To Lee Iacocca Quotes & Sayings

In 1964, when Lee Iacocca said, 'Shelby, I want you to make a sports car out of the Mustang,' the first thing I said was, 'Lee, you can't make a race horse out of a mule. I don't want to do it.' He said, 'I didn't ask you to make it; you work for me.' — Carroll Shelby

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

People want economy and they will pay any price to get it. — Lee Iacocca

The great issues facing us today are not Republican issues or Democratic issues. The political parties can debate the means, but both parties must embrace the end objective, which is to make America great again. — Lee Iacocca

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

Life can be difficult for kids born with a gold spoon in their mouth, because they never really get to find out if they're able to work hard and make it on their own. — Lee Iacocca

As far as I'm concerned, the first business leader who was able to establish a cult of personality around his tenure was Lee Iacocca. — Tom Peters

That's the American way. If little kids don't aspire to make money like I did, what the hell good is this country? — Lee Iacocca

No matter how I'm doing financially, the Depression has never disappeared from my consciousness. To this day, I hate waste. When neckties went from narrow to wide, I kept all my old ones until the style went back to narrow. — Lee Iacocca

The kind of people I look for to fill top management spots are the eager beavers, the mavericks. These are the guys who try to do more than they're expected to do - they always reach. — Lee Iacocca

What is wrong with changing your mind because the facts changed? But you have to be able to say why you changed your mind and how the facts changed. — Lee Iacocca

Sometimes you just don't like somebody — Henry Ford

My father used to say, 'You can spend a lot of time making money. The tough time comes when you have to give it away properly.' How to give something back, that's the tough part in life. — Lee Iacocca

People want economy, and they'll pay any price to get it. — Lee Iacocca

When future historians look back on our way of curing inflation ... they'll probably compare it to bloodletting in the Middle Ages. — Lee Iacocca

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

In business, I loved cars. I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning. Only in America can you decide to get a good education and pursue what you like. — Lee Iacocca

You can't have a country or a city or a state that's worth a damn unluss you govern within yourself in your day-to-day life. — Lee Iacocca

I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership. — Lee Iacocca

Formal learning can teach you a great deal, but many of the essential skills in life are the ones you have to develop on your own. — Lee Iacocca

Are we going to be a services power? The double-cheeseburger-hold-the-mayo kings of the world? — Lee Iacocca

Thanks to properly selecting the clients you will not be unnecessarily wasting time. — Lee Iacocca

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

I only wish I could find an institute that teaches people how to listen. Business people need to listen at least as much as they need to talk. Too many people fail to realize that real communication goes in both directions. — Lee Iacocca

It's a good thing god doesn't let you look a year or two into the future, or you might be sorely tempted to shoot yourself. — Lee Iacocca

It was emotional when Chrysler sold out to the Germans. — Lee Iacocca

If you own up to your mistakes, you don't suffer as much. But that's a tough lesson to learn. — Lee Iacocca

The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything. — Lee Iacocca

A little righteous anger really brings out the best in the American personality. Our nation was born when 56 patriots got mad enough to sign the Declaration of Independence. We put a man on the moon because Sputnik made us mad at being number two in space. Getting mad in a constructive way is good for the soul- and the country. — Lee Iacocca

To succeed today, you have to set priorities, decide what you stand for. — Lee Iacocca

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

I was good friends with Frank Sinatra, I heard Steve Kaufman painting his portrait, so I asked Steve to paint my portrait. — Lee Iacocca

Here's what we should be doing. We've got to get off fossil fuels. — Lee Iacocca

It pains me to see my old company, which has meant so much to America, on the ropes. But Chrysler has been in trouble before, and we got through it, and I believe they can do it again. [ ... ] Let's face it, if your car breaks down, you're not going to take it to the White House to get fixed. But, if your company breaks down, you've got to go to the experts on the ground, not the bureaucrats. — Lee Iacocca

Be creative. Use unconventional thinking. And have the guts to carry it out. — Lee Iacocca

