are vain.

Will Rogers

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

Thomas Jefferson

Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

Lou Brock

Show me a guy who is afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.

John McCain

Companies consolidate when they can’t compete.

David Sarnoff

Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.