Lee Iacocca Quotes

My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

I learned about the strength you can get from a close family life. I learned to keep going, even in bad times. I learned not to despair, even when my world was falling apart. I learned that there are no free lunches. And I learned the value of hard work.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.

Lee Iacocca

It's important to talk to people in their own language. If you do it well, they'll say, 'God, he said exactly what I was thinking.' And when they begin to respect you, they'll follow you to the death.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better.

Lee Iacocca

Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don't just stand there, make it happen.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

Management is nothing more than motivating other people.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

I have found that being honest is the best technique I can use. Right up front, tell people what you're trying to accomplish and what you're willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.

Lee Iacocca

Trouble shared is trouble halved.

Lee Iacocca

Every business and every product has risks. You can't get around it. 

Lee Iacocca (Quoted in I Gotta Tell You: Speeches of Lee Iacocca, 1994)

No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?

Lee Iacocca (Talking Straight, 1988)

The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works, is the family.

Lee Iacocca (Talking Straight, 1988)

The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don't sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.

Lee Iacocca

If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

I have always found that if I move with seventy-five percent or more of the facts that I usually never regret it. It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy. 

Lee Iacocca

When the product is right, you don't have to be a great marketer.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.

Lee Iacocca

The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)



In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can't miss.

Lee Iacocca (Talking Straight, 1988)

We are continually faced by great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

Lee Iacocca

Any supervisor worth his salt would rather deal with people who attempt too much than with those who try too little. 

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

If I had to sum up in one word the qualities that make a good manager, I'd say that it all comes down to decisiveness.
Variant: The one word that makes a good manager - decisiveness.

Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984)

There ain't no free lunches in this country. And don't go spending your whole life commiserating that you got raw deals. You've got to say, "I think that if I keep working at this and want it bad enough I can have it."

Lee Iacocca (Quoted in Newsweek - Volume 104, 1984)

The trick is to make sure you don't die waiting for prosperity to come.

Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca Biography

Born: October 15, 1924

Lee Iacocca is an American businessman. He is best known for engineering the Ford Mustang and for his prominent role in the automobile industry.

Notable Works

Iacocca: An Autobiography (1984)
Talking Straight
(1988)
Where Have All the Leaders Gone (2007)