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

There are times in everyone's life when something constructive is born out of adversity ... when things seem so bad that you've got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it. — Lee Iacocca

I've always felt that a manager has achieved a great deal when he's able to motivate one other person. When it comes to making the place run, motivation is everything. You might be able to 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

Why is our free-enterprise system so strong?- Not because it stands still, frozen in the past, but because it has always adapted to changing realities — Lee Iacocca

Chrysler invented rebates, I'm sorry to say. I didn't have anything to do with that. A lot of flaky deals were made in order to give the customer enough cash for a down payment. — Lee Iacocca

Through its prohibition on birth control, the Church has suggested that the only right way to have children is through biological reproduction: a kind of forced labor culminating in the production of another soul for God. What kind of a God stands like Lee Iacocca at the end of an assembly line, driving his workers with a greedy 'More! More!' while the automobiles pile up in showrooms and on freeways and in used-car lots and finally junkyards, his only satisfaction the gross production figures at the end of every quarter? — Nancy Mairs

We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need? — Lee Iacocca

There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog, waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there. — Lee Iacocca

You've got to say, "I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it." It's called perseverance. — Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca, who said to Dolly Parton, Why do you need an airbag? Never got a dinner! — Red Buttons

I was at Ford for 32 years. I went to Chrysler in 1978, four or five months after I got canned by Henry Ford. — Lee Iacocca

I'd really love to meet the guy I'm supposed to be. I'd hire him in a second. — Lee Iacocca

Over the years, many executives have said to me with pride: 'Boy, I worked so hard last year that I didn't take any vacation.' I always feel like responding, You dummy. You mean to tell me you can take responsibility for an eighty-million-dollar project and you can't plan two weeks out of the year to have some fun? — Lee Iacocca

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

In business, you're trying to make a buck. God was good to me and blessed me. I made some money and started this foundation years ago, and it has grown in size. With the foundation it's a lot different, because the bottom line isn't how you can make more money or get a better return, it's helping the projects that you feel strongly about move forward. — Lee Iacocca

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else. — Lee Iacocca

I've got to get stop getting fired like this. People will start to think I'm a drifter. — Lee Iacocca

There's no great mystery to satisfying your customers. Build them a quality product and treat them with respect. It's that simple. — Lee Iacocca

If your product is great, you yourself do not have to be a great seller. — Lee Iacocca

Real leaders like Lee Iacocca see vast possibilities and sell their dreams to their companies, their employees, their funding sources, their government and their buying public. — Mark Victor Hansen

A major reason capable people fail to advance is that they don't work well with their colleagues. — Lee Iacocca

I was fortunate to get a scholarship when I went to Lehigh University and Princeton. They were both wonderful schools. Somebody was kind enough to spend their money to educate people that they would never get to know. That's what I think philanthropy is about. — Lee Iacocca

To solve big problems you have to be willing to do unpopular things. — Lee Iacocca

I always go back to Harry Truman: Should we drop an atomic bomb to save 100,000 lives? That's a hell of a decision to make. Did he make that decision by himself? No, he had advisers. — Lee Iacocca

The primary skill of a manager consists of knowing how to make assignments and picking the right people to carry out those assignments — Lee Iacocca

In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product, and profits. — Lee Iacocca

The only mistake I ever made was not listening to my gut. — Lee Iacocca

I guess I invented extended warranties, because that's all we had to sell at Chrysler in those days. — 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

I don't need a $100 million mistake. Try to make a $5 million mistake if you have to make one. — Lee Iacocca

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

You, my friend, alone are equal to a hundred of such friends. Happy Birthday to you. — Lee Iacocca

If I had to sum up in a word what makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act. — Lee Iacocca

If I Had To Sum Up In One Word The Qualities That Make Up A Good Manager, I'd Say Decisiveness. — Lee Iacocca

Every little kid wants to grow up to be a cowboy, and I did. — Lee Iacocca