Carolyn Dewar > Quotes

“Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton, famously enshrined the company’s customer service aspiration into its “10-foot rule”: Whenever an employee is within ten feet of a customer, they’re expected to look them in the eye, smile, and ask, “How can I help you?”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

“He then expanded on each of three items with conviction and clarity. At the end of the night, everyone left feeling a mysterious veil had been lifted.”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

“Raising the spirits of your leaders doesn’t happen overnight.”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

“The key takeaway was that despite their different approaches, every CEO at every stage of their tenure meaningfully tended to all six responsibilities. The best CEOs kept all six plates spinning at all times, even if the external and internal environment meant that some needed to be spun faster or slower than others.”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

“What does a CEO really do?”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*

“The best CEOs recognize this dynamic and, in turn, approach setting the direction of their company with a different mindset. They embrace uncertainty with a view that fortune favors the bold. They’re less a “taker” of their fate and more a “shaper”—constantly looking for and acting on opportunities that bend the curve of history. CEOs who embrace this mindset are well aware that only 10 percent of companies create 90 percent of the total economic profit (profit after subtracting the cost of capital) and that the top quintile performers deliver thirty times more economic profit than the companies in the next three quintiles combined. And here’s the kicker: The odds of moving from being an average performer to a top-quintile performer over a ten-year period are only one in twelve.”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest

“The two long helical (like a corkscrew) DNA strands are intertwined without touching one another other than being connected through nucleotide pairs that run between them—sort of like a twisted ladder, as depicted below.31”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest

“As a CEO, you’re responsible for the long-term fate of the company,”
― Carolyn Dewar, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest