No Guts No Glory

Insisting that the company must switch to organic cotton after learning of all the toxic chemicals used in regular cotton, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, went a year without making a profit on the organic cotton products.  Eventually, the changeover has been profitable and growing steadily at a conservative rate.  But more importantly, it was the right thing to do, a concept that corporations don't get according to Chouinard.  "Corp. are weenies," he says.  "They are scared to death of everything.  My company exists to take those risks and prove that it's a good business."

Making decisions the "Ride" way

"It's important to be decisive when decisions are required but to deliberate appropriately while making those decisions."  Astronaut Sally Ride

A funny story concerning customer service with Reggie Jackson

During a plane trip flying on a commercial airline:

"I was listening to some music when a beautiful lady sitting behind me leans forward and says how much she likes the music.  I invite her to sit in the empty seat next to me.  The stewardess comes up and says the lady is not allowed to sit there and has to return to her seat.  I ask her why, and she starts to sound off and we start an argument.  She doesn't talk nice to me, so I said, "Look, honey, if you want to get shitty, fine, but there's no way in the world you can be shittier than I can be.  She says if I don't shut up, she's going to talk to the captain.  I tell her to talk to the captain.  She goes and talks to the captain.  She comes back and tells me that if she has to tell the captain about me again, he's going to come back and talk to me.

I ask her, " What's he going to talk about, baseball, beautiful ladies, or lousy stewardesses?  What's he going to do, pull up to a cloud and park and tell me to get off?  She storms off.  Maybe she had a bad day and was taking it out on her passengers.  She is human too, and I'm not going to report her for being a b___ch.  If she reports me to Finley (A's owner), fine.  I will not back down and apologize when I am in the right.  I am waiting to see if that shitty stewardess wants to talk about it some more.  I am ready and raring to go." :-))

Even a product catalog has to "work hard" :-)

From Multi Channel Merchant describing what it takes for a catalog to be effective:
"Every photograph must work hard to maintain the catalog's goal"
"Work hard to get people to spend more time in those "not so hot" pages."
Hard working catalog

Tom Cable explaining what Russell needs to do to become the QB again...

In plain terms, Cable explained JaMarcus Russell is a "classy kid" but is not meeting the standard of mental and physical preparation for an NFL quarterback.
"He has to learn how to take care of business on a daily basis consistently and prepare himself and take care of his development as a quarterback," Cable said. "We'd be here forever to discuss all those things. There's a lot of them, but all the great ones have that, and you want to impress upon him to become that."

Motivation at its best

From Reggies autobiography: 
His reply to the Dodgers claiming they are the best team in baseball:  "Bullshit"
His prediction prior to the start of the 1974 World Series against the Dodgers:  "I think we will drub them because we are sick and tired of hearing about how they have become the best."
Describing the Dodgers pitcher Mike Marshall:  "He is so sure of himself he makes more of himself than there is.  I wasn't impressed by his stuff."

Two losses in a row--Never

After the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team lost a game, Tanya Haave, coach of the USF Lady Dons basketball team describing what it could be like playing against Pat Summit's Lady Vols team next: 
“You don’t want to play them after they lose. She (Pat Summit) knows exactly what to do after a loss and she hates to lose with a passion.”  Final score:  Tennessee 89, USF 34