Chapter 1: The Exceptional Seven and the Traits that Defined Them

Information regarding GE's financial performance appeared in Robert Slater, The GE Way Fieldbook (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000).

"... that today, in our society, in economics, and in finance ...." John C. Bogle, excerpted from his Keynote address, entitled The Perils of Numeracy, delivered to The Center for Economic Policy Studies, Princeton University, October 18, 2002.

"The direct model has a number of attributes ...": Michael Dell, Interview with author, January 10, 2002.

"Build on his legacy and build on his philosophies ...": David Glass, Interview with author, September 9, 2002.

"Had lost touch with the market ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"In the spring of 1993, a big part of what I had to do ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"Outside-in is a big idea ...": Jack Welch, speech delivered at 92nd Street Y, New York, New York, March 8, 1999.

"Effective leadership doesn't depend on charisma ...": Peter Drucker, The Essential Drucker (New York: Harper-Business, 2001), pp. 268–269.

"Mundane, unromantic and boring ...": Peter Drucker, The Essential Drucker (New York: Harper-Business, 2001), pp. 268–269.

"A high-profile, charismatic style is absolutely not required ...": Jim Collins, Built to Last (New York: Harper-Collins, 1994), p. 32.

"He probably fits that description more than anyone else I know ...": David Glass, Interview with author, September 9, 2002.

"Strategically you can make great decisions ...": David Glass, Interview with author, September 9, 2002.

"Don't use the abstraction of 'profit' as your goal ...": Herb Kelleher, Interview with author, January 29, 2002.

"Southwest has many times sacrificed ...": Herb Kelleher, Interview with author, January 29, 2002.

"One cannot be tentative ...": Jack Welch, Speech to shareowners, April 22, 1998.

"You have to pretend you're 100% sure....": Andy Grove, "What I've Learned," Esquire, May 2000, p. 136.

"The most important role of management ...": Andy Grove, Only the Paranoid Survive, New York: Currency/Doubleday, 1996, p. 117.

"Culture is one of those things where you know it when you see it ...": Michael Dell, Interview with author, January 10, 2002.

"Defensiveness is not something that works well within our culture....": Michael Dell, Interview with author, January 10, 2002.

"I think it's way underestimated how important the culture has been ...": David Glass, Interview with author, September 9, 2002.

"Had a good sense for where the ball was going to be ...": Sam Walton, Made in America (New York: Doubleday, 1992), p. 14.

"Oh no, it's happening without us! People are going to write real software for this chip....": Bill Gates, The Road Ahead (New York: Times Books, Random House, 1995), p. 16.

"He never stopped trying to do something different....": Bud Walton, quoted in Bob Ortega, In Sam We Trust (New York: Times Business, Random House, 1998), pp. 33–48.

"In the twenty-first century ...": Jack Welch, quoted in Robert Slater's The New GE, (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1993), p. 101.

"Have to stop standing on the wrong side of history ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"Where the industry was going to be five or ten years down the road ...": Lou Gerstner, Interview with author, March 21, 2002.

"Business is ideas and fun and excitement and celebrations, all those things ...": Jack Welch, quoted in Janet Lowe, Jack Welch Speaks (New York: Wiley, 1998), p. 26.

"Sailing's boring. Do you have any idea how much fun it is to run a billion-dollar company?": Michael Dell, quoted in Richard Murphy's cover story, , Success, January 1999, pp. 50–53.