Henry Kravis Quotes

We've got some well-run corporations by some well-intended people who do it right.

I like to bring people together so we don't waste opportunities and resources and keep doing the wrong things when we know better. Corporate America makes great things and things that can hurt us. They have to be part of the solutions. There's nothing to say you don't make a profit by doing good.

You can't have a healthy society unless you have healthy companies that are making a profit, that are employing people and that are growing.

I think the greatest CEOs in the United States, business, anyway, are the ones you don't hear too much about.

Managing by values - not by profits - is a powerful process that will set your business on the path to becoming what I call a 'Fortunate 500' company.

If you put on your business hat, you can't maintain competitiveness by staying at a competitive disadvantage. I mean, you just can't. The odds are just not in your favor.

A lot of people say that I'm an activist CEO. I just think I'm a responsible leader of a business.

I made my money in an honest way. And I have declared it all. By co-founding Infosys along with Mr. Murthy and others, I earned financially.

Despite their good intentions, today's businesses are missing an opportunity to integrate social responsibility and day-to-day business objectives - to do good and make money simultaneously.

Many business leaders are seeing the relationship between long term success and sustainability, and that's very heartening.

I believe in 'business has a force for good.' You know, business has an impact on society. Of course, it creates jobs. It creates prosperity, but on the other hand, we also leave a negative footprint behind.

Companies, to date, have often used the excuse that they are only beholden to their shareholders, but we need shareholders to think of themselves as stakeholders in the well being of society as well.

Concentrate your strengths against your competitor's relative weaknesses.

Patagonia, a large apparel manufacturer based in Ventura, California, has organized itself as a 'B-corporation.' That's a for-profit company whose articles of incorporation require it to take into account the interests of workers, the community, and the environment, as well as shareholders.

Companies the size of PepsiCo is like running a little republic, there is no question about it. The only difference is that I don't have to worry about the media hounding me every day, on every word that I say. I have a board of directors that runs the country in the interest of the stake holders.

If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete.

We must compete or retreat.

To be successful in business, you have to be ruthless.

I'm the ninth CEO of IBM. Every one of my predecessors has steered through a technological shift, and every one left the company in a better position than the person before them and prepared this company with a very strong balance sheet to allow it to continue to invest for the next shift.

The central task for a business is to make a profit. The challenge is to make a profit by doing things which are genuinely good for people and good for societies.

If you are a small company taking on a big company, you need to have a sense of humor.

I don't buy this thing that our industry is responsible for all the ills of the world. We have great people at JPMorgan Chase. We operate with a lot of rigor. Our clients are happy with us.

It is no longer enough to have a good product. A company's purpose and the way it treats its employees and the global community to which it belongs is also of great importance.

SK Group will work to be reborn as a group embraced by the public.

A healthy corporation acts on the interests of its stakeholders and customers.