David B. Yoffie > Quotes

“Gates, Grove, and Jobs were all masters in the use of both leverage and power.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“The five rules we have identified to describe this framework are the heart of this book:            1.    Look Forward, Reason Back            2.    Make Big Bets, Without Betting the Company            3.    Build Platforms and Ecosystems—Not Just Products            4.    Exploit Leverage and Power—Play Judo and Sumo            5.    Shape the Organization Around Your Personal Anchor By”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“The second rule that Gates, Grove, and Jobs embraced was to make bold bets, but without betting the company.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“The first rule demands that CEOs and entrepreneurs look beyond the immediate problems of today.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“Grove continued to act on the conviction that good strategic thinking requires different points of view and clarifying those different points of view requires intensive, ongoing debate involving the executive team and domain experts inside and outside the company.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“it was the strength of each company’s original business model that made it so hard to move on. What software products could Microsoft possibly develop that would deliver better margins than Windows and Office, even today? None! But the days of extraordinary profit margins for packaged software seem to be over”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“long-term backward and forward compatibility was a key part of what defined a platform and made it so valuable for an entire industry.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“They focused not just on building products, but on creating and controlling platforms for third-party innovation and supporting ecosystems of complementary products and services.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“complements are not substitutes. Gates, Grove, and Jobs all chose loyalty over other qualities. They did not seem to apply the same fierce logic and detachment to choosing successors as they did to choosing their”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“What we needed was a balanced interaction between the middle managers, with their deep knowledge but narrow focus, and senior management, whose larger perspective could set a context.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“Too many firms get derailed by meek strategists who are unable or unwilling to make hard choices. Great leaders, in contrast, are prepared to make bold decisions in order to launch, reinvigorate, or reinvent their businesses.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“great strategists “look forward” to determine where they want their companies to be at a given point in the future and then “reason back” to identify moves that will take the business there.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

“There is a deep hole in our understanding about what makes a truly great strategist.”
― David B. Yoffie, Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs