Dee Hock

“If you don't understand that you are an ecosystem, you can't have a prayer of handling the complexity of the world.”

“Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.”

“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out.”

“An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.”

“Make a careful list of all things done to you that you abhorred. Don't do them to others, ever. Make another list of things done for you that you loved. Do them for others, always.”

“Here is the very heart and soul of the matter. If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself.”

“Money is not wealth. It is nothing more than a form of community energy, a power to command the services of others.”

“Purpose and principles, clearly understood and articulated, and commonly shared, are the genetic code of any healthy organization.”

“Hire and promote first on the basis of integrity; second, motivation; third, capacity; fourth, understanding; fifth, knowledge; and last and least, experience.”

“We are at that very point in time when a 400-year-old age is dying and another is struggling to be born - a shifting of culture, science, society, and institutions enormously greater than the world has ever experienced.”

“It is fools who scorn complexity. It is wise men who master it.”

“The organization of the future will be the embodiment of community based on shared purpose, calling to the higher aspirations of people.”

“Substance is enduring, form is ephemeral.”

“The first and paramount responsibility of anyone who purports to manage is to manage himself.